With Hollywood still stinging from the financial impact of a prolonged writer’s strike, it goes without saying that executives everywhere have a lot riding on this summer. A lot of new franchises, a lot of remakes, and some sequels all vying to scrape up as much money as possible in a few short weeks before the next film hits, desperate to make up for lost time. Things are understandably tightly packed—you get in, you make the dough, and you move onto the next film.

But there is an unexpected contender in the marketplace distracting patrons from the movie theater this summer, one that might take a bite out of the official May 2nd kickoff weekend—a video game.

With an estimated $400 million in projected sales, Grand Theft Auto IV may be making some folks out west a bit nervous. It may even be the early harbinger of a new trend: checking video game release calendars for potential conflicts in targeting movie release dates. The big movie for this Friday, Iron Man might find its core audiences—young males—unexpectedly absent from the theater, opting instead to partake in the immersing fantasy of Liberty City.

With more and more money being put into video games lately (and the dividing like between cinematic movies and cinematic games getting thinner) do you guys think this could be the start of something? Or is this merely fantastic speculation?

(via canada.com)