DHD Friday (03.23) 68.25 M | THE HUNGER GAMES (Crow-serving on-going :))

[CloneWars]

I'm not saying that the movie could have been successful without the books. I just think that it's wrong to say that the book series was a phenomenon by itself, and that's what propelled this movie to such a massive opening. A lot of people only started picking up the books after the movie was announced and the trailers and ads were released. The movie's opening success shouldn't be diminished because of the book's success because the books are only as successful as they are because of the movie.

And, the books are about to become a lot more famous. Remember after the first Twilight movie, sales for the Twilight books exploded. I very much believe the same will happen here.

[Shawn Robbins]

I'm not saying that the movie could have been successful without the books. I just think that it's wrong to say that the book series was a phenomenon by itself, and that's what propelled this movie to such a massive opening. A lot of people only started picking up the books after the movie was announced and the trailers and ads were released. The movie's opening success shouldn't be diminished because of the book's success because the books are only as successful as they are because of the movie.

The funny thing is that I've never once diminished its success. If my calling it one of the most impressive openings as opposed to "the" most impressive opening is considered "diminishing", then I guess I'm wasting my time here.

[iceroll]

Cool. And what is this at?

25ish for the trilogy a week or so before release.

[iceroll]

The funny thing is that I've never once diminished its success. If my calling it one of the most impressive openings as opposed to "the" most impressive opening is considered "diminishing", then I guess I'm wasting my time here.

"THG's opening doesn't make it a phenomenon"

That doesn't sound like something you'd use to describe one of the most impressive openings IMO.

[Shawn Robbins]

SOAP got social media hype in the same way Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is... people heard about it, looked it up, and laughed at itThat's different from actual interest in a property

Agreed. SOAP was a gimmick, Hunger Games is a product of actual substance that appeals to a lot of people.

[spizzer]

25ish for the trilogy a week or so before release.

Amazing. This could do between 72-85% of that number in ticket sales in just the OW

[Noctis]

Potter had sold around 30m in the US. Not far ahead of THG in the US.

[Shawn Robbins]

"THG's opening doesn't make it a phenomenon"

That doesn't sound like something you'd use to describe one of the most impressive openings IMO.

Try quoting the entire post instead of making my words into something they aren't. Not only did you take that out of context, you didn't even put in the full sentence or pull the quotes where I've said how impressive the opening is. Edited March 24, 2012 by ShawnMR

[iceroll]

Amazing. This could do between 72-85% of that number in ticket sales in just the OW

Yeah and if we assume 10m of those 25m were THG and the other 15m were between the other two, then the movie's already sold more tickets than the number of people who bought and read the book. But then again there are people who borrow books from libraries and their friends so the actual number of readers is hard to estimate.

[friendofnarnia]

Wow, I didn't realize I was opening such a can of worms when I said it was tied with Spidey for the most impressive opening ever.You all have some good points, but I still can't think of anything more impressive than those two. (Except for maybe The Passion Of The Christ)

[TLK]

Amazing. This could do between 72-85% of that number in ticket sales in just the OW

Yep, maybe young adult book properties are better off in the hands of smaller studios. They have demonstrated that they can handle them better than Warner Brothers.

[Shawn Robbins]

Wow, I didn't realize I was opening such a can of worms when I said it was tied with Spidey for the most impressive opening ever.You all have some good points, but I still can't think of anything more impressive than those two. (Except for maybe The Passion Of The Christ)

Eh, its my own fault. I walked into a lion's den of excited fans and a differing opinion.

[MovieMan89]

That doesn't really add up. Without the books, there would be no fan base and no movie. I could see an argument where both fed each other's popularity, that would be a lot more reasonable.

There's literally thousands of movies that have been made that have had a pre-existing fanbase from a book. And yet they have failed to do what THG has, including ones like Harry Potter and Da Vinci Code that had book bases that were far larger than THG's when their first respective movies came out. So your argument doesn't really add up. Obviously something made THG a movie phenomenon outside of the book sales, since there's been others that have far exceeded those and failed to open like this.

[Biggestgeekever]

Beating expectations is a little different from being the most impressive. You're on another subject now.

Not really. It's probably one of the better metrics for establishing the impressiveness of an achievement. I'm aware you've already said that you don't want to say it's the "most" by any metric, but if you follow that ideology, you might as well say it's impossible to rank anything.Everyone here should probably stop trying to bash that. If you think that it's fine. Agree to disagree.

[SiennaMillerNr1Fan]

That doesn't really add up. Without the books, there would be no fan base and no movie. I could see an argument where both fed each other's popularity, that would be a lot more reasonable.

There was a fan base, but the movie also sold books. For example more people bought the books after the studio decided to make a movie than before.This article has some explanation from the studio bosses from Lionsgate:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/19/business/media/how-hunger-games-built-up-must-see-fever.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=movies Edited March 24, 2012 by SiennaMillerNr1Fan

[Shawn Robbins]

Not really. It's probably one of the better metrics for establishing the impressiveness of an achievement. I'm aware you've already said that you don't want to say it's the "most" by any metric, but if you follow that ideology, you might as well say it's impossible to rank anything.

That's the ideology I've lived by and preached for years.

[Noctis]

Potter sold around 30m copies by the release of the first film's release and had a movie attendance of 56m.

[TLK]

There was a fan base, but the movie also sold books. For example more people bought the books after the studio decided to make a movie than before.

Yep. I think it has sold more than half of the 25 million books in the past few months. This is a huge win for LGF in more than one way.

[MovieMan89]

The funny thing is that I've never once diminished its success. If my calling it one of the most impressive openings as opposed to "the" most impressive opening is considered "diminishing", then I guess I'm wasting my time here.

It doesn't even sound like you're calling it "one of the most impressive openings" though Shawn. You just seem to kind of be brushing it aside. Maybe it isn't THE single most impressive, but it damn sure is up there with some of the other heavy hitters. If only for the fact that it's essentially the first non-sequel to open anything like this since Spiderman 10 years ago. Edited March 24, 2012 by MovieMan89

[theultimatebiu]

It's a healthy debate. I would not call myself a fan but I have read the first book and agree its entertaining. I think we need to wait until we get Saturday numbers to see if this is a real beast. Still this OD is great and I congratulate LIONSGATE for being smart and resourceful. They are now competing with the big boys.Saturday should see a decrease. There is no way it can keep up this momentum.