Lionsgate Putting Everything Into ‘The Hunger Games’ – Hoping For More Sequels

With Lionsgate recently making a string of “box-office bombs” and bad decision making when it comes to spending they really seem to be putting everything on the line for The Hunger Games movie. In an interview with the bosses, Jon Feltheimer and Michael Burns, they reveal how much money, effort, and faith they are putting into the movie. This should please the fans that they are really working hard to make this a blockbuster success! It’s all or nothing with Lionsgate right now, and I for one am happy with their dedication! What are the thoughts of the fans?? Let us know in the Comments! Here is part of the article, and click ‘More’ below to read even more!

“Hey, we’ve got something really special here,” says Feltheimer, 60, Lions Gate’s co-chairman and chief executive officer. Burns, 53, the studio’s vice chairman, praises Jennifer Lawrence, the 21-year-old actress who plays the film’s bow- wielding heroine. “She looks like she could start a revolution,” he says.

“We would be disappointed if we didn’t make three or four movies,” Feltheimer says.

“The Hunger Games could be the biggest catalyst for Lions Gate’s profits and share price during the next decade,” Marsh says. “It could be a game changer for them.”

Feltheimer and Burns have reason to be optimistic. The movie is based on the first volume of a trilogy with 12 million copies in print in the U.S. and editions in 44 foreign markets, according to Scholastic Inc., the book’s New York-based publisher.

Author Suzanne Collins’s teen protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, who dispatches her enemies with cunning and violence even as she experiences her first romance, has inspired scores of fan websites, blogs and Facebook pages. The Marlborough School, a private academy for girls in grades 7 through 12 in Los Angeles, is one of many that have added the books to their reading lists.

Feltheimer, whose chiseled jaw and deep-set eyes could get him cast in a Western, nods in agreement. He says “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,” the studio head says.

He points to an issue of “Entertainment Weekly” magazine on a coffee table. It features two of the film’s hunky young stars, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, on the cover. “There’s just too much heat for this property around the world,” he says.

Burns squirms at his partner’s confidence. “Can I just knock on wood through this entire interview?” he says, rapping the side of his chair.

Founded in 1997 in Vancouver by a movie-loving Canadian mining financier named Frank Giustra, Lions Gate made its name producing and distributing edgy R-rated fare such as “American Psycho,” the 2000 sleeper starring Christian Bale as a Wall Street serial killer. The studio, which went public in 1997, consistently lost money.

… Alli Shearmur, Lions Gate’s president of movie production, had zeroed in on a hot property making the rounds in Hollywood: “The Hunger Games” (Scholastic Press, 2008). She gave copies to Feltheimer; Burns; her boss, Joe Drake, president of Lions Gate’s motion picture group; and other studio executives. They were immediately smitten by the story of how the resourceful Katniss Everdeen fights for her survival in the lethal games of the title. News Corp. (NWSA)’s Twentieth Century Fox and other major studios were also circling the book.

When Drake and Shearmur pitched author Collins and independent producer Nina Jacobson for the rights in late 2008, they vowed to make a character-driven story that would resonate with young readers.

“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.”

The studio will probably spend another $40 million in marketing and advertising “The Hunger Games,” he says.

After several box-office bombs from Lions Gate, its shareholders are now counting on it to deliver a blockbuster. “Patience is running out,” Caris’s Miller says. Feltheimer and Burns find their studio’s fortunes riding on the shoulders of a 16-year-old girl fighting for her life.

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[Source: Bloomberg]

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Category: Hunger Games Filming, Hunger Games Interview, Hunger Games News, Katniss Everdeen, Lionsgate