If you're a big time movie studio, it's hard to say goodbye to a franchise that has a rabid fan base providing you ample amounts of operating capital. Lionsgate had to do that twice in the past decade, with both The Hunger Games and Twilight coming to their natural ends. Now the studio is looking to resurrect those glory days, as both franchises are in the crosshairs for future installments. Of course, there's a catch, as neither Katniss Everdeen or Bella Swan will be returning if their creators don't sign off.
The revival of both properties is being driven by the top brass at Lionsgate, as studio CEO Jon Feltheimer was the one to bring up the possibility for future installments, as reported by Variety. To be fair, it's refreshing that Feltheimer has mentioned both series progressing with new stories, rather than merely proposing a TV reboot for either one of the best selling YA sources. Though when thinking about both The Hunger Games and Twilight possibly coming back, one IP seems more likely to be brought back in a more organic manner.
With Twilight's story, there's plenty of ground that can be covered between Bella and Edward's budding family and the moment Renesmee and Jacob finally commit to the relationship that's apparently waiting for them in their future. Not to mention, there are still plenty of vampires and soap opera drama left in Stephenie Meyer's quill that she'd probably be game to write more blueprints for future films containing sparkling vampire problems. Considering Lionsgate has threatened more entries in the Twilight franchise before, taking the series out of moth balls shouldn't be that hard. But the real challenge will be to crack the nut that is The Hunger Games, as that franchise's ending is more definitive.
By the end of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, the battle is won, the government seems to be in order, Katniss is married to Peeta and they've had a child together. Now while there are plenty of personal dynamics that could be explored in Panem, that's not really what The Hunger Games was built on. Katniss thrived on fighting a revolution, and Suzanne Collins' characters were arguably at their best when they were engaging in their resistance, rather than wading through the waters of relationship drama. Though with the ending of The Hunger Games being rather out of place with the rest of the franchise, there's a chance these future installments could springboard off of that awkwardness and spark yet another round of action.
The real question that Lionsgate should be asking themselves is whether or not there's still an audience for the Twilight and/or The Hunger Games revivals. Considering that Divergent started off as a strong franchise in Lionsgate's canon, only to decline so much that the final installment has been downgraded to a TV series, the YA market seems to have moved on from the patterns in the market that made all three franchises such mega-hits. Time will tell if any of these franchises get back into action, but as soon as we hear anything new, we'll report in with the latest news here at CinemaBlend.
