'Hunger Games' to be released in China

Lionsgate's franchise-starter "The Hunger Games" will be released in China next year as one of the 20 U.S. films allowed annually into that territory by the Chinese government. Lionsgate's motion picturegroup president Joe Drake made the disclosure Thursday during the minimajor's conference call to discuss quarterly earnings. Drake said that "Games" will be released in foreign markets day and date with the domestic launch on March 23. Pic, starring Jennifer Lawrence and directed by Gary Ross, is the first of four films planned based on the Suzanne Collins futuristic fantasy novels. Drake said international distribs were "absolutely ecstatic" over footage and the trailer shown during a recent meeting held by Lionsgate for licensees at the American Film Market. He said that Lionsgate's expecting "significant overages" in box-office performance outside the U.S. Lionsgate reported Wednesday that it had pared its net losses by about $5 million to $25 million last quarter on an $11 million gain from selling Maple Pictures and ramped up contributions from pay TV partnership Epix, which earned it $6 million after losing it $20 million the year before. But the studio swung to a $19 million operating loss from a $22 million profit a year ago on a string of box office disappointments, including "Conan the Barbarian," "Abduction" and "Warrior." Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com