Hmm...there's really nothing here for me to add. I don't think it true that Wing Commander failed because of "the feel isn't there" because Paladin isn't Scottish in this one or such nonsense. These people are a minority and there's a minority like this in every fanbase. There are people bitching that the Final Fantasy movie lacked hobbits and super-deformed characters and though I've never seen the Tomb Raider fanbase up, close, and personal, I bet there are people denouncing that movie on the fact that Lara didn't sport her blue shirt and short brown pants attire a la the game series.
The fact is quite obvious that Wing Commander failed because the mainstream public isn't too familiar with videogames, even very popular franchises such as Wing Commander and there are not enough of us to get the movie noticed.
Which is unfortunate IMO, since I thought that Wing Commander was a rather entertaining movie and it retained the spirit of the game series. It was far from perfect but I could name a countless amount of movies that I liked less.
The pattern has happened again with the recently-released Final Fantasy movie. The Final Fantasy game franchise is extremely popular among the gaming mainstream but 5-7 million people buying a $40-50 game is different from the same amount buying a $4-7 ticket and in the end, it just doesn't cut it. It also doesn't help that it was released during the calm of the storm right before cinematic big names such as Jurassic Park III and the remake of Planet Of The Apes. It has "Flop" written all over it. Which, like the WC flick, I find sad because I really liked this one.
And again, like everyone else stated, Angelina's boobies obviously sold TR (though admittedly, I enjoyed this movie for its second half. Its nothing like the game series at all....the second half....isn't boring or at least not nearly AS boring as the games). Sex sells. Thats how (I think) Titanic became the highest grossing movie of all time.
Gross. There's no better word to explain this situation.