Hollywood counts on sequels to boost box office earnings during holiday season

Global Business

The “Hunger Games” franchise joined a exclusive club, alongside “Twilight” and “Harry Potter,” as the only franchises with three films that earned more than $100 million during their opening weekends. Sequels may be the only hope for box offices this holiday season with otherwise sluggish revenues. CCTV America’s YaKenda McGahee reported this story.

The year 2013 was a blockbuster year for the Hollywood studios with hit movie franchises, like “Iron Man 3,” “Hunger Games 2” and “Gravity,” catapulting domestic movie sales to nearly $11 billion.

“It tends to be a good box office when you have sequels that people want to see, the movies that have a lot of buzz. Some summers you have things like ‘Lord of The Rings’ and ‘Avatar,’ and some summers you don’t,” said Professor Stanley Rosen from the University of South California.

2014 was one of those summers, but while “Guardians of the Galaxy” brought the crowds, it was the only 2014 film so far to earn more than $300 million in domestic ticket sales, which was the first time that’s happened in 13 years.

“These films are very expensive to make, very expensive to market and if your hoping for sequels, if the film doesn’t do well, that’s three films you’ve lost, because you had a trilogy planned,” said Rosen.

Third quarter attendance and profits plunged at the three largest U.S. theater chains, AMC, Regal, and Cinemark. However, there’s one quarter left, which is the critical holiday movie season. The studios are betting on some big-name stars, like “Hunger Games'” Jennifer Lawrence  and big blockbuster films to save the 2014 box office. For the most part, the studio’s are relying on a winning Hollywood formula: sequels, like “Horrible Bosses 2,” the final film in the ‘Hobbit’ trilogy and the sixth “Madagascar” installment.

But no movie has garnered more hype than the third serving of “Hunger Game”s split into two parts.

“The biggest advantage of splitting a novel into two movies is you actually get more of the novel into the movie,” Francis Lawrence, the director of “Hunger Games,” said.

Also, there will be more money into the franchise. Just as critics predicted, this film is “catching fire” at the holiday box office raking in $123 million during it’s opening weekend.

“‘Interstellar’s’ already opened and gotten fantastic reviews. The ‘Hobbit’ definitely will do well, because the first two did well. The ‘Hunger Games’ certainly is one, but three films may not be enough to salvage the year,” Rosen said.


Professor Imani Cheers talked about holiday season box office

For more on the holiday season box office, CCTV America interviewed Imani Cheers, assistant professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University.