Lionsgate executives talked with Variety about the Hunger Games.
With “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” having grossed $860 million worldwide, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has underlined the studio’s focus on creating more franchises.
Feltheimer listed “Now You See Me,” “Mortdecai,” “Gods of Egypt,” “Chaos Walking” and “The Last Witch Hunter” as potential franchises for the studio during Friday morning’s call with analysts to discuss earnings for its third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31.
Fueled by “Catching Fire” and “Now You See Me,” Lionsgate reported earnings after the market closed Thursday above forecasts at $88.8 million, or 64 cents a share. During the call, Feltheimer repeated Sunday’s announcment that the timetable for the release of the next two “Hunger Games” movies — “Mockingjay Part 1″ on Nov. 21 and “Mockingjay Part 2″ on Nov. 20, 2015 — will remain unchanged despite the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The actor played the part of the gamesmaker Plutarch Heavensbee.
“We were fortunate to have his incredible talent grace our Hunger Games family,” Feltheimer said Thursday. “We send our deepest condolences to all who were close to him.”
The CEO said that the two “Mockingjay” films are being shot at the same time. “Director Francis Lawrence is taking advantage of the expanded world of Mockingjay to create compelling action set pieces designed to bolster the franchise’s growing resonance for international audiences, and both chapters will wrap this summer,” he added.
The CEO noted that another Lionsgate’s franchise will launch in six weeks with “Divergent,” based on the first book in Veronica Roth’s three-novel series and starring Shailene Woodley. He noted that the decision to move “The Hunger Games” movies from March to November was made for two reasons — getting the “Hunger Games” films in the prime holiday periods, and to open up the March slots for the “Divergent” films.