‘Angry Birds’ Movie: Make Or Break For The Game’s Future?

Angry Birds developer, Rovio, has a lot riding on the success of the Angry Birds movie. In August, Forbes reported that one-third of the workforce was to be cut, following a smaller cull in 2014. Becoming “part of the scenery” in the mobile ecosystem is partly blamed for declining profits from Angry Birds, as well as the failure to diversify revenue beyond the Angry Birds game itself.

Another reason suggested for the changing fortunes is that Angry Birds 2 featured a change in revenue model from pay-to-play to one based on in-app purchases. While Clash of Clans has formed the basis of a billion dollar gaming empire, Angry Birds is languishing behind, with just under $23,000 per day in revenue.

With Angry Birds having failed to spawn a sequel that matched, or even came close, to the original Angry Birds phenomenon, Rovio has made the gamble that their future prosperity depends on turning the Angry Birds brand into a media sensation, reviving interest in their core game, but also the associated Angry Birds merchandise.

Unfortunately, the trailer has not been received well in all quarters, leaving some doubts as to how successful the Angry Birds movie adaptation will be. In a scathing, but fairly amusing, review, Stuart Heritage of the Guardian could scarcely contain his disdain for the Angry Birds movie concept.

“The Angry Birds movie is literally just going to be about some birds who get angry sometimes. Hopefully clear flaws will all be addressed addressed and ironed out by the time they make a film about your second-favorite iPhone app, Google Maps.”

To be fair to Angry Birds, the trailer shows off some beautiful animation and the potential for the Angry Birds movie to have some amusing spots and to appeal to kids, the younger of whom may have missed the game the first time around.

The reception on YouTube has also been fairly positive, with the trailer for the Angry Birds movie powering towards one and a half million views within a day of release. With 16,000 likes and just 2,000 downvotes, the reception has definitely been more receptive than many expected. Many of the top comments express the feeling that it looked like the Angry Birds movie might not be too bad, after all.

Many haven’t played Angry Birds in a long time, and the Angry Birds movie has been a much more positive way for Rovio to keep their product in the news than all the talk of redundancies over the last year. If Rovio have managed to pull something fun together with the Angry Birds movie, it could be just the boost their brand, and revenues, needed, but one has to suspect they’ll need another “hit” game to survive another five years without more cutbacks.

[Image Source: Sony Pictures Press Release]