'Prince of Persia' surpasses 'Lara Croft'

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With more than $295 million in worldwide earnings, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is now the biggest grossing film adaptation of a video game. The previous holder of the record was 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which held the position at $275 million.

It has taken almost a decade to better the record of the first Lara Croft film starring Angelina Jolie. It took Jerry Bruckheimer's production starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton to grab the top spot and much of its accomplishment is owing to the outstanding performance internationally.

Prince of Persia's box office receipts only totaled $81 million in the US, compared to Lara Croft which made $131 million in the US. But Prince pulled in more than $213 million around the world where it was the No. 1 film in most countries.

This success should disprove the conventional wisdom that films based on video games are doomed. Some have theorized that this is because most video games lack a strong narrative.

Resident Evil will try again with another sequel, Afterlife, in September with Milla Jovovich and Mortal Kombat will return in 2013.

RC