It has been widely speculated that Lionsgate wants its successful franchise "The Hunger Games" to be extended after its fourth and final film, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2," was released last month. The studio is very interested in exploring the world that author Suzanne Collins created through prequels that would be set before Katniss Everdeen was born.
Lionsgate Entertainment Vice Chairman Michael Burns opened up about the future of "The Hunger Games" at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York City and discussed the film's lower-than-expected opening weekend of just more than $100 million, a franchise low.
"The one thing that kids say they missed was there was no arenas," Burns said, according to Deadline. "If we went backwards there obviously would be arenas."
There are a lot of past Hunger Games to build from, as Katniss' story and "The Hunger Games" series starts with the 74th annual Hunger Games.
Burns also compared the future of "The Hunger Games" to "Harry Potter" and said it could "live on and on and on," according to the Hollywood Reporter. The same course that Burns is interested in exploring with "The Hunger Games" is already in the works at Warner Bros., the studio that produced all eight "Harry Potter" films. The studio's Potter prequel "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is already filming with a script written by J.K. Rowling herself and Academy Award-winner Eddie Redmayne starring as the main character, Newt Scamander, as HNGN previously reported
The final film in "The Hunger Games" series, "Mockingjay Part-2" is currently in theaters.
