As we reported back in January, a Lionsgate CEO saying that he hoped for more Twilight movies and a possible TV series didn’t mean that such a thing was eminent(see article here) We came to this opinion if for no other reason Stephenie Meyer would have to agree to such and she’s said numerous times that she is taking a break from Twilight and focusing (at least in the relative short term) on two other projects: The Host and Austenland. She made no mention of future Twilight projects when she updated her website for the first time in almost a year earlier this month. Additionally, she is very ‘hands on” regarding adaptations based on her work, and it didn’t seem likely that she’s give Lionsgate free reign to go ahead and dabble in a new movie or TV show without being majorly involved.

So, tonight it’s probably not surprising that a reporter for Variety Tweeted the following regarding the Lionsgate Hunger Game franchise and Twilight( bold emphasis ours).

HUNGER GAMES presales begin tomorrow; early tracking shows it outpacing the first TWILIGHT pic. My theory as to why: Safe for boys.

As long as we’re on topic: Stephenie Meyer was deeply annoyed that LG brass said they’d do more TWILIGHT pics. She has no such intention.

I’d bet the TWI franchise outperforms THG over time. But those openers & domestic BO figures will be competitive.(in response to this tweeted question: But we saw the following movies multiple times, and played out DVDs to death. I just don’t see that for “The Hunger Games”.)

EXACTLY (in response to this tweeted question: And absolutely no chance that it will surpass, or even equal, Twilight in the long haul.)

That was my point tho — TWI was overwhelmingly female. THG appeals across genders, and also touches fanboy elements. (in response to this question: the Twilight books have zero depth, Hunger Games have strong relatable characters…which should draw everyone not just boys)

 

It is also worth pointing out that though Lionsgate and Summit merged, we believe that there is still a large degree of newness as to what is the status of the films each organization has in its arsenal. They don’t fully know all the players and what their likely intentions are. With all the PR and questions from very corner, that’s probably what lead to what is looking more and more like a case of overly enthusiastic open mouth insert foot on Lionsgate’s part from speaking off the cuff.

For our part we wish the Hunger Games franchise well. It will do well if for no other reason like Twilight and the later Harry Potter books it has dominated the best seller charts for years. However because the New York Times (after the third Potter book) relegated these books to the children’s sections, so people don’t always realize how popular they are. The real test of popularity is looking at lists like USA Today that put all book sales against each other cross category.That’s where you see the Hunger Games, Harry Potter,Twilight, the Wimpy Kid, and several other “children’s/YA” series dominate the market. In other words, YA isn’t as much of a mystery as people think if they’d just look at book sales that matter on say USA today and the Wall Street Journal charts they’d have the info they need right at their fingertips.

Shout out to His Golden Eyes for being the first Twilight site to break the story.