The Hunger Games franchise has made a boatload of money thus far, so it’s only natural that Lionsgate — the studio behind the films — would want to keep the cash flowing. That said, if the studio does move forward with prequels, spinoffs, etc., it looks like it may be doing so without Jennifer Lawrence (aka Katniss Everdeen).
In a recent interview with Variety, Lawrence was asked about the possibility of future Hunger Games movies and said unequivocally “I wouldn’t be involved.” The actress went on to add “I think it’s too soon. They’ve got to let the body get cold, in my opinion.”
Macabre imagery notwithstanding, we’d have to agree with J-Law. Remember, Lionsgate already stretched the third book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy thin by splitting it into two separate films. If it immediately begins another Hunger Games-related project, it’s possible that franchise fatigue may set in, at least among casual fans.
In fact, the box-office numbers for the latest installment of the series suggest that it might be setting in already. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 is by no means a flop, but it is on pace to post the lowest domestic gross of the franchise so far.
Still, Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns recently suggested the the studio very well might explore the possibility of some sort of Hunger Games spinoff series. At last week’s UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Burns likened the franchise to Harry Potter and said it could — in a similar fashion to Rowling’s wizarding world — “live on and on.”
To sum up, it looks like we haven’t seen the last of Panem, but it also looks like J-Law fans will have to catch the actress in one of her many other ongoing/upcoming projects. Next on the docket for the former Mockingjay is David O. Russel’s Joy, which hits theaters this Christmas.
China just gave Hollywood a cautionary tale about AI filmmaking. Sanxingdui: Future Past, billed as the country's first fully AI-generated movie, hit theaters on October 23 and bombed at the box office.
According to Futurism, the film's reported $1.5 million production budget landed on more than 10,000 screens. Yet it pulled in only about $181,000, averaging roughly $20 per screen, making the budget difficult to recover.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?