Hunger Games should fulfil starving box office

BETWEEN teenage warriors, superheroes, vampires, spies and hobbits, cinema executives are increasingly confident of attracting record audiences this year.

Even without a movie likely to be anywhere near as successful as Avatar, many expect that up to 10 Hollywood blockbusters will take more than $20 million each - selling at least 1.5 million tickets - despite tough times economically. Boosting returns will be more movies in 3D and the growth of ''premium'' sessions.

So far, it has been a year of strong results for such Oscar winners as The Descendants, Hugo, The Iron Lady and The Artist but modest returns for Hollywood blockbusters. The only movie to top $20 million has been Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. But as Hollywood rolls out its summer movies, that is expected to change when The Hunger Games opens in Australia this week.

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The action-fantasy movie, based on a teen-lit novel by Suzanne Collins, stars Jennifer Lawrence as a young warrior in a televised battle to the death.

If it seems baffling to you that a relatively low-profile movie could sell two million tickets in the next few weeks, then you have clearly missed the frenzy among young teens over the bestselling trilogy.

Encouraged by advance ticket sales ''tracking ahead of the original Twilight'', the movie's distributors have scheduled 100 midnight sessions around the country on opening day.

David Seargeant, the managing director of Amalgamated Holdings, which owns the Event Cinemas chain, believes The Hunger Games will take more than $30 million, which would make it one of the year's biggest hits. ''The books have fed a lot of anticipation about the film and people are now hearing that it really delivers, so we have very high expectations,'' he said.

Sony Pictures Releasing's Stephen Basil-Jones, expects a frenzy among 14 to 16-year-old fans of the novels. ''They're incredibly well read by girls, 12 to 18 in particular, then the guys,'' he said. ''And a little bit like the Twilights - it's gone from the daughters to the mothers.''

Mr Basil-Jones expects a promising range of Hollywood blockbusters to drive the annual box office past the Avatar-fuelled record of $1.13 billion two years ago.

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Hunger Games should fulfil starving box office

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero