Love them or hate them, movie licensed games are big business, but they are apparently also very hard to make. In an interview with GameObserver, Activision's Luxoflux explains the pitfalls and success strategies of making such titles. They recently developed Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, which was above-average compared to other movie-based games, and previously made Kung Fu Panda and Shrek 2.
Joby Otero (Chief Creative Officer) and Chris Tremmel (Creative Director) of Luxoflux studio explain the process of making such games. There apparently IS some cooperation between the movie and game studios, so much that they even claim their Kung Fu Panda game influenced some parts of development of the actual movie.
With regards to Revenge of the Fallen, Luxoflux explains that Breakaway, the Autobot sniper in the game, "was originally designed for the film" but was dropped from the movie. They also claim that Hasbro is one of the best partners to work with when making movie games. Furthermore, they take the time to comment on Ubisoft's "Media Convergence" strategy, which promises to produce unparalleled film licensed games.
