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ABC Family has swooped in to pick up the basic cable rights to Lionsgate’s blockbuster The Hunger Games, which just opened with $155 million at the North American box office this past weekend, the third-highest-grossing opening weekend of all time. (The movie’s worldwide opening weekend gross was $214.3 million). “This tremendous opening weekend reinforces what we have already learned — a powerful heroine, themes of romance and iconic characters will keenly resonate with our Millennial audience,” ABC Family president Michael Riley said. The deal between ABC Family and Lionsgate also includes the TV rights to the upcoming second movie in the Hunger Games franchise, Catching Fire, with The Hunger Games alone expected to fetch around $24 million. It will begin airing on ABC Family in 2014. At ABC Family, The Hunger Games franchise joins another blockbuster movie franchise based on a popular book series, Harry Potter. The deal marks a rare No.1 movie to go to a basic cable network other than FX, which has acquired the films that were No. 1 at the box-office nine of the first 11 weeks of 2012, most recently 21 Jump Street and The Lorax. FX also owns the rights to the blockbuster Twilight franchise.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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All the Harry Potter movies look cinematic!!
Some of the shots in the Hunger Games look like Video (soap opera look) and NOT film. I hope with all the money they are making that they do some proper post production grading for the sequel or just shoot it all on film.
Twilight has a similar problem, well, except for the shots of the Wolves all the Twilight movies look small in scale like a TV movie of the week.
The Hunger Games still has a chance to go in the direction of Harry Potter in having a more cinematic look for the sequels. Here’s hoping.
A movie about a bloodsport competition in which kids kill other kids? Perfect for ABC Family!
Profit at any cost: Kids killing kids – an insane choice for ABC FAMILY.
Not really when you consider the type of programming ABC “Family” has been airing for the last several years.
Why did Disney buy it in the first place, when it already had a bunch of family networks? Did they know they couldn’t take “Family” out of the name?
Even though the film itself is not graphic per say-I find it interesting that abc”family” acquired it. I just don’t know if this would be the 1st. channel I’d think of. Is The Hunger Games really considered a “family” film? Just a thought.
Some of the material in the latter “Harry Potter” movies are pretty graphic (especially the final film), but ABC Family programming is mainly geared at teens and young adults. Both franchises are a good fit for the brand.
Well, my entire family are fans–parents, brother, grandmother–we all love it. It is a story that crosses generational lines.
Yes i wouldn’t have thought this movie to be ideal for family viewing, though television usually adds a campy not-too-violent feel to everything.
Cable channels just tend to have names that don’t reflect the programming. Sure this has a weird sound to it, but no more odd than having Top Gear on the “history channel” or wrestling on “syfy”.
I agree that this is not a great fit for the network — the hunger games is NO family film.
ABC Family is a pretty good station now. They at least try to present diverse programming for teens instead of regurgitating the same rich kids with problems nonsense that The CW does.
Stepping out of the whole “Kids Killing Kids” nonsense, you guys are all forgetting that kids are ALSO reading now. The book isn’t solely about kids killing kids. And if the other themes presented in the film and book stops them from being selfish fools I’m all for it.
This movie will do well on ABC Family, especially since there’s more to the film than the games itself.
Does this move open the door to Ultimate Fighting Championship on Nickelodeon?
The Hunger Games is a “harder” PG-13 than a lot of big action flicks released in the last few years, like Terminator Salvation, Wolverine, The Dark Knight, Battle LA, etc.
To me, it felt as close to rated-R action as a PG-13 movie could get — they really pushed the envelope there, to the limit.
Am I missing something here? Why would a network pay millions for the right to a movie that:
1) everyone who wants to see will have gone to the theatre
2) anyone who wants to see it can rent it for $1 anytime
In 2014?
This is the network of Greek and Pretty Little Liars. If selling sex to young people is okay, then violence is okay, too.
Unfortunately, ABC has slowly ruined this channel hence their tag “A different kind of family.” I only watched at Christmas for the old specials but those have mainly been replaced with “girl is lonely at Christmas and then find a man to make her happy” movies…
I think it’s great that ABC Family has picked up the film rights. Too many people are looking at this movie and going “oh, it’s violent, that’s not family-friendly” without having properly read the books. The story is essentially a caricature of the society we live in, a kind of dystopic glimpse into a future where a privileged upper class has gained control of the nation and divided into sectors that are kept in submission due to scarce resources. The series becomes a story about the oppressed refusing to be oppressed any longer.
And though this is not the fictional world of Panem, today’s society is just as corrupt. I say kudos to ABC Family for planning to show this (alongside Harry Potter, another great film series about collective action against corruption). People just need to look outside their happy little boxes and realize that the world is not all sunshine and happy children.
So we got Teens Killing Teens and Pretty Little Liars. This is what makes for Family Viewing according to ABC? I guess it preps them for the fine quality viewing at regular ABC.
I’d rather have my kids watch Finn and Jake on Cartoon Network. Granted Adventure Time has violence and some overexaggerated behavior. But at least as a given it is animated fantasy, shows some true qualities like bravery and friendship and acknowledges the awkwardness of adolescence.
The Catching Fire will be released on November 2013. I think there is no reason for the ABC Family to acquire and air in 2014.