Lionsgate Says They Can't Screw Up On "The Hunger Games"

Los Angeles Times has published on September 13, 2011 an interesting article on how “The Hunger Games” could have the potential to be the start of a large franchise that brought huge income rewards to Warner Bros. and Summit Entertainment with “Harry Potter” franchise and “Twilight” franchise respectively.

Joe Drake, president of Lions Gate’s motion picture group

In this article, Joe Drake who is the president of Lionsgate’s motion picture group as pictured above, shares with Los Angeles Times about what Lionsgate think of “The Hunger Games” as seen in the quote below.

“‘Hunger Games’ is not a make-or-break opportunity for the company, and yet it’s a really important one that we cannot screw up,” said Joe Drake, president of Lions Gate’s motion picture group.

Besides that, Lionsgate had also revealed how much they had currently spent on making “The Hunger Games” movie.

When Lions Gate acquired the film rights in March 2009, beating competitors including Summit, Warner Bros. and Spyglass Entertainment, the first “Hunger Games” book had sold fewer than 500,000 copies. It was regarded as a movie that would appeal strictly to young adults, a view that changed when the second and third books were released and “Hunger Games” became a broader literary phenomenon with sales to date of more than 12 million copies. As a result, the movie’s box-office potential — and its budget — increased.

“With the books growing in popularity, we knew more people would come in with a certain set of expectations,” said producer Nina Jacobson, who sold the film rights to Lions Gate. “That didn’t change the movie we wanted to make, but it meant we had to deliver on the right scale.”

Lions Gate ended up spending more than $80 million, after tax credits, to produce the movie. The studio has made more than half that amount back through sales to foreign distributors, a move that mitigates risk but also lowers potential rewards if the box office is huge overseas.

For more information, do head over to Los Angeles Times to read the full article.

-Vanora(Admin)

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