Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler star as Coriolanus Snow and Lucy Gray Baird in Lionsgate’s “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
Lionsgate
“Snow lands on top.”
It’s the mantra of the primary character Coriolanus Snow in the upcoming “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and the hope of its supplier Lionsgate
The prequel to the $3 billion Hunger Games franchise, based upon the 2020 book of the exact same name by author Suzanne Collins, is a standalone movie set some 60 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteers as homage. It debuts in theaters this weekend.
“Ballad” is headed for a strong opening, most likely taking between $42 million and $55 million, according to ticket office experts, as the very first brand-new entry in the Hunger Games legend considering that 2015.
“It’s an interesting position for the Hunger Games prequel because the expectation has suddenly become that it has a chance to open on par with ‘The Marvels,’ give or take, after the latter film lived down to bearish forecasts,” stated Shawn Robbins, primary expert at BoxOffice.com.
Disney and Marvel Studios’ “The Marvels” considerably underperformed expectations when it debuted in theaters previously this month. The movie tallied $461 million locally over its launching weekend, the most affordable in the 30- plus-film franchise’s history. The movie had actually at first been slated to snag in between $75 million and $80 million, however those expectations diminished to $60 million and $65 million simply ahead of its opening.
“There has always been a certain magic surrounding the Hunger Games franchise,” stated Paul Dergarabedian, senior media expert atComscore “This most current installation aims to take the goodwill produced by the initial movies in the series and parlay that into what guarantees to be strong $50 [million] plus launching for this appealing and amazing origin story.”
The movie centers on a young Coriolanus Snow, a male predestined to be president of Panem, the imaginary nation based upon the continental UnitedStates It clarifies what stimulated his increase to end up being the despotic ruler seen in later Hunger Games stories.
While ticket office experts see a $50 million opening as a favorable– provided Hollywood’s current authors and stars strikes and a modification in customer moviegoing routines– “Ballad” will open considerably lower than its predecessors. Each of the other 4 movies in the Hunger Games franchise debuted with more than $100 million in ticket sales at the domestic ticket office.
Hunger Games franchise opening weekends
- “Hunger Games” (2012)– $1525 million
- “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (2013)– $158 million
- “Hunger Games: The Mockingjay Part One” (2014)– $1219 million
- “Hunger Games: The Mockingjay Part Two” (2015)– $1026 million
Source: Comscore
There is some uneasiness from ticket office experts on whether “Ballad” will have the ability to regain the audiences that came out almost a years back for previous installations.
“We’re talking about a prequel that doesn’t have the star power its predecessors did with Jennifer Lawrence,” Robbins stated. “The fan base is a bit older now, the [young adult] category is beyond its peak of appeal more than a years back.”
Prequels are usually challenging to market outside the recognized core fan base, Robbins stated.
“The biggest variable here is what portion of today’s young female audience this new Hunger Games story can bring in with an all new cast,” he stated.
So far, the movie has a 61% rating on evaluation aggregator Rotten Tomatoes from 90 examines, with critics asserting that the impressive cast and amazing story make the movie a deserving go back to the Hunger Games universe. Some, nevertheless, discovered the pacing of the movie too hurried. The movie script is rather loyal to Collins’ unique, which has more than 500 pages.
The movie is likewise a standalone, without any guarantee for future installations. Producers of the movie franchise have actually stated they do not intend on going back to Panem unless Collins composes another book.
Still, “Ballad” gets here in theaters at an essential time for Lionsgate– with the business set to divide from Starz and on the heels of its current acquisition of Entertainment One from Hasbro— and for package workplace. It opens simply head of Disney’s animated function “Wish” and AppleTV+’s “Napoleon,” which are due out next week on Thanksgiving.
“This is a table-setting weekend that theaters and studios definitely need after another feast-or-famine fall season impacted by release delays and industry strikes, both of which will continue to be felt through the holiday season,” stated Robbins.
Disclosure: Comcast is the moms and dad business of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes.
