By Brent Lang
TheWrap

“The Hunger Games” may be the most important film franchise on Wall Street.

Other film franchises, like “The Avengers” and the James Bond movies, have sold more tickets, but the impact of the dystopian thriller and its three planned sequels on Lionsgate’s fortunes has been seismic. Since the first film in the series debuted in March 2012, the company’s share price has more than doubled from $14.53 to $32.54 as markets closed on Thursday.

Bing: Jennifer Lawrence on anxiety disorder

The stock could continue to climb over the weekend once “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” debuts, particularly if the hotly anticipated sequel is the kind of Blockbuster hit that most analysts and Hollywood insiders widely expect it will be. The first film grossed roughly $700 million globally, a figure box office prognosticators expect the sequel to not only meet, but exceed.

“The company has a tremendous amount of momentum,” James Marsh, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, told TheWrap. “‘Hunger Games’ is one of the most enviable franchises in Hollywood.”

See photos: The Evolution of Jennifer Lawrence: From ‘Monk’ Mascot to Katniss Everdeen (Photos)

The first film also showed investors that Lionsgate, a studio best known for the Tyler Perry oeuvre and genre pictures like “Saw” that were targeted to very specific demographics, could open a film with broad appeal.

“Before ‘Hunger Games,’ Lionsgate was seen as an emerging minor studio, and I’m not sure its a major studio yet, but it’s certainly moved up in the ranking of people,” Hal Vogel, CEO of Vogel Capital Management, said.

Photos: ‘Catching Fire’ eye candy | ‘Catching Fire’ fashion face-off

Its valuation has also soared along with investors’ estimations, aided not only by Katniss Everdeen and her adventures, but by activist investor Carl Icahn’s decision to end his hostile takeover campaign and by Lionsgate’s merger with Summit. The company’s market capitalization has increased from roughly $1 billion in 2011 to $4.49 billion this week.

Also aiding Lionsgate’s reputation on Wall Street: Television properties like “Orange Is the New Black” and “Nashville,” as well as the part it played in rolling out the final film in the “Twilight” series — a tween property it inherited through the Summit deal.

What’s remarkable is that Lionsgate’s fortune have risen primarily on the back of a film franchise at a time when the movie business is frequently seen as the least sexy aspect of sprawling media companies’ portfolios.

Investors tend to be far more excited by theme parks or cable, both of which offer more capacious profit margins. Just ask Comcast or Disney. These conglomerates have become so diversified that hugely expensive movies like “John Carter” or “The Lone Ranger” can flop spectacularly without any appreciable impact on a company like Disney’s share price.

“‘Hunger Games’ is Lionsgate’s most important franchise,” Marla Backer, an analyst with Ascendiant Capital, said. “It can move the needle, it will move the needle and it should move the needle.”

The key will be sustaining that growth, Backer and others argue. To that end, Lionsgate has lined up “Divergent,” a movie adaptation of Veronica Roth’s series of best-selling fantasy novels, and has handed it the same March premiere slot that it used to launch “The Hunger Games,” lest anyone be confused about its ambitions.

“There’s a tug of war in the market right now over Liongate and the question is, can the company repeat the success of ‘The Hunger Games’?'” Marsh said. “There’s a debate over whether or not the management was just lucky with ‘Hunger Games’ or have these guys figured out a secret sauce with young adult franchises that they can repeat again and again?”

If Lionsgate has indeed devised a formula that brings teenage audiences to movie theaters, look for that bit of alchemy to be reflected in its share price.

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WENN

Fox Searchlight executives are developing a biopic about famed author J.R.R. Tolkien.

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The author, who penned classics such as “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” is the latest literary legend set to have their life played out on the big screen. The film will chronicle the key moments which led Tolkien to create his iconic books, including his service in World War I, his role as a code breaker-in-waiting during World War II, and his friendship with “Chronicles of Narnia” author, C.S. Lewis.

“Cowboys and Angels” director David Gleeson, a self-confessed Tolkien superfan, will pen the screenplay.

NEW YORK (AP) The “Hunger Games” sequel “Catching Fire” opened with $161.1 million at the box office, narrowly besting the original film and setting a record for a November opening.

Bing: ‘SNL’ Hunger Games skit

The result, from studio estimates Sunday, fell short of some expectations, and failed to dethrone the year’s biggest box-office opening of $174 million for “Iron Man 3.” But it did best the previous top November opening of $142.9 million by “Twilight Saga: New Moon.”

But the bigger budget and better reviewed “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is doing far better abroad than the 2012 original. It opened with $146.6 million internationally.

The domestic total included Thursday night screenings that made approximately $25 million. The film’s three-day weekend total of $136.1 million was actually less than “The Hunger Games.”

Critics’ Reviews: ‘Catching Fire’ and more new films

PARIS (AP) — Director Georges Lautner, whose films from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are part of the French canon and still adored, has died.

He was 87. The cause of death was not announced.

