Lionsgate’s hopes of Ender’s Game becoming another Hunger Games-like franchise were tempered this week as the highly-touted film under-performed at the box office, taking in a paltry $32.5 million in its first five days of U.S. release and an additional $9 million from overseas audiences.
While those totals would be stellar for a film produced at half the budget of what it cost to bring Orson Scott Card’s novel to the big screen, it may not be enough for a film of Ender’s Game ilk to receive the green light for a sequel.
Lionsgate CEO John Feltheimer said as much today during a conference call with analysts when he stated that the studio will wait “another week or two” before it decides to move forward on a sequel.
Despite the film’s poor performance, Feltheimer refused to be counted out, and said that they are exploring the possibility of bringing Ender’s Game to the small screen in some fashion.
Intriguing developments for a film that has thus far performed “virtually on base” according to Lionsgate internal projections. But just what would a TV version of the novels look like? We’ve already seen the dour reception towards Marvel’s Agent’s of S.H.I.E.L.D. and one has to wonder if an Ender’s Game-based weekly show would suffer the same fate?
While Ender’s Game may have proven to be a rare misfire from Lionsgate, it is difficult to feel bad for them. On the horizon is their imminent release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which is guaranteed to mine box office gold and make the studio’s shareholders extremely happy.
Tell us, is bringing Ender’s Game to television the right move? And will its demotion to the small screen satiate fans of the series? Let us know in the comments section below.