With the winter movie season warming up next month, fans are eagerly waiting for the next installments of several much loved franchises. This includes Spectre from the long enduring James Bond series and Creed, the next installment of the Rocky saga.
But the most awaited franchise releases of the year are The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The first of these is scheduled for release on Nov 20 across the U.S., China and 85 more territories. Meanwhile, investors are showing great enthusiasm for exhibitor stocks. This was an immediate result of stellar earnings from Regal Entertainment Group (RGC – Snapshot Report) which came in yesterday.
Mockingjay – Part 2
With Mockingjay – Part 2 releasing first, advance ticket sales began online on Oct 1. The franchise has been a significant one for the movie industry and has turned Jennifer Lawrence into a bankable star. Every single installment has posted impressive numbers, 408 million, $424 million and $337 million, respectively.
In fact, the second installment was the top grosser at the domestic box office, beating the third of the Iron Man films. The last of these was a little disappointing in terms of numbers, but market watchers believe that this is the one negative fallout of a smart decision by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF – Analyst Report).
Lions Gate has divided the last of the films into two parts, emulating The Twilight Saga and Harry Potter series. Its marketing campaign for the film has also delivered impressive results. Mockingjay – Part 2 beat The Force Awakens on a poll conducted by Piedmont Media Research to become the most anticipated film for each of these surveys conducted.
The Force Awakens
But the new Star Wars movie is breaking records where it matters the most, at the box office. According to online retailer Fandango, The Force Awakens has broken previous day one sales records set by the first Hunger Games film by a wide margin. IMAX Corp. (IMAX – Analyst Report) said it collected $6.5 million from ticket sales on a single day. It also said one day ticket sales have never exceeded $1 million within 24 hours.
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