90 replies to this topic

[Scholar's Parrot]

Tyler, on 19 May 2011 - 08:13 AM, said:

Scholar, on 18 May 2011 - 09:22 PM, said:

Andrew, on 18 May 2011 - 08:35 PM, said:

the moral queasiness and ick factor of reading about teens killing other teens ended up outweighing the series' merits, but anywho...)

While I enjoyed the series, this has been my one issue with the story. Whenever anyone asks me of they're worth reading, this is my one warning. She loses sight of the true villain, the government, and settles to turn fellow children who are in the same situation as Katniss, into the villains. The "career" tributes that are so hated are still victims of the government.

Have you read Mockingjay? I had a similar reaction as you did to the first two books, but the third one expands the scope and refocuses on the real evil in the Panem world.

Yeah, I have. And I appreciated that about it. Her choice to linger on felllow tributes as the villains just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the series, but there will always be that "but…" that goes along with it.

[Tyler]

Lenny Kravitz will play Cinna.

Not sure how I feel about that, but the story also mentions Woody Harrelson will play Haymitch, which sounds perfect.

[Tyler]

Donald Sutherland will play President Snow.

The story also lists the release date as March 23, 2012, which seems early in the year for a movie that's getting promoted as heavily as this is.

[Tyler]

Four movies?

Quote

Lionsgate executives told Wall Street analysts this morning to expect big things from The Hunger Games, a series of four action films that the studio will release from the trilogy written by Suzanne Collins

Edited by Tyler, 02 June 2011 - 08:46 AM.

[Overstreet]

Holy Grammy Nominations, Batman! Danny Elfman AND T-Bone Burnett are doing the soundtrack.

Edited by Overstreet, 20 June 2011 - 12:03 PM.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Eight days later, The Hollywood Reporter claims an "exclusive" on the news of the Elfman-Burnett collaboration. Um, is there some new detail here that wasn't mentioned earlier?

[Tyler]

Motion poster revealed.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Edited by Peter T Chattaway, 28 August 2011 - 11:01 PM.

[Tyler]

Since PTC's link has been removed, here's one that should be more permanent.

Why is this being released in March? That seems like an odd time to bring out the "next Harry Potter."

[Christian]

Tyler, on 19 May 2011 - 08:13 AM, said:

Scholar, on 18 May 2011 - 09:22 PM, said:

Andrew, on 18 May 2011 - 08:35 PM, said:

the moral queasiness and ick factor of reading about teens killing other teens ended up outweighing the series' merits, but anywho...)

While I enjoyed the series, this has been my one issue with the story. Whenever anyone asks me of they're worth reading, this is my one warning. She loses sight of the true villain, the government, and settles to turn fellow children who are in the same situation as Katniss, into the villains. The "career" tributes that are so hated are still victims of the government.

Have you read Mockingjay? I had a similar reaction as you did to the first two books, but the third one expands the scope and refocuses on the real evil in the Panem world.

I'm nearing the end of Catching Fire. It started out great, an improvement on the first novel, but I've pretty much lost interest at this point. I'll finish it up in the next couple of days. Not sure I'll bother with Mockingjay.

[Tyler]

Christian, on 29 August 2011 - 06:48 PM, said:

Tyler, on 19 May 2011 - 08:13 AM, said:

Scholar, on 18 May 2011 - 09:22 PM, said:

Andrew, on 18 May 2011 - 08:35 PM, said:

the moral queasiness and ick factor of reading about teens killing other teens ended up outweighing the series' merits, but anywho...)

While I enjoyed the series, this has been my one issue with the story. Whenever anyone asks me of they're worth reading, this is my one warning. She loses sight of the true villain, the government, and settles to turn fellow children who are in the same situation as Katniss, into the villains. The "career" tributes that are so hated are still victims of the government.

Have you read Mockingjay? I had a similar reaction as you did to the first two books, but the third one expands the scope and refocuses on the real evil in the Panem world.

I'm nearing the end of Catching Fire. It started out great, an improvement on the first novel, but I've pretty much lost interest at this point. I'll finish it up in the next couple of days. Not sure I'll bother with Mockingjay.

Mockingjay is good for a while, but then it just keeps going. Eventually, it felt like Katniss was like Jack Bauer on the last few seasons of 24.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Tyler wrote:
: Why is this being released in March? That seems like an odd time to bring out the "next Harry Potter."

That's a good question. Apart from animated films, the best opening weekends in March have been:

• Alice in Wonderland (2010) -- $116,101,023 -- final cume $334,191,110
  
• 300 (2007) -- $70,885,301 -- final cume $210,614,939
  
• Watchmen (2009) -- $55,214,334 -- final cume $107,509,799
  
• Wild Hogs (2007) -- $39,699,023 -- final cume $168,273,550
  
• 10,000 B.C. (2008) -- $35,867,488 -- final cume $94,784,201

And the top three results there were arguably cartoons in their own way, which is not, based on the teaser, what Hunger Games seems to be.

