$60M Budget for The Hunger Games?

Ellen Pittleman, a veteran studio executive in Los Angeles, recently posted about this year's American Film Market on the Baseline Intelligence blog (Baseline Intelligence is a part of Baseline - a premier provider of film and television information):

Another young adult franchise on sale this year at AFM was Suzanne Collins’ books “The Hunger Games” which tells the story in a post-apocalyptic world where a replacement for the United States demands two children from each of its territories be used as gladiators in a televised fight to the death. Gary Ross (Seabiscuit) directs this $60M adaptation.

$60 million was likely the asking price from the screenplay pre-production as it stands today (outside of development and cost of advertising, marketing and distribution). This is the first time we can remember seeing a specific budget provided for the movie (it's typically been more of a range).

Although $60 million isn't all that much today with many films coming in at almost double, it does mean that the movie should have a level of polish that we'd been hoping to see! (As a comparison, the first Twilight film had a budget of $37 million.)

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