As vampires Bella and Edward take their last bites on the big screen, Hollywood studios are on the hunt for the next Twilight, a film that plays on teenage angst and, more importantly, lights up the movie box office.
At least four films based on books for teenagers will reach theatres next year
The first four Twilight movies earned €1.5 billion at theatres worldwide, propelled by passionate fans of a book series about a vampire-and-werewolf teen love triangle.
Eager to replicate that performance, studios executives have been trolling through young adult novels with the dream of uncovering the next big blockbuster franchise, paying as much as €0.78 million to secure the film rights to the hottest books.
At least four films based on books for teenagers will reach theatres next year, with young love forced to overcome alien parasites, evil zombies and other supernatural bad guys.
Executives hope they can uncover a story that excites tech-savvy teens, who supercharged the buzz mill for The Hunger Games and other hits by spreading the word to friends through social media posts.
“It’s a very enthusiastic and deep passion that young people feel for a book they love,” said Nina Jacobson, executive producer of The Hunger Games, which spawned a blockbuster film franchise with €539 million in worldwide ticket sales.
The coming young adult films incorporate paranormal themes like those in the Twilight movies or dark dystopian futures and battles for survival reminiscent of The Hunger Games, and do it through the drama of young love.
Summit is aiming to get Twilight fans buzzing about next February’s zombie romance Warm Bodies with a trailer before Breaking Dawn – Part 2.
Warm Bodies star Teresa Palmer chatted about the movie – a love story between a zombie and human – while she strolled the red carpet at a Breaking Dawn premiere.
A couple of weeks after Warm Bodies, Warner Brothers will trot out fantasy film Beautiful Creatures, about a teen girl with magical powers and a boy who is drawn to her, with a debut on Valentine’s Day.
In March, Open Road Films releases The Host, a sci-fi tale about alien parasites from Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. Sony Corp.’s The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, about a teen girl who tries to protect the world from demons, comes out in August.
Summit’s drama Ender’s Game, the story of a boy who leads the charge against an alien invasion, is scheduled for November 2013.
They will battle the latest instalments of existing young adult franchises such as the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire that comes out in November 2013.
Warner Brothers will release Hobbit movies in December 2012 and December 2013.
The fever for young adult movies is so hot among Hollywood executives that studios snap up the rights to some books before they hit store shelves to keep them out of the hands of their competitors.