Lionsgate made an attempt today to try to guarantee the box-office success of “The Hunger Games,” announcing that the highly anticipated movie will be released in IMAX for the first week after its US release.
IMAX’s tickets are priced higher than those for regular movies, meaning that high attendance at the film’s IMAX screenings could translate into big first-week ticket revenues.
When Paramount released “Mission Impossible — Ghost Protocol” exclusively in IMAX ahead of its wide release, the movie set a December record for a release in the giant-screen format. The movie made $14 million from its showing on 389 IMAX screens worldwide.
Lionsgate has reportedly invested roughly $100 million in the film version of the first novel in the best-selling trilogy, and the studio is hoping that the movie will be the next “Twilight,” Summit’s financially successful film series based on another best-selling group of books.
Lionsgate, which recently acquired Summit, had a rough 2011 at the box office, finishing in 10th place among studios, with only $184 million in ticket sales.