Ender's Game may have opened to fairly solid numbers in the box office this weekend, but don't be so sure they'll be getting a sequel just yet. According to analysts, the film may have opened to a nice $28 million in North America, but YA audiences—the film's target demo—were apparently much lower than expected, meaning that Ender's Game may not be the next big young adult franchise Hollywood was hoping it would be.
"The film did not draw well from young adults, despite the book's popularity," MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler commented on the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Roughly 54 percent of the audience was over the age of 25. A good but not great CinemaScore of B+ is not likely to hold moviegoer interest, with Thor: The Dark World opening next week." Other anaylsts reportedly echoed Handler's thoughts, stating that Ender's Game may follow in the footsteps of other recent YA film adaptations like Beautiful Creatures and The Host, and lose steam as more anticipated films are released.
It also doesn't help that Ender's Game had a budget of $110 million, and is expected to earn only about $75 million—a loss of 35 million. So basically, it looks like Hollywood is going to have to keep looking for their next big YA franchise.
Ender's Game is based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Orson Scott Card. It was the first in a series of 16 sci-fi novels. The film, which stars Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, and Abigail Breslin, follows the story of a young boy who's enlisted by the military to prevent an alien race from destroying mankind.
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[via The Hollywood Reporter]
