Kaitlin Bates
Rueter
Economics
12 October 2015
The Girl With the Arrow
Ever since September 14, 2008, everyone has known about the Hunger Games. This thrilling series that was once just 3 novels, turned into 4 exhilarating movies that so many people enjoy today. These books came alive and gave people another way of enjoying this series. When everyone watches these movies, every single person is on the edge of their seat, waiting to see what exciting thing is going to happen next; I know I am. Released on March 23, 2012, the box office revenues poured in $155 million the first weekend the first movie was released. This made it the third highest debut of all time. And this was just the beginning of the economic impact, Hunger Games had on the world.
The Hunger Games was not only popular in America but overseas as well. It was projected to place number one in every foreign market and it succeeded this goal. The movie opened worldwide at $214.3 million. This high demand for the movie forced movie theaters to have midnight showings and extend amount of time the movie was available. This was an advantage for them, however, because there was such a high demand, more people and more people came to watch the movie. It was like a domino effect, as soon as people heard how amazing the movie was, they went to go see it. As said by The Hollywood Reporter, “Among the past films that Hunger Games surpassed in its opening weekend were Spider-Man 3($151.1 million in 2007), The Twilight Saga: New Moon ($142.8 million in 2009) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 ($138.1 million last year).” This astonishing data shows how successful the movie was. Even though there was a lot of competition in the film market that weekend, The Hunger Games managed to blow away it’s competitors and come out on the top. No one predicted it would be this big.
This stimulating movie was primarily successful because it appealed to everyone. Both males and females enjoyed this movie along with families as well. It wasn’t a gory or graphic film that younger children couldn’t handle. Everyone could watch this movie and that projected lots of revenue. According to CinemaScore, 49% of everyone who saw the film were under the age of 25. This movie obviously attracted much of the young population which turned out to be very beneficial in the end. Because of the novel series being a best-selling Young Adult series, this amount of younger people was not a surprise. What was a surprise was the number of males that watched the movie. As said by Lionsgate Executive VP, “"I think that when we initially looked at this property, we thought we were going to have Twilight numbers in terms of females, but we didn't."
As you can see, The Hunger Games, affected the economy majorily by it’s outstanding ratings and opening weekend revenue. The other movies did just as well, for example, last year, Mockingjay Part 1 secured the spot of “Biggest Opening Weekend” resulting in $123 million. None of this would have happened without advertising and marketing. Because of all the commercials, online and radio Ads, and much social media help, the movies became successful. Advertising is a huge factor that impacts the demand for movies and in this case, advertising did it’s job; it reeled people in and forced them to see the movie. The final film , Mockingjay Part 2, is predicted to be even better since it is the ending to the series. As humans, we need a resolution to be satisfied, and The Hunger Games needs to end somehow and sometime. Everyone is expecting this overwhelmly good ending but will they get it? What do you think? If you really want to know, I’ll see you at the box office on November 20th, 2015.
Above is a chart showing the success of the Hunger Game series. Both the original Hunger Games and Hunger Games Catching Fire did better than every other movie during the opening weekend.
This video shows how advertising of the movie affected the success it ended up having. Advertising is a big factor that affected the demand of the movie.
Bibliography
"Box Office Shocker: 'Hunger Games' Third-Best Opening Weekend of All Time." The Hollywood Reporter. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
"Box Office: 'Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1' Scores Year's Biggest Opening With $123 Million."Variety. 23 Nov. 2014. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
"Economics of Hunger Games." Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.
Great job analyzing the economic impact of the Hunger Games films. I had no idea that the first movie was more profitable than Twilight. It's interesting to me that it was so profitable even though it targeted a younger age. Young adults usually don't have that much money and, therefore, when they are the target age I would think it would be difficult to make a high revenue. However, as you noted, I guess the movie attracted more than just young adults. Apparently the big craze over the Hunger Games books sparked the interest of adults as well as younger kids, and everyone seemed to be interested in the movie. The demand just keep on shifting rightward.
ReplyDeleteAlong the lines of what Madeline was saying, even though it was marketed to a younger audience the butterfly effect of that decision would also pull in their parents who more than likely would take them to the movie to watch. I think that would count as an externality... Or some sort of effect that happens, branching out from the original consequences. It's also nice to see it made more than Twilight.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that when Twighlight came out it was such a popular movie and everyone had to go see it. The movie made tons and tons of money because of the fact it was so popular. Since The hunger games came out it was even more popular than twilight ever was. The demand for The Hunger games kept going up and up as the number of movies being made went up. Then each part of the movie was made and it made the demand for the movies go up and up.
ReplyDeleteThe topic immediately grabbed my attention because i remember when i was completely obsessed with The Hunger Games way back in Freshman year. I was happy to find out that it made more than a movie about a cheesy love triangle and sparkling vampires in the box office. As you noted, we as people aren't completely satisfied until we have a conclusion. Even though I know how the trilogy ends, I will most likely be going to see the final movie a group of friends.
ReplyDeleteYou made a good point in your analysis saying that there was a domino effect with people seeing the movie. I'm sure a lot of people heard from their friends that they liked the movie and they really wanted to see it. Another thing is I'm sure if one person in a group of say 5 friends said they read the book and loved it, then the whole group of friends is going to the movie. That is a benefit of adapting a book into a movie, it all ready promoted itself in a way. Something I find interesting is why was Hollywood reporter surprised with the results. I'm sure it did a little better then expected, but this movie came out in march. March is a almost dead month for movies. Most high grossing films wait until some for max dollar possibility and then the highly awarded movies wait till fall and winter, so the Hunger Games filled the market with a summer blockbuster movie that came out in march and that is very rare and that is another reason why it did so well in the box office.
ReplyDeleteYour topic caught my attention right away, when the movie first came out I didn't know what the Hunger Games was about, so with all the talk about the movie made me interested it in, so when you brought up the domino effect that was a good point. Besides the previews of the movie on TV, I never really thought about the extra attention the movie gets with all the advertisement through social media ads. That is a very good way to promote a new movie cause for some it does draw a lot more attention. Also I liked how you compared The Hunger Games to different movies because it helped put into perspective just how much money the movie actually made compared to Twilight. It's crazy to look and see how money movies make, they are very beneficial for the economy.
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