Ubisoft feels Assassin’s Creed film is marketing for game’s brand, lowers box office expectations

The trailer for Assassin’s Creed looked promising, what with all the flip-dee-doos and the unexpected Kanye West track. There’s solid talent attached to the project as well, with stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in lead roles and director Justin Kurzel (Macbeth, The Snowtown Murders) at the helm.

Yet Ubisoft feels like the film might not make them much money.

Speaking with MCV, the company’s top European exec Alain Corre said the following:

We are not going to earn a lot of money from it. It is a lot more a marketing thing, it is also good for the image of the brand. Although we will make some money, it is not the purpose of this movie. The purpose is to bring Assassin’s Creed to more people. We have our core fans, but what we would like is to put this franchise in front of a lot more people who, maybe, will then pick up future Assassin’s Creed games.

In essence, Assassin’s Creed: The Movie is more like Assassin’s Creed: The Movie: The Commercial for the Video Games.

Ubisoft has since walked back Corre’s comments with an additional statement that read:

Ubisoft’s core vision is to create top quality entertainment and experiences. For the Assassin’s Creed film, we have worked closely with our partners at New Regency and 20th Century Fox as well as the talented cast and production team from the very beginning to ensure we deliver a quality experience to ours fans. We strongly believe the Assassin’s Creed brand has this cross-over appeal that will please both video games fans and movie goers.

It’s no surprise that Ubisoft would see the film as a way to sell and market the Assassin’s Creed games. That’s the underlying assumption of adapting any IP in a different medium, which may also explain why movie sequels to Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell are already being considered. Yet Corre was maybe too upfront about this in initial comments.

Corre may not need to lower box office expectations so much. The Angry Birds Movie made $342 million worldwide, and Warcraft wound up making $430 million (most of which came from China). Assassin’s Creed looks to be a much different kind of video game movie than those two, of course, but surely it will have more legs than the Ratchet & Clank movie, which only grossed $8.8 million total in its domestic-only release.

For perspective, Michael Fassbender’s todger makes more per cinematic appearance than Ratchet & Clank.