“There are a lot more stories to be told, and we’re ready to tell them,” Lionsgate CEO says of their golden goose-franchises Twilight and The Hunger Games.
Every once in a while here at Hypable, we open our news feed and take a collective deep breath.
Well. Time to write that Lionsgate story again, we whisper into the emptiness, taking a solemn bite of our bright red apple.
Ever since striking gold with Twilight and The Hunger Games, the company has teased more stories set within both of those worlds, clearly seeking to tap into the (enduring, if diminished) fanbase markets and maybe make a dent in that mountain of Mockingjay pins they probably still have lying around.
Just last year, Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group co-chairman Patrick Wachsberger called Twilight spin-off movies a “possibility,” saying that it was just a question of whether author Stephenie Meyer would give them the go-ahead.
Related: Watch all 7 online official Twilight short films released
It would appear that she still hasn’t, but Lionsgate is nothing if not persistent; during a quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, CEO Jon Feltheimer reaffirmed that, “There are a lot more stories to be told, and we’re ready to tell them when our creators are ready to tell those stories.”
Feltheimer added, “I’ve seen enough research to really believe that it’s really something that would be good for everybody,” which isn’t hard to believe — the only ‘research’ needed to see that reboots/sequels/prequels/revivals/spinoffs are hot right now is a trip to the Netflix homepage!
Despite the fact that, arguably, public interest will keep dwindling the more time passes (we’re rounding the five-year anniversary of Breaking Dawn: Part 2), these two franchises remain lucrative in a nostalgia- and familiarity-heavy entertainment landscape. And Feltheimer isn’t wrong: there are plenty of stories left to tell in both worlds, if anyone desired to tell them (or watch them).
However, considering that more and more YA book series adaptation are heading to the small screen — including The Mortal Instruments, His Dark Materials and the final installment of the Divergent series, which is set to launch a spinoff series — one might wonder if cinema is the right medium for, say, a Finnick Odair origin story or a Renesmee/Jacob-centric Twilight sequel.
Obviously the exception to the rule is Warner Bros.’ successful expansion of the Harry Potter franchise, for which J.K. Rowling is penning a prequel movie series featuring a completely different cast of characters. If Lionsgate is hoping to do the same, they must be banking on the Hunger Games and Twilight fandoms being as invested in universe expansions as Potter fans are, or perhaps they can pique the general audience’s interest with a hot young Oscar-winner ala Eddie Redmayne?
While Meyer has previously expressed interest in expanding her world (and has indeed gone back and gender-bent the first book — and hey, if that is turned into a movie I’m a thousand percent here for it), she is currently busy with a new show on Starz.
Meanwhile, Collins penned a letter to the Hunger Games fandom following the release of the final movie suggesting that she was done with the world of Panem, putting a big question mark on her involvement with any potential spinoffs or prequels.
What say you, Twilight Gamers? Are you up for more movies and/or TV series set in the world of District Forks?
Source: Variety
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.