Prison Break’s Robert Knepper will play President Snow’s minister Antonius in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Parts 1 & 2, Lionsgate announced recently.
Jennifer Lawrence reprises her role as Katniss opposite Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta in the final two franchise sequels. Julianne Moore also joined the cast as Alma Coin along with Natalie Dormer, Stef Dawson, Lily Rabe, Patina Miller, and Wes Chatham and Elden Henson.
MUMBAI: This November, Universal Pictures will bring The Hunger Games: Catching Fire to India as it gets a date set for 29th. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, the dark adventure is the sequel to the first one – The Hunger Games.
The movie directed by Francis Lawrence will be released in four languages – English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. This movie follows the characters’ life post the first movie. After they have returned home from the Annual Hunger Games they have to leave their family and close friends. Now the Capitol is preparing for the next edition of the games.
The movie will release only one week post the worldwide launch which is on 22 November. The first movie became a blockbuster hit worldwide and the third and fourth in the series are already in the making, slated for releasing in the next two years.
MUMBAI: The Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer has joined the cast of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2.
The announcement that was made by Lionsgate said that Dormer was to star in both the parts of the movie as Cressida. The movie directed by Francis Lawrence is based on the novel by Suzzane Collins in which the protagonist played by Jennifer Lawrence leads a revolt against the autocratic Capitol government.
The first film of the series The Hunger Games became a box office hit worldwide and the second installment are to be released in two separate installments in 2014 and 2015. The first film has an official release date of 21 November 2014, while Part 2 is due out on 20 November 2015.
MUMBAI: Following on the heels of Lionsgate‘s recent acquisition of Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate and Nordisk Film have concluded a new multi-year output agreement in which feature films from both Lionsgate and Summit will be distributed by Nordisk in Scandinavia.
The agreement extends Nordisk‘s existing output arrangement with Summit to encompass the entire Lionsgate family of feature films and was announced at on-going the Cannes Film Festival by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs Patrick Wachsberger and Nordisk Film GM of independent Films Rob Friedman and Peter Philipsen.
Wachsberger and Friedman said, “We are proud to extend Summit‘s longstanding relationship with the team at Nordisk Film to include both the Lionsgate and Summit brands in Scandinavia, a natural evolution of our historic partnership that promises significant benefits for both partners. The recent merger of Lionsgate and Summit allows us to bring a dramatically expanded portfolio of product to our distribution partners around the world and enables us to achieve significant economies of scale and an even higher level of consistency and predictability in our global business.”
Philipsen said, “We‘re delighted to extend and expand our productive relationship with Patrick, Rob and the entire Lionsgate team. The new agreement provides us with a stable and assured pipeline of some of the most commercially exciting films in the world from a studio that is emerging as a major force in the global marketplace. Our history with Summit has been very rewarding, and we look forward to an exciting future in partnership with the entire Lionsgate family.”
The upcoming Lionsgate Summit combined slate includes ‘Catching Fire‘, the next installment in ‘The Hunger Games‘ franchise and Sam Raimi‘s ‘The Possession‘.
MUMBAI: Lionsgate has been green lighted to release The Hunger Games in China in the first half of June. The film, starring Jennifer Lawrence has already grossed $620 million in worldwide box office.
China watchers were likely surprised by the smooth entry of the Lionsgate blockbuster into China, given the film‘s anti-authoritarian themes and the current politically sensitive climate in the country.
“China is already one of the leading territories at the international box office, and the launch of The Hunger Games in this key market is another sign of the franchise‘s continuing emergence as a truly global phenomenon,” Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairs Patrick Wachsberger and Rob Friedman said in a statement.
The moves comes as a surprise as the Suzanne Collins books on which Hunger Games is based has not sold as widely overseas as in North America.
Now, with Hunger Games set for release in China, Lionsgate is hopeful that the Catching Fire sequel would also get approval for a release in China.
The Hunger Games release, in both dubbed and subtitled prints, will be executed by The China Film Group and Lionsgate partner Talent International.
The Hunger Games will be among the first major Hollywood films to be released in China under the landmark revenue sharing agreement announced in February that allows foreign distributors to collect up to 25 per cent of a film‘s receipts in China.
Back in 2010, Avatar, the highest grossing movie in China ever, was unexpectedly pulled early from 2D screens amidst reports that propaganda officials had deemed the film‘s domestic market dominance undesirable and its storyline too similar to a sensitive issue of the day: the forced eviction of Chinese villagers to make way for civic and commercial development.
MUMBAI: Already a box office superhit in the US and Canada, Lionsgate produced The Hunger Games opened on the foreign theatrical circuit grossing $59.3 million at around 7,700 locations in 67 offshore markets.
Overseas, the action/sci-fi vehicle opened as the weekend‘s No. 1 after the films‘ foreign opening was said to be the year‘s second biggest opening; nearly $10 million less than the March 11 debut weekend gross of Disney‘s John Carter at 51 locations.
Starring Jennifer Lawrence as a 6-year-old heroine who fights to survive a last-person standing contest, Games registered dominant No. 1 market introductions in Australia via Roadshow ($9.69 million at some 260 sites) and in the U.K. via Lionsgate ($7.49 million from some 515 situations).
Leading the non-English-speaking markets was Russia where The Hunger Games grossed $6.5 million. The No. 1 France debut via Metropolitan Filmexport kicked in $3.75 million from about 400 locations while Germany via Studio Canal contributed even more, $3.9 million from 610 sites.
Based on the first book of Suzanne Collin‘s popular trilogy about kids killing kids in a dystopian future, Games drew a worldwide opening gross of $214.3 million.
Debuts in Italy, South Korea and Spain will take place next month while the film‘s Japan opening is scheduled for September.
On the other hand, Disney International‘s Carter, that was the No. 1 overseas for the last two rounds, grossed $22.2 million on the weekend in 54 territories that is more than four times its domestic tally. Carter dropped to fourth place in key markets like Australia, Germany, Spain and South Korea. It finished No. 7 in the U.K., No. 8 in Italy and No. 9 in France.
Finishing No. 3 on the weekend was Fox International‘s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which picked up steam on the foreign circuit with openings in about a dozen markets, highlighted by a No. 2 Australia debut, which produced $3.75 million from 288 screens.
Weekend gross overall for the comedy-drama about British pensioners in India came to $8.26 million drawn from 1,859 sites in 18 markets. Foreign cume stands at $33.3 million. Hotel opens domestically on May 4.