Report: Syfy's Red Faction TV Film Due In June, Guerrilla Sells 1M

TV network Syfy plans to launch next month its previously-announced TV movie based on THQ's Red Faction sci-fi video game franchise, according to a new report on Broadcasting & Cable. "We'll get increased mind share," said THQ's director of creative and business development Lenny Brown. "[Syfy] is in 99 million homes and we feel that if we do the right things from a cross-promotion standpoint we're going to build a lot of awareness from people who may not know about the Red Faction franchise," he said. The movie, dubbed Red Faction: Origins, was originally planned to release in March this year. According to the report, Brown said June 2009's Red Faction: Guerrilla fell short of THQ's expectations, selling around 1 million units. The first two games in the series, which revolves around embattled mining operations on Mars, sold around 3.5 million each. The next title in the franchise, Red Faction: Armageddon launches on June 7, while the movie is slated to air June 4. THQ, whose execs include TV and movie industry veteran Danny Bilson, regularly advocates "transmedia" initiatives in games, or bringing gaming franchises across multiple forms of media. The Syfy network has been making moves to tie into the video gaming audience. Broadcasting & Cable said the Syfy Ventures unit is working towards increasing game-related investments. The report added that Syfy Ventures named NBC Universal's broadcast media and gaming guru Jeffrey Li as VP. Li will focus specifically on social gaming. Syfy is working to boost its online games business through SyfyGames.com, and is also partnering with Rift game developer Trion on cross-media content for future titles.