$70 Million Opening for Hunger Games?
Posted 03.01.12 by reelz
Producers of the highly anticipated adaptation of The Hunger Games received good news this week. According to Deadline Hollywood, the movie is tracking extremely high with the moviegoing public. How high, you ask? Higher than Twilight high, apparently. After last week's report that Hunger Games broke pre-sales records for opening night, this high-tracking news might seem a bit "duh." But according to the Deadline article, at least one studio anticipates a $70+M weekend. That's enough to give any studio exec heart palpitations.
With 23% ‘First Choice’ and 54% ’Definite Interest,’ those are numbers every film studio can only dream about. One studio provided me with a guesstimate that the first film based on the Suzanne Collins bestselling books could open to $70+M — which would make this bigger than the Twilight debut.
Clearly helping ticket sales is the fact that Collins has come out to publicly endorse the movie based on her books. This puts to rest fan concerns about how they will take a novel written in "first person, present tense" and successfully satisfy the scope of storytelling on the big screen. Here is Collins' message on The Hunger Games Official Facebook page.
Dear Readers,
I've just had the opportunity to see the finished film of The Hunger Games. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I feel like the book and the film are individual yet complementary pieces that enhance one another. The film opens up the world beyond Katniss' point of view, allowing the audience access to the happenings of places like the Hunger Games control room and President Snow's rose garden, thereby adding a new dimension to the story.
Director Gary Ross has created an adaptation that is faithful in both narrative and theme, but he's also brought a rich and powerful vision of Panem, its brutality and excesses, to the film as well. His world building's fantastic, whether it be the Seam or the Capitol. It's amazing to see things that are suggested in the book fully developed and so brilliantly realized through the artistry of the designers.
And, my God, the actors. The cast, led by the extraordinary Jennifer Lawrence, is absolutely wonderful across the board. It's such a pleasure to see how they've embodied the characters and brought them to life.
So I'd like to sincerely thank all the many people who devoted their time and talents to the film, especially producers Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, and the excellent teams at Color Force, Larger Than Life, and Lionsgate.
I hope you enjoy the film!
Suzanne Collins
They might want to change the title to "The Money Games."
Next Showing: The Hunger Games opens in theaters on March 23, 2012