Since the rise of video games in the late 1970s, there has been increasing synergy between movies and games. Three of the earliest cult-favorite movies to inspire games will be shown at the Museum of the Moving Image in the film series Digital Play Goes to the Movies:
“Death Race 2000,” “The Warriors,” and “Tron.” At each screening, a companion game from the Museum’s collection will be on display and available to play as part of Digital Play, the Museum’s exhibition of video games and game-based art.
The series starts on Friday, December 9 with Death Race 2000, the futuristic 1975 action movie produced by Roger Corman and starring David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone. The screening will be preceded by a reception from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. with refreshments courtesy of Original Sin Cider, Dogfish Head Ale, and Sobe. Organized by New York-Tokyo, the reception will include a live performance by 8-bit Gameboy musician Bit Shifter. New York-Tokyo will also present pre-release and currently available games for the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS gaming systems including King Kong, Price of Persia: Revelations, The Sims 2, Nintendogs: Best Friends, and Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2. All games are free to play.
Also screening in the series is The Warriors, Walter Hill’s 1979 urban odyssey that inspired the new Rockstar video game (December 16 and December 30, 2005), and Tron, the 1982 cyber-classic starring Jeff Bridges as a computer programmer who is trapped in the game that he is creating (December 23, 2005 and January 1, 2006.)
An updated version of the Museum’s exhibition Digital Play will also open on December 9, featuring classic arcade versions of Death Race (1976), and Tron (1982), as well as Flow: Urban Dance Uprising (2005), and We Love Katamari (2005). The Museum will have a limited edition arcade version of The Warriors on display, on loan from Rockstar Games.
For more info, visit the Museum of the Moving Image website.
