Game Players

Game Players is a 2003 action comedy film produced by Nickelodeon Movies and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Tom Dey, it starred Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Garner, Drake Bell, Ashton Kutcher, Mandy Moore and Piper Perabo as gamers who could play a lot.

It was released on December 5, 2003 in the United States, to negative reception. Some called it "Big Fat Liar meets Tron.", and some critics call it "a ripoff of WarGames."

Cast

 * Amanda Bynes as Sarah
 * Jennifer Garner as Ava
 * Drake Bell as Brian
 * Ashton Kutcher as Tom
 * Mandy Moore as Kim
 * Piper Perabo as Taína

Development
In 2000, Dan Schneider, while finishing his screenplay for Big Fat Liar, came up for a concept of a movie that revolves about female video game players. He sent the project to Brian Robbins, co-founder of Tollin/Robbins Productions, and then TRP sent the project to Paramount Pictures. In early 2001, it was announced that Amanda Bynes will star in the project.

In May 2001, it was announced that Tom Dey was approached to direct the film. Dey said he hoped to film the movie after he finished filming Showtime. It was announced that Jennifer Garner would sign on to join the film. Drake Bell was approached to join the film after Dey saw his performance on The Amanda Show.

Filming
Filming began from April to October 2002 in Los Angeles, St. Louis and New York City.

Release
The film was released on December 5, 2003 in the United States.

Box office
Game Players was excepted to gross $15-18 million in its opening weekend. After making $3.5 million in theaters, expectations were lowered to $14 million. The film ended up making $14.3 million in its opening weekend and finished second behind The Last Samurai. The film ended up grossing $21.2 million in North America and $26.2 million in other territories for its $47.4 million worldwide.

Based on the box office receipts, Paramount announced that the film lost $350 million and has been one of the under-performing family movies of 2003 alongside The Mythic Adventures. According to director Tom Dey, its poor marketing and tough family film competition might be possible reasons for its box office flop.

Critical response
Upon release, the film received poor reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 38%, based on 105 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 39 out of 100, based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.

Home media
Game Players was released on VHS and DVD on April 27, 2004 by Paramount Home Entertainment.