Three years ago, as the first “Hunger Games” movie was breaking box-office records, Jon Feltheimer, the chief executive of Lions Gate Entertainment, asked his lieutenants to investigate ways to turn their hit movie into a Disneyland-style ride. His team thought he might be off his rocker: The film’s titular games involve children killing children for the amusement of a futuristic society.
But then Tim Palen, who is now the studio’s chief brand officer, started to brainstorm. “The more we thought about it, the more we realized there was a major opportunity — not just to create something smart and captivating that ‘Hunger Games’ fans would love, but to bring all of our franchises alive in new ways,” Mr. Palen said.
Roller coasters and other rides based on the “Hunger Games” movies will anchor new theme parks in the United States and China, Mr. Palen said. The two parks, built by separate companies and planned for areas near Atlanta and Macau, will join an already announced “Hunger Games” stage show in London and an elaborate Lionsgate zone at a $3 billion entertainment complex under construction between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
The theme park deals also call for “Step Up” dance shows and attractions based on the studio’s “Divergent” movies and the film “Now You See Me,” about a troupe of illusionists who are implicated in a heist. Lionsgate also hopes to bring its “Twilight” series to theme parks.
It says rollercoasters and rides, it's not a murder simulation park
And I don't know how they're doing this when Mockingjay 2 is set to have worse box office openings than any other film previously in the franchise. Like, why don't they just do a Lionsgate theme park so they can have HG, Twilight, Divergent and the rest of them in one?
Screaming @ this franchise starting out with some sort of anti-establishment message and then turning into a big thing only concerned about making a profit.