Of the dozens of films he made, “Les Tontons Flingeurs,” which appeared as “Monsieur Gangster” for Anglophone audiences, was perhaps the most beloved.

Bing: More on Georges Lautner

His films were often hilarious and wildly popular; lines from several have entered the popular imagination and quoted almost as if proverbs. His movies are still frequently screened on French television.

Lautner is credited with guiding a generation of actors, including Jean-Paul Belmondo.

On Saturday, President Francois Hollande lamented Lautner’s passing a day earlier, noting that his movies were “great popular comedies that became cult films of our cinematic heritage.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is a scorching hit at the box office.

Lionsgate has released early numbers on what’s expected to be one of the biggest November openings ever. “Catching Fire” has grossed $70.5 million domestically and $64 million internationally, bringing its total to $135 million, the studio reported Saturday.

Numbers were from Friday’s opening day, but includes some scattered preview shows on Thursday night. The sequel gained $25.3 million from Thursday screenings.

“Catching Fire” is expected to bump two-week champ “Thor: The Dark World” out of the No. 1 slot. Full weekend ticket sales estimates at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak, will be released Sunday. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

Totals for “Catching Fire” are expected to reach $150 million domestically over the weekend, though some reports estimated a $170 million opener.

Also: Critics reviews

“This is a testament to the power of the books, the way the first film resonated across the world with audiences and Jennifer Lawrence’s continued success and popularity, particularly in this role,” said box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak of the “Catching Fire” success. “And the movie has gotten great reviews, which means it will get great word of mouth.”

The impressive opening of “Catching Fire” is expected to mark the eighth-highest domestic opening to date. “The Hunger Games,” with $67.3 million its opening night in 2012, holds the title of the sixth-highest opening weekend with $152.5 million. “The Avengers” sits at No. 1 with $207.4 million.

More: Eye Candy: ‘The Hunger Games’ edition

According to poll data, the popularity of “Catching Fire” is crossing over to all moviegoers, as compared to the female-heavy audience of “Hunger Games.” About 12 percent more male moviegoers saw “Catching Fire” and the audience was split equally between those older and younger than 25.

The smoldering “Catching Fire” ticket sales are in line with what the studio was expecting, said Dergarabedian.

“They are going to get a wonderful second weekend with Thanksgiving,” he added. “It is so important to have Thanksgiving as your second weekend. People have time off work and go out and catch up on their movie-going. It’s a brilliant position to be in.”

Ellen is just another self absorbed actor with an inflated view of her own value. I don’t approve of her lifestyle or her values…………..​<!–what a worthless piece of crap!

NEW YORK (AP) — Rick Santorum was glad-handing a friendly crowd at a cocktail reception the other night, seeking support just as he did for many grueling months on the 2012 campaign trail for the Republican presidential nomination.

But this time he wasn’t looking to get on a ticket — well, not yet, anyway — but rather, to sell tickets. Movie tickets.

Many might not know that Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and darling of America’s social conservatives, is now a movie mogul. In June, he became CEO of EchoLight Studios, a Dallas-based Christian film company that produces and distributes what it calls faith-based family films. In the past few weeks he’s been promoting his first theatrical release since taking over; Aptly, given the season, it’s a Christmas film.

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“The Christmas Candle,” which features Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle in a minor speaking role, is about a minister in a small 19th-century English town, at odds with his congregation’s belief in a blessed, miracle-producing candle.

Based on the book by Max Lucado, it opened Friday in more than 300 cities across the country — none too soon, says Santorum, who believes Hollywood has fallen down when it comes to Christmas films.

“Name a Christmas movie produced by Hollywood that has anything to do with Christmas,” Santorum said at a recent Manhattan screening of his film. “Not elves and Santa Claus and reindeer and ‘The Polar Express’ — some of these are very good movies, uplifting, wonderful, but none of them mention what Christmas is about! None of them mention the birth of Jesus Christ. That is remarkable.”

It’s also one of the reasons he got into the movie business, he says, capitalizing on his newfound visibility after the 2012 campaign. Santorum quit the race in April of that year, ceding to eventual nominee Mitt Romney, but his surprising performance in the hard-fought primaries left him, at least for the moment, as a prominent social conservative voice.

“After the campaign, I had this newfound gift: fame,” he said. “People knew who I was, all across the country. And I thought, well, how could I take this gift and help God and country?” A supporter from Texas brought him in, he says, and he soon became chairman of the board, then ultimately CEO.

Santorum says he’s a big movie fan. (Asked what his favorites are — besides “The Christmas Candle,” of course — he mentions “It’s A Wonderful Life” and says he also plans to see the “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” But there’s a lot about current fare he doesn’t like.

“Look, violence for the sake of violence is not a good thing,” he said. “Sex for the sake of sex is not a good thing. That doesn’t mean there can’t be sex or violence or language in a movie if it’s put in the context of what it is and the effect of it, the consequence of it. But if it’s just gratuitous, that’s another thing.”

At the Manhattan screening, Santorum shook the hands of filmgoers and chatted about the film. Though the invited guests were upbeat, critics have been mixed.

