The video game movie opened with $1.4 million in Thursday previews.
08.08.2023 - 15:43 / videogameschronicle.com
Critics have criticised the Gran Turismo movie for allegedly reframing a real-life incident in which a spectator died.
In March 2015, racer Jann Mardenborough – on whom the Gran Turismo film is based – was involved in an accident during a race at the Nürburgring in Germany, which led to the death of one spectator.
This scene is replicated in the movie, but some critics have questioned the way in which it’s handled, particularly the way in which it’s been repositioned in the timeline of Mardenborough’s career.
According to the critics, the film uses the accident as a turning point, and suggests that Mardenborough uses the tragedy as motivation, which eventually leads to him earning a third-place finish at a 24 Hours of Le Mans event.
In reality, Mardenborough finished third at Le Mans in 2013, two years before the accident happened.
“Details relating to a tragedy in Mardenborough’s life have been re-arranged to give the third act extra welly,” Evening Standard critic Charlotte O’Sullivan writes in her review of the film.
“In the movie, Mardenborough is involved in a crash at Nürburgring, which has fatal consequences for a spectator. Due to race at Le Mans 24 Hours, Jann is naturally guilt-ridden, which, in turn, leads to rousing pep talks from Jack and Danny. The ending couldn’t be more upbeat (the big tragedy is followed by the hugest of wins).
“In reality, though, the lead-up to Mardenborough’s Le Mans triumph was smooth and the horrific accident came two years later. Suggesting the incident helped propel Jann to greatness is not only false, it’s reprehensible.
“The family of that spectator have had their worst nightmare turned into a moveable feast. Shame on you, Sony.”
Notice: To display this embed please allow the use of Functional Cookies in Cookie Preferences.
Polygon’s review of the film also notes the discrepancy. “Mardenborough did indeed score third place in his class at Le Mans, compete in an all-GT Academy team of sim drivers, and survive a horrific accident, as the film shows — albeit not in the order the film shows it, or under the circumstances the filmmakers contrive,” critic Oli Welsh writes.
“There is one particularly troubling aspect to the way American Sniper co-writer Jason Hall and Creed III co-writer Zach Baylin frame the accident, a freak occurrence at the Nürburgring circuit that killed a spectator.
“While the crash did happen pretty much as depicted, Hall and Baylin’s screenplay time-shifts it in order to stage it as a defining, motivating setback on Mardenborough’s hero’s journey to his Le Mans podium. The actual accident happened years later — arguably a tasteless reframing of a fatal event.”
It has already been known that the crash would be recreated in the film, because it was shown
The video game movie opened with $1.4 million in Thursday previews.
How far have you ever gone to show your love of a video game? Many have gone to great lengths to show their passion for gaming titles over the years. Some love to purchase the “Collector’s Editions” of AAA titles to say they have the “premiere goodies” outside of the game. For artists, they love to draw fanart and show off their favorite characters, moments, etc. Nintendo fans are known for buying lots of merch from their favorite franchises, but one Pikmin 4 fan decided to go on a treasure hunt. One that directly reflects the “treasures” you get in the game.
We got to chat with Jann Mardenborough, the “gamer to racer” subject at the heart of the Gran Turismo movie, with topics ranging from his experience in GT Academy to stunt driving for the film about his incredible life.
Charles Martinet, the original voice actor of Mario, is retiring after 27 years and and will now serve as a «Mario Ambassador», Nintendo has confirmed.
Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox
Gran Turismo is a Neill Blomkamp-directed film based on the popular PlayStation franchise. It tells the tracks the tale of how Jann Mardenborough turned his love of Gran Turismo games into a fully-fledged motorsport career. Though the wide release for the USA is set for August 25, the film has aired in international markets, reception has been good thus far, and it has been reported that the film has already grossed $22.7 million.
Minecraft seems to be on the way to getting an update to support modern features on current-gen consoles. As caught by VideoGamesChronicle, Minecraft was classified for release on Xbox Series X/S in Germany.
Call of Duty Mobile developer is reviving Delta Force for PC, consoles, and mobile devices.
It looks like Microsoft could be gearing up to release a native Xbox Series X/S version of Minecraft.
An Animal Crossing: New Horizons fan has finally come to the end of their journey, after challenging themselves to see every piece of art in the game in real life.
Kowloon Nights, London Venture Partners and Hiro Capital complete the speaker schedule for the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit in Seattle.
In early July, Meta Platforms launched the Threads app, a new text-based social media app aimed at capturing the essence of real-time interactions. With a massive launch and an influx of Instagram users transitioning to Threads, the initial excitement was amazing. In fact, Threads was quickly dubbed as a "Twitter-killer". However, this enthusiasm was short-lived, as the app's active user base experienced a steep decline soon after its launch even though it had broken many records initially.