Why I think Lionsgate might get “The Hunger Games” film right

I had some downtime today so I did a news search on “The Hunger Games” movie. While there’s nothing new in the way of casting (darn it!), I did find some interesting back articles describing the production on this film. My attention was piqued and I was ecstatic to learn that the book trilogy’s author is adapting the screenplay herself, which has to be a first in this genre. Neither J.K. Rowlings nor Stephenie Meyer adapted their stories for the big screen, and many fans were unhappy that important details were left out.

Of course, a book author writing a screenplay could be a dangerous prospect, but I also learned that Ms. Collins formerly worked in TV and Film production as a writer, so she obviously has skills in this area. Things are looking up already!

Apparently “The Hunger Games” has also become a hot property in Hollywood, inspiring bidding wars and multiple studios to stake claims on it. Lionsgate — a studio, if I’m honest, I have never liked — had the foresight to snap up the rights after “New Moon” broke box office records (and film studios began snapping up the rights to young adult books left and right, but so far, “The Hunger Games” is the only one to generate positive buzz). Yesterday, Warner Brother Studios purchased the rights to distribute “The Hunger Games” film overseas. Obviously people are expecting this movie to do really, really well.

I found interviews with a variety of high-profile celebrities — Emily Blunt, Stephenie Meyer, Stephen King, Kristen Bell — professing their undying love for these books as well. It certainly is poised to become the next big thing if people don’t get turned off by the idea of kids killing kids. Then again, that could also work in its favor. “The Hunger Games” books have just as many male fans as female fans, whereas “Twilight” has a predominantly female fan base, and look how well it has done at the box office.

I've been looking on YouTube and found these cool fan-made trailers. I thought this one was pretty cool.



As an aside, I also found this video highlighted on The Hollywood Reporter website. A production company in Utah is staffed by lots of fans of “The Hunger Games” books, and they filmed a critical scene from the first book — Rue’s death. I was amazed at their attention to detail — Katniss’s bow and arrows, her orange backpack and the Mockingjay pin she wears make Katniss look exactly how I pictured her. Of course, in the book, I’m pretty sure Rue is described as being a tiny 12-year-old black girl, but otherwise, these guys did an outstanding job! Check it out to get a taste of what “The Hunger Games” is all about.