TNT Scores Hunger Games, Divergent Franchises

ATLANTA/SANTA MONICA: TNT has landed the network TV rights to the global blockbuster movie franchises The Hunger Games and Divergent in an agreement with Lionsgate.

TNT scored 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. TNT will become the first basic cable network with access to all four Divergent films at the same time.

The network also secured telecast rights to the first two Hunger Games films, The Hunger Games (2012) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013). 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 Divergent will begin in 2016, with the additional three films in the series coming to the network over the next three years.

"The Hunger Games and Divergent franchises fit perfectly within TNT's brand evolution and expansion into action-packed genre programming," said Michael Wright, the president and head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). "Like our current hits The Last Ship and Legends and the upcoming series The Librarians, the movies in these franchises are ideal for drawing young adults to the network. We look forward to making The Hunger Games and Divergent movies the kind of event programming that will engage and excite fans for years to come."

"We're delighted to launch this partnership with TNT for two of our biggest global franchises," said Jim Packer, Lionsgate's president of worldwide television and digital distribution. "The agreement underscores the breadth and depth of our content portfolio and supplies TNT with blockbuster franchises that will resonate with their audiences for many years to come."