With the Harry Potter films complete and the Twilight series wrapping up with their final installment this coming November, Hollywood is looking for the next hit Young Adult book series to become a blockbuster movie franchise. This March will see the release of the latest book-to-film adaptation: The Hunger Games, based on the first in the bestselling series by Suzanne Collins.
Although there have been a dozen or two film adaptations in recent years based on bestselling YA books, most other book-to-movie transitions haven't seen the success of Potter or Twilight. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Eragon, The Golden Compass, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, I Am Number Four, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, and a slew of others have appeared on the big screens, to generally mixed results. Even Martin Scorsese's recent adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret (which, strictly speaking, is based on a non-fantasy YA novel, although the story's steampunk edge gives it something of a fantasy feel) opened to rave reviews -- but it couldn't hope to match the numbers of the boy wizard and sparkling vampires.
Enter The Hunger Games.
What's the story of The Hunger Games? Suzanne Collins opens her YA science fiction series with a premise that seems like a cross between extreme reality television and Shirley Jackson's famous short story "The Lottery." In a post-apocalyptic North America, the continent has been divided into thirteen "Districts," with the wealthy Capitol governing the Districts' people. The Games are an annual contest held by the Capitol, in which one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are chosen from each District to compete. The Games have a Survivor feel to them -- a wilderness contest of strength, endurance, and survival skills, televised live to the District citizens back home. And there's really only one rule: the winner is the last person left alive.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen isn't chosen as one of the two Tributes from District 12 -- her young sister Prim is. But Katniss becomes District 12's Tribute when she volunteers to take her sister's place in competing in the Games.
What follows is a trilogy of post-apocalyptic books about survival, courage, government control -- and, in the final book, war. The stories have a decidedly darker tone (with a decidedly darker ending) than many of their YA counterparts (even if nobody could call the final Harry Potter book a light read, by any definition of the word). Which, in some ways, may make The Hunger Games an unlikely choice as the next Potter or Twilight marketing juggernaut.
Then again, The Hunger Games has already had its share of marketing success, with a wide array of themed merchandise, including journals, jewelry, t-shirts -- even a line of nail polish. (Although, to this last, there is a precedent set by Twilight -- a Twilight-themed perfume.) And the books themselves are bestsellers, appearing on the New York Times bestseller list for over 100 consecutive weeks. There's a devoted, all-ages fanbase for these books, and the novels themselves have a rich, well-developed world and cast of characters to draw on -- all good building blocks for a successful movie.
With the second book already slated to be filmed as a sequel for release next year, Hollywood is banking on The Hunger Games to be a financial phenomenon. Expect to hear a lot about this movie in the coming months, as theaters prep for what all involved hope will become the next big blockbuster. But whether or not the film series succeeds will rest in the hands -- and wallets -- of moviegoers.
-- Post by Ms. B
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