The Hunger Games Movie

The New Twilight? 

For those of you that have been living under a rock for the past eight to ten months, The Hunger Games trilogy was picked up by Lionsgate, casted, the first book has been filmed, and is now beginning to be promoted starting with the first trailer premiering last night during the MTVs VMAs.  With the Twilight saga coming to an end this November some are saying it will be the “next twilight”.  With the movie coming out in March 2012 here’s what you need to know:

About the Story

The Hunger Games is a story of a girl named Katniss Everdeen who grew up in district 12 of the dystopian, post apocalyptic society in the runes of North America.  Katniss is the protector and provider of her household and has been ever since her dad was killed.  She and her best friend, Gale Hawthorne, who too is the head of his home, go out to hunt, gather, and do black market trades every day to make sure their families aren’t among the ones starving.    Katniss would do absolutely anything to keep her younger sister, Prim, safe and that’s exactly what she does when she takes Prim’s place as the girl tribute from district 12 for The Hunger Games.  The Hunger Games are an annual event in which each district must drawl two names, a boy and a girl, starting at the age of 12, to be brought to the capital and put in the cornucopia to fight until death.  The last one alive wins and gets to return home with better means of living.  If things couldn’t get any worse, the boy tribute is Peeta Mellark.  The last person she’d want to kill is the boy with the bread.     

Characters

Katniss Everdeen, the heroin of The Hunger Games will be played by Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawerance.  You may know her as Mystique from X-Men: First Class, Winter’s Bone, or the Beaver.
 

Peeta Mellark, the male contender from district 12 will be played by fellow Kentuckian, Josh Hutcherson.  Josh has been in The Polar Express, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and The Kids are alright.     

Gale Hawthorne is played by Liam Hemsworth, mostly known for his work in The Last Song, is the younger brother of Thor’s Chris Hemsworth, and on and off boyfriend of Miley Cyrus. 

Elizabeth Banks will be playing Effie Trinket, is the manager type escort of Katniss and Peeta to the capital.  You may know her from the Spider Man movies, the 40 Year Old Virgin, Scrubs, etc.  

 

Woody Harrelson is picked to play Haymitch, the only surviving district 12 tribute from 24 years ago who is now a drunken mess for the coach of Katniss and Peeta.  He’s known for being in the early 90’s hit show Cheers and the movies No Country for Old Men, 2012, and Friends With Benefits.  

Rocker Lenny Kravitz will be playing the beloved Cinna, Katniss’s stylist in the capitol.  Although he is mostly known for his music, he has made appearances in shows, such as Glee and Dancing with the Stars, and movies such as Bad Boys II.  He is also the father of X-Men: First Class’s Zoey Kravitz. 

Little Rue will be played Amandla Stenberg.  Rue is the District 11 tribute that reminds Katniss painfully of Prim and the team up.  Other than the new movie Columbiana this is Amandla’s first big movie. 

Willow Shields will be playing Primrose Everdeen (Prim), Katniss’s 12 year old sister and who’s place Katniss takes in the Hunger Games. She’s been in the TV Show In Plain Sight.

About the Movie

The Hunger Games has been filmed in Asheville, NC instead of creating a fake Appalachian setting in Hollywood.  The three books will be converted into four movies instead of three.

 So have you guys read the books? Are you excited about the movie?  What do you think of the casting?  Do you think that  The Hunger Games will be the next twilight? Better? Not as good?  Let us know & remember may the odds be ever in your favor.

-M

I got my information for E Weekly mag, IMDB.com and The Hunger Games trilogy.

From Books to the Big Screen

Books have been made into movies for years.  There was Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice and multiple classics that are still being remade to this day.  Only until the past decade has it become a trend to for young adult books to be put on to film, for instane the Harry Potter series.  Since then, books such as the twilight series and those by Nicholas Sparks have hit the big screen, but that’s just the beginning.  Books have also become popular prime time series.  So far The Vampire Diaries by L.J.Smith, The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar, and Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard are the main ones that have made it to the silver screen although it too is an ever growing trend.

 

So what does this mean for authors?  For J.K. Rowling it meant that she became the first billionaire author in the world.  But that is a stretch of reality for most authors.  Most, although their income will increase with the rights of their books sold to movie producers, won’t be making that kind of money.  What they get is the chance to see their books brought to life and an increased fan base.  It used to be that it was a rarity for books to be transferred to film but it’s becoming more popular everyday giving some authors more hope that they too with get to see their stories brought to life.       

Pros:

-          The movie already has a fan base which means that there will be people interested in seeing it.

-          Fans of beloved books always want to see it produce on film.

-          By making a book into a movie, it introduces fans to the books. (Lots of people began reading the twilight books after it was made into a movie)

Cons:

-          Movies always leave off parts of the books.

-          Movies always add stuff that wasn’t in the books. (example: the Weasley house burning down in the movie of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)

-          Movies are rarel yas good as the books if you’ve read them first. 

Upcoming books that are being made into movies/tv shows:

-          The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

-          The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins

-          Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard

-          Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

-          The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

-          The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

-          The Secret Circle by L.J. Smith

So what do you guys think about all of these books being brought over to film?  Are you going to read any of these books before they hit the big/silver screen?

-M