GamesBeat at The Game Awards features Uncharted filmmaker Ari Arad

I’m pleased to announce another speaker for GamesBeat at The Game Awards our next event that takes place on the theme “Pixels to Pop Culture” on December 7, the day of The Game Awards.

The latest speaker is Ari Arad, president of Arad Productions, the maker of a number of game-to-movie adaptations such as Uncharted, the Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg film from 2022 that generated $407 million at the box office.

We had a great event in October with 555 people coming out, and now we’re hoping more folks will come to the Grammy Museum at LA Live — just a short distance from The Game Awards venue can keep that momentum going with our next event, GamesBeat at The Game Awards. You can sign up here and use this code GBGA23DEAN100 for $100 off the ticket price.

Ari Arad

Ari Arad followed in his father Avi Arad’s footsteps and has spent his career in the film and television industry, bringing to life adaptations of his favorite comics, video games, and graphic novels.

Ari began his journey at Village Roadshow. In 2001, he joined Marvel Studios, where he was an executive
producer and co-producer on numerous adaptation films including Ghost Rider (Columbia Pictures), and the critically acclaimed Iron Man (Paramount Pictures).

In June 2006, Ari embarked on a new venture, cofounding Arad Productions with Avi Arad. As president, he produced films such as Ghost in the Shell (Paramount Pictures/Amblin Partners), Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Columbia Pictures), and Uncharted (Columbia Pictures).

Ari’s current slate includes films based on Borderlands (Lionsgate), Naruto (Lionsgate), One Punch Man (Columbia Pictures), Metal Gear Solid (Columbia Pictures), and several other eagerly anticipated projects. Additionally, Ari is expanding his creative horizons into television with upcoming projects like Mass Effect (Amazon Studios). And Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto recently tweeted that he is working on a live-action film based on The Legend of Zelda with Ari’s father Avi Arad.

Ari Arad will talk about the broad trend of games and its intersection with Hollywood, and we’ll have a familiar figure, to be announced later, who will speak in a fireside chat with Ari.

Pixels to Pop Culture

First, I have to point out we’re not affiliated with The Game Awards. Geoff Keighley’s thing will likely draw more than 100 million viewers to a total celebration of gaming. We’ll be happy if we can get 250 people to fill the lovely Clive Davis Theater at The Grammy Museum at LA Live. You can think of us as the unofficial preshow for the official preshow. We’ll have a fine party the night before on December 6 and an intimate event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. or so on December 7. It’s going to be a small group.

We still have room for sponsors, and I am still recruiting speakers. Our theme is a familiar one, but it feels like it is happening on a grand scale. It’s so grand, in fact, that it’s easy to overlook.

Our theme is Pixels to Pop Culture, and that is a recognition that gaming culture has become mass culture. Once the domain of nerds, it’s now part of the mass market. We see signs of that everywhere. This year, we saw gaming rise even higher with The Last of Us on HBO and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which generated $1.36 billion and was viewed by 169.84 million people.

One of our previously announced speakers is Russell Binder, founding partner of Striker Entertainment, a longtime Hollywood agency. He sees a hub and spoke model for entertainment. At the center of that hub is an intellectual property, such as a world created by amazing artists, and the spokes are media like games, movies, TV, toys, comics, tabletop games and more. When it works well, we get awesome transmedia experiences like Mattel’s Barbie.

Striker’s clients include AMC, ScottGames, WonderStorm, Media Rights Capital, Ghost House, Alcon Entertainment, Dread XP, Squanch Games, and Mythical Games amongst others. Properties, both previously and currently represented, include:  The Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games, The Walking Dead, Pacific Rim, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Kick Ass, TED, Terminator Salvation, The Umbrella Academy, and many others. Striker has built on behalf of its clients $4 billion retail programs for The Twilight Saga, The Walking Dead, Angry Birds and Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Binder will be one of our speakers alongside Peter Levin, managing director of Griffin Gaming Partners, and they can speak to the behind-the-scenes work that happens to bring together big entertainment deals.

Griffin Gaming Partners is one of the biggest venture capital funds singularly focused on the video game sector. Prior to Griffin, Levin served as president of interactive ventures, games & digital strategy at Lionsgate where he stood up their gaming business. He also ran Nerdist Industries, which was acquired by Legendary Entertainment in 2012. Levin was an early investor in and advisor to Rovio (Angry Birds) and helped put in place their wildly successful global licensing and merchandising program.

See you at our event!