TNT, a part of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., has landed network television rights to the global blockbuster The Hunger Games and Divergent movie franchises in a sweeping deal with Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF).
It was announced Thursday by Michael Wright, President, Head of Programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM), and Jim Packer, Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution.
TNT’s acquisition includes the network premiere windows for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, which opens in theaters this November, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, set for theatrical release in November 2015.
The deal also includes network premiere windows for Divergent, which grossed over $150 million at the domestic box office earlier this year, and Insurgent, which is set for theatrical release in March 2015.
Under the agreement, TNT will become the first basic cable network with access to all four Divergent films at the same time.
In addition, TNT has secured telecast rights to the first two Hunger Games films – The Hunger Games (2012) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), the top-grossing domestic theatrical release of 2013 and the 10th highest-grossing domestic release of all time.
The Hunger Games is slated to air on TNT for the first time in winter 2015, and the network will add the second installment, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, in winter 2016.
Both films will complement TNT’s network premiere launch of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 in 2017, and in 2018 TNT will be able to air all four Hunger Games films concurrently.
TNT’s network premiere window for the smash hit Divergent will begin in 2016, with the additional three films in the series coming to the network over the next three years.
Lionsgate’s Hunger Games films are based on the best-selling trilogy by Suzanne Collins, while the Divergent films are based on the best-selling novels by Veronica Roth.
TNT is part of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company. Turner Broadcasting creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.
