Lionsgate president of worldwide marketing JP Richards on the expansion of the "John Wick" and "Hunger Games" franchises

Transcript

00:00To talk about the John Wick universe, I do think that you're the incredible expansion of that world.

00:05And you've franchised off into video games and graphic novels and hotel pop-ups and all this kind of stuff.

00:10How do you keep your arms around it while still ensuring some kind of quality from your end?

00:14Well, I think Martha made a really salient point, which is about fanship.

00:19And I think we all work in the fanship business.

00:23For me and for the team, John Wick, Hunger Games, it's all about fans, right?

00:28And so often in the olden days, which is probably like five years ago, but whatever,

00:35our social strategy around fans would exist only around the marketing of the movie itself.

00:42But now it's 24-7. It's always on. It's community management. It's engagement.

00:47And for the team, working on John Wick on a 24-hour basis almost is incredible.

00:54And then when you get the opportunity to expand the universe, both in television and also in the films,

01:01it's even better and greater.

01:05And having Ballerina come out in six weeks is great for us. We're very excited.

01:09We're starting to roll out more news about the Hunger Games with initial casting for the next movie

01:13after the launch of the book.

01:15That's the stuff that fuels us.

01:19You know, I think Dwight can relate to this.

01:22There's a lot of fans on the internet that don't always say the things you want them to say.

01:25But we're seeing all of the fans really communicate in smart, strategic ways, and we listen to them.

01:31And you'll hear that come up in some of the decisions we make,

01:33how we engage them,

01:35how we even put them in the movie.

01:37So it's really, really fun to work on the franchises.