“The Box Score: Here is how the films compare in revenue, ancillary projections and profits.
The Bottom Line: Both of these are easy to like. As many feel was the case with storied franchises including The Terminator, Star Wars and The Lord Of The Rings, many people feel that the second installment of these films improved on their first efforts, which is how it should be once you get the mythology out of the way in the opening installment. The revenue profiles are different: The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug had a $258 million domestic gross that was dwarfed by its $611.7 million overseas take and another $74.7 million from China, while The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was the year’s biggest domestic grossing film with $424 million (10th best all time) after becoming the top-grossing Thanksgiving weekend opening ever, and the best-ever weekend for November. It grossed $440 million overseas. It made more domestic and worldwide than any of the Twilight Saga films.
Jennifer Lawrence Hunger Games Hobbit 2 had a net production cost of $260 million, with another $155 million for P&A, while Hunger Games bore a $130 million price tag in net production costs, with $50 million to release it domestically. Lionsgate pre-sold it overseas, which lessened risk but cost it profit. Hobbit 2’s gross revenue was $795.6 million, but all of the rights payments and participations and overhead cut into the pie. Its profit was $134.1 million. Contrast that to Hunger Games, which had total gross revenues of $562 million, significantly less than Hobbit 2, but which generated $294.9 million in profits. Its Total Cash On Cash Return was 2.10 against Hobbit 2’s 1.20.”