The Tulsa World called the film “stiff when it needs to be alive, colorless when it needs to be shiny.” The Washington Post, on the other hand, said that “in spite of hammy histrionics requisite for the genre, it is not at all a turkey.” The Hollywood Reporter noted its “positive message,” but also its “hopelessly stodgy execution.” It also called Boyle “hopelessly stiff.”

EchoLight is distributing the film in the United States, but did not produce it. Santorum says he and EchoLight did suggest several changes, some of which made it in, but not all. There’s a moment toward the end that personally irked him, he said, but his artistic opinion on that point did not win the day.

Santorum says his studio is now working on several new movies, with three scripts in development. Some will make it to theaters, others will go straight to dvd or to television. As for his own tenure, he can’t say how long it’ll be, and that’s partly because he hasn’t ruled out the possibility that he’ll be on the campaign trail again sometime soon. He offered a quick “Sure!” when asked if he’s open to running again.

A lot will depend on personal factors, he said. “You put a wife and seven children through a run for president particularly the run I made, which was a lot of grass-roots knocking on doors and the time away from your family is pretty taxing. And there’s the financial aspect of it. I’ve got seven kids, three in college, three more on the way, so it’s a big financial commitment to do that for me, because running for president doesn’t pay.”

He does seem to have strong opinions on other potential GOP nominees. Without naming names (though the question was about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie) Santorum said: “We need someone who’s an authentic conservative.”

As for his own future, he says, “We’ll see where we are a year from now. But in the meantime, I am all in with this (movie-making) and we’ll see how it goes.”

By Josh Dickey
TheWrap

Eloise Mumford has signed on to Universal/Focus Features’ “Fifty Shades of Grey” to play Kate, the college journalist who misses her big interview with Christian Grey because she’s sick —  so she sends along roommate Anastasia Steele instead.

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Individuals close to the talks tell TheWrap that Mumford — who’s had some tough luck booking plum parts on well-received but quickly canceled TV shows “Lone Star” (Fox) and “The River” (ABC) — has closed the part of Kate and will be on-set when “Shades” starts shooting in a few weeks.

Also on TheWrap: Inside Charlie Hunnam and Dakota Johnson’s ’50 Shades of Grey’ Casting: Chemistry Tests to the Dotted Line

Mumford’s film credits include Blumhouse feature “Not Safe For Work,” also at Universal; and the female lead in the indie “Drones.” Mumford will play opposite Dakota Johnson, whom TheWrap first linked to the adaptation of E.L. James bestselling erotic novel.

The casting of Mumford, who is repped by Paradigm, was first reported by Variety.

Jamie Dornan on ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’: ‘None of it Scared Me’

‘Fifty Shades’ Author E.L. James on Her Book to Big Screen Success: ‘You Don’t Expect This’

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’s’ Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson Cozy Up For Entertainment Weekly (Photo)

I’d not heard of him. I suppose decadent rich was not his to be, while the two or three  biographical articles I’ve linked seem to explain. He was politically blacklisted, and rather than revert to suicide (a la Larry Parks), he went into film/book European writing exile. The surname “Knox” is apparently showbiz-crapola, because he was (apparently) of Russian-Jewish background.

His story might be even more interesting if his (apparently) unknown/out-of-wedlo​<!–ck parents had been famous names. His reported friends Norman Mailer Gore Vidal were complex, profound, entertaining writers too.

NEW YORK (AP) — Eight — that’s how many red carpets the stars of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” have walked at premieres around the globe to promote it.

Not that they’re complaining about going to cities like Rome, London, Paris and Madrid. Still, the film’s stars, Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth, admitted it was a bit of a whirlwind traveling for the second film in the “Hunger Games” series.

Bing: Jennifer Lawrence on anxiety disorder

“You look at the schedule and you’re like, ‘Oh man, that’s grueling’ and then you’re living it and you’re like,’ I can’t possibly … uh, I can’t do this,'” she said, laughing on the red carpet at the film’s final premiere in New York City on Wednesday night.

“It’s crazy to wake up in a different city every day, but I think turning up and seeing how excited people are for this film, it gives you energy,” Hemsworth said.

From all that traveling, Lawrence admitted she had no idea what was going on in the world, particularly with current events.

Photos: ‘Catching Fire’ eye candy | ‘Catching Fire’ fashion face-off

“It’s impossible,” she said. “People were like, ‘oh’ and talking about things that had happened during the week. I’m like, ‘I wasn’t on the planet. Like, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t know the mayor (of Toronto) was smokin’ crack,” she said, referencing the scandal involving that city’s mayor, Rob Ford.  

The 23-year-old Oscar-winner was jovial at the event, which also drew cast members like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Elizabeth Banks, and other stars like the designer Valentino and Brooke Shields. Lawrence cracked jokes with reporters and talked to all the press a change from the Los Angeles premiere earlier in the week where she was too sick to do many interviews.

“Catching Fire” will be released in theaters on Friday.