Oh, and of the Top 30 opening weekends in March, 22 went to live-action films, and only 11 of THOSE grossed $100 million or more in North America before all was said and done. (That's a somewhat convoluted formulation, but only because I can't find a simple list of top-grossing movies released in March, only of top opening weekends in March. And I can't rule out the possibility that some film that opened to less than $24.6 million -- the opening that currently ranks #30 -- might have had strong-enough legs to carry it past the century mark. But would a movie with a strong built-in fanbase like Hunger Games necessarily show those kinds of legs? Doubtful, given how the Harry Potter movies tended to open huge and drop fast; these kinds of franchises tend to be quite front-loaded. So if it's going to be a big hit, it's got to hit big in its opening weekend -- and only a few live-action films have done that in March.)

[Christian]

Tyler, on 29 August 2011 - 08:01 PM, said:

Christian, on 29 August 2011 - 06:48 PM, said:

Tyler, on 19 May 2011 - 08:13 AM, said:

Scholar, on 18 May 2011 - 09:22 PM, said:

Andrew, on 18 May 2011 - 08:35 PM, said:

the moral queasiness and ick factor of reading about teens killing other teens ended up outweighing the series' merits, but anywho...)

While I enjoyed the series, this has been my one issue with the story. Whenever anyone asks me of they're worth reading, this is my one warning. She loses sight of the true villain, the government, and settles to turn fellow children who are in the same situation as Katniss, into the villains. The "career" tributes that are so hated are still victims of the government.

Have you read Mockingjay? I had a similar reaction as you did to the first two books, but the third one expands the scope and refocuses on the real evil in the Panem world.

I'm nearing the end of Catching Fire. It started out great, an improvement on the first novel, but I've pretty much lost interest at this point. I'll finish it up in the next couple of days. Not sure I'll bother with Mockingjay.

Mockingjay is good for a while, but then it just keeps going. Eventually, it felt like Katniss was like Jack Bauer on the last few seasons of 24.

Ugh. I finished Catching Fire this morning. Good beginning, and a decent ending, but it's one long slog in between. I think I'll try to listen to Mockingjay, just to finish off the series, but I'm not very excited about it.

I do think there's fertile ground here for a great movie series, but only if the filmmakers concentrate on Katniss vs. the President (or government), and don't get so caught up in the intricacies of the games. I realize that sounds wrong, and fans would never stand for it, but I think the situation and environment of Panem is more interesting than are the details of the competition(s).

[Tyler]

The full trailer is up on Apple.

Couldn't find an embeddable version.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Oh joy. I was HOPING we`d get some more orange and teal (with, admittedly, the occasional garish slap of pink).

[Christian]

Peter T Chattaway, on 14 November 2011 - 12:41 PM, said:

Oh joy. I was HOPING we`d get some more orange and teal (with, admittedly, the occasional garish slap of pink).

Not bad! Maybe these movies will be decent after all. (Although the preview gives away the set-up -- how Katniss ends up in the games

Spoiler

instead of her sister

, which is one of the more dramatic moments in the novel.)

Edited by Christian, 14 November 2011 - 12:50 PM.

[Lauren Wilford]

As a person who's heard a lot of the hype but has never set out to read the books, that trailer was pretty darn captivating. I'm sold.

[Tyler]

Christian, on 14 November 2011 - 12:50 PM, said:

Not bad! Maybe these movies will be decent after all. (Although the preview gives away the set-up -- how Katniss ends up in the games

Spoiler

instead of her sister

, which is one of the more dramatic moments in the novel.)

Yes, but you find that out at the end of chapter 1, so it's not a huge spoiler.

One of the limiting things about the books were that they were told in first-person (Katniss's POV) for the entire series, so you could only see a small part of the world. A few shots in the trailer indicate they're coming at the story with a wider angle.

Edited by Tyler, 14 November 2011 - 01:35 PM.

[Christian]

Tyler, on 14 November 2011 - 01:32 PM, said:

Yes, but you find that out at the end of chapter 1, so it's not a huge spoiler.

Right. I'm not sure how else you explain the set-up without, ya know, showing the set-up. Still, it's one of the more fond memories I have of these books, one of the few times I was caught off-guard and surprised in a good way. I was hoping moviegoers might share in that moment of early revelation -- but maybe that's because I didn't think so highly of most of the trilogy.

[Thom Wade]

Lauren Wilford, on 14 November 2011 - 01:02 PM, said:

As a person who's heard a lot of the hype but has never set out to read the books, that trailer was pretty darn captivating. I'm sold.

A friend who basically reads all the books his teen kids read (including all the Twilight books-which he read because a co-worker begged him to) said these were some of the best teen fiction books he has read.