Gods of Egypt to start filming next month, possible Lionsgate 'franchise'

[becozy]

Source: Variety

With “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” having grossed $860 million worldwide, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer has underlined the studio’s focus on creating more franchises.

Feltheimer listed “Now You See Me,” “Mortdecai,” “Gods of Egypt,” “Chaos Walking” and “The Last Witch Hunter” as potential franchises for the studio during Friday morning’s call with analysts to discuss earnings for its third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31.

Fueled by “Catching Fire” and “Now You See Me,” Lionsgate reported earnings after the market closed Thursday above forecasts at $88.8 million, or 64 cents a share. During the call, Feltheimer repeated Sunday’s announcment that the timetable for the release of the next two “Hunger Games” movies — “Mockingjay Part 1″ on Nov. 21 and “Mockingjay Part 2″ on Nov. 20, 2015 — will remain unchanged despite the death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The actor played the part of the gamesmaker Plutarch Heavensbee.

“We were fortunate to have his incredible talent grace our Hunger Games family,” Feltheimer said Thursday. “We send our deepest condolences to all who were close to him.”

Feltheimer disclosed that Lionsgate’s sequel for “Now You See Me,” which grossed $117 million in the U.S. and $234 million internationally, will start shooting in September with most of the cast returning along with new stars. “We see it as an ongoing situation,” he added.

The CEO noted that another Lionsgate’s franchise will launch in six weeks with “Divergent,” based on the first book in Veronica Roth’s three-novel series and starring Shailene Woodley. He noted that the decision to move “The Hunger Games” movies from March to November was made for two reasons — getting the “Hunger Games” films in the prime holiday periods, and to open up the March slots for the “Divergent” films.

Feltheimer said the second “Divergent” movie — “Insurgent” — will be in production this summer in order to make its March 20, 2015 release date.

He announced that “Gods of Egypt,” starring Gerard Butler, will start shooting next month with a February, 2016 release date and touted Johnny Depp’s “Mortdecai” — which just wrapped production — as a potential franchise with Depp’s comic detective character as a successor to “The Pink Panther.”

Feltheimer also said Depp “loves” the character.

The exec noted that Robert Zemeckis is on board to direct “Chaos Walking,” based on the Patrick Ness trilogy of novels set in a dystopian world, while Vin Diesel is attached to “The Last Witch Hunter.” He also said Lionsgate hopes to announce another franchise title shortly, but gave no details.

Lionsgate, Feltehimer said, has “an ability to assemble and mine the richest and most diverse portfolios in the industry.”

[Hobbes]

Let's hope that not only is GoE really good, but that G doesn't die! Am I right?

[sweetquebecer]

Hello!

You're right, I hope he doesn't die!!!!!! Thanks for the update!!!!!! Awesome!!!!

Josée