Lionsgate Stockholders: "The Hunger Games" Must Make $100 Million to Jusify a Sequel
Here are some numbers for you to chew on: The Twilight Saga has so far accumulated over $2.3 billion in global box office and DVD revenue (with two more films to be released) and the eight-movie Harry Potter series has amassed over a whopping $7.7 billion in global box office revenue alone. Lionsgate Entertainment is banking on The Hunger Games four-film series potential to join that elite class and reverse the four-year downward trend that has seen a 45% drop in stock value. Regarding a franchise earnings prediction between $220 million and $733 million, analyst James Marsh had this to say:
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The Hunger Games could be the biggest catalyst for Lions Gate’s profits and share price during the next decade. It could be a game changer for them.”
The first installment of The Hunger Games comes in at a cost of $80 million (Lionsgate’s most expensive solo production ever) and stars Oscar-nominee Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, a teenage gladiator in a dystopian future.
Lionsgate head Feltheimer agrees:
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The Hunger Games must hit $100 million in domestic box office sales to justify making sequels. “I’m not too concerned we won’t get to that kind of number.”
Regarding Lawrence’s co-stars Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, Feltheimer is hoping they’ll be part of the draw.
At least Alli Shearmur, Lionsgate’s president of movie production, seems to have the feel of the source material down:
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We weren’t going to let the violence be gratuitous or the selling point of the franchise,” says Shearmur, who oversaw the Bourne series starring Matt Damon while she was an executive at Universal Pictures Ltd. in 2002. “
This is an emotional story about a young girl who sacrifices everything and sets off a revolution she never intended.”
While the book series features some pretty brutal deaths of some very young characters, to turn the property into a bloodbath would be missing the point.
