When "Grand Theft Auto IV" launches April 29, it's expected to gross a record-breaking $400 million worldwide in its first week. That's good news for the game biz, but daunting for execs in other sectors of the media industry. TV network execs who pay attention to the numbers know that young male viewership can dip in the first few days after a blockbuster videogame launches. And home-entertainment honchos avoid releasing big titles aimed at that demo in the same time period. Now the question is whether film execs will have to factor videogames into their release strategies.

Last summer, "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" broke all box office records, with a $404 million worldwide haul in its first six days, roughly the same amount expected for "GTA IV." But while "Pirates" was only three hours out of someone's life at an average price of about $7, "GTA IV" is a $60 investment that provides dozens, if not hundreds of hours of content. That's money and time that has to come from somewhere else. And "Pirates" encouraged audiences to go to the movies. "GTA IV" is encouraging audiences to stay home.

So far this year, box office is 3% down from last year. The biz could use some megahits to ignite folks to start going to the multiplex in droves. But "Auto" may create a detour for some moviegoers, particularly the young men who play it most devotedly and are often first in line for tentpole releases.

April is not traditionally a time for big vidgame releases, but "GTA IV" was pushed back from its original date last October. So now the title from Rockstar Games, a subsid of Take-Two Interactive, comes just a few days before the start of the summer movie season and during the first week of May sweeps.