The Hunger Games

JP Liz V1 · 05-04-2011 12:41pm #1

Josh Hutcherson has won the roll of Peeta, while Liam Hemsworth will play Gale in the upcoming film adaptation of Suzanne Collins wildly popular teen book series, Lionsgate announced Monday.
Both actors will star opposite Jennifer Lawrence who earned the lead role of Katniss, the scrappy heroine who represents her district in a fight-to-the-death competition in the story's post-apocalyptic world. Peeta is Katniss male companion in the competition, and Gale is her best friend back home.
The Hunger Games, which will be directed by Gary Ross, is set to be released on March 23, 2012.

I'm not familiar with the book series tbh but could it be as popular as the Twillight and Harry Potter films

LittleBook · 05-04-2011 2:17pm

I've read the series, not bad. Bargain basement prose but an interesting (if limited) world is evoked and the Games themselves are a fairly fresh concept ... think Battle Royale meets The X Factor.

While not a patch on Harry Potter, it has all the romantic elements of Twilight so it could go all the way ... but I think we're looking at a completely different audience.

I'm fascinated to see how the public reacts to a film which is basically about children being forced to kill each other ... there's a reason the US adaptation of Battle Royale never got off the ground.

Lirange · 08-04-2011 12:43am

They've taken a lot of liberties casting this film. All three leads have very little to almost nothing in common with the characters in the Hunger Games trilogy. A better option would have been to unearth young unknown actors for the roles. I think this is usually the best approach for a popular book series especially one with a large fan base and with young characters.

The fandom is up in arms about it. The instinctive reaction of some outsiders would be to dismiss this as rabid fangirls. I'm a 35 year old male fan of the books and I have problems with the casting. I do not consider my objections nor those of others to be minor ones. My appreciation for Jennifer Lawrence is well exemplified in previous posts here on boards. But she is not suited to the role of Katniss in too many ways. The casting process was flawed from the start however when you look at many of the other actresses that got to the latter stages of the auditions that were quite inappropriate for the role. Josh Hutcherson for Peeta is even more out of left field than Jennifer Lawrence. Basically they took a shallow sampling of all the established known young actors and actresses in Hollywood to establish their pool of candidates. Disappointing.

indough · 08-04-2011 12:47am

fans always whinge about casting but the fact is that book adaptations are made to appeal to more than just the books original fanbase

Lirange · 08-04-2011 1:56am

indough wrote: »

fans always whinge about casting but the fact is that book adaptations are made to appeal to more than just the books original fanbase

The implication there is that they could not do both. Or that appealing to fans of the books precludes appealing to a wider audience. Complete nonsense. These books though nominally classified as YA tend to appeal to a broader age range than say ... the Twilight books. Most importantly it is largely not the standard "whinging" to which your refer. Inevitably no casting choice will appeal to all and you can't satisfy everyone. But the issues here go beyond the usual trappings of fanbase malcontents. You obviously have no knowledge of it or the nature of the criticisms with your dismissive off handed response. There are problems with the casting that are fundamental to the story. These will impact how a general audience will receive it. It is not just a matter of irritating fans of the books trying to identify the characters on the screen with those in the books. I'm all too aware of the challenges of transferring a story and it's characters from one medium to another. But they simply could be doing much better and within reasonable expectations than they have been showing.

Richard Dower · 08-04-2011 2:49am

^ fangirl alert!

Lirange · 08-04-2011 8:18am

Richard Dower wrote: »

^ fangirl alert!

Coming from you I'm mortified.

JP Liz V1 · 12-05-2011 11:37am

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Hunger-Games-Casting-1032970.aspx

The Hunger Games has finished casting its 24 tributes, who will compete in a grisly competition in which the victor is the only one who survives.
Alexander Ludvig (Race to Witch Mountain) and Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan) will play District 2's Cato -- a fiercely competitive tribute who targets District 12 tribute Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) -- and expert knife-thrower Clove, respectively. Both are part of the group of Career Tributes, who look at the Hunger Games as an honor rather than a death sentence.
Woody Harrelson also recently joined the ever-growing cast that includes Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Elizabeth Banks and Paula Malcomson.

Check out a full list of the tributes below:

District 1
Marcel and Glimmer (Jack Quaid and Leven Rambin)
District 2
Cato and Clove (Alexander Ludvig and Isabelle Fuhrman)
District 3
Unnamed tributes (Ian Nelson and Kalia Prescott)
District 4
Unnamed tributes (Tara Macken and Ethan Jamieson)
District 5
Unnamed boy and Foxface (Chris Mark and Jacqueline Emerson)
District 6
Unnamed tributes (Ashton Moio and Kara Petersen)
District 7
Unnamed tributes (Sam Ly and Leigha Hancock)
District 8
Unnamed tributes (Samuel Tan and Mackenzie Lintz)
District 9
Unnamed tributes (Imanol Yepez-Frias and Annie Thurman)
District 10
Unnamed tributes (Jeremy Marinas and Dakota Hood)
District 11
Thresh and Rue (Dayo Okeniyi and Amanda Stenberg)
District 12
Peeta and Katniss (Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence).

The Hunger Games will begin on March 23, 2012.

JP Liz V1 · 20-05-2011 1:55pm

http://www.totalfilm.com/news/more-images-from-hunger-games-and-21-jump-street?ns_campaign=news&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=totalfilm&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+totalfilm%2Fimdbnews+%28Total+Film+IMDb+aggregate%29

more-images-from-hunger-games-and-21-jump-street-56820-00-470-75.jpg

JP Liz V1 · 01-08-2011 8:08pm

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20419951_20513357,00.html#20993772

^ New pics

JP Liz V1 · 29-08-2011 12:05pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecmP1nrPk2I

don ramo · 27-10-2011 8:07pm

Katniss

Peeta

Haymitch

Gale

Rue

Cato

Effie

Cinna

don ramo · 27-10-2011 8:10pm

finnished the first book there a week ago, really looking forward to this film, have the othere ready to read:)

Otacon · 28-10-2011 10:11am

Is it me or does Cato look really small?

I assumed he would be much bigger.

don ramo · 14-11-2011 4:29pm

first full trailer,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9a5V9ODuY

Lirange · 17-11-2011 2:14pm

don ramo wrote: »

first full trailer,

I am warming to JL and Josh in their roles after some initial skepticism. There are some things from the books that will be difficult to capture in the films. But still looking forward to going to the cinema to see this.

expectationlost · 20-11-2011 11:36pm

girl in book 16, women in film 21...

don ramo · 21-11-2011 8:55pm

expectationlost wrote: »

girl in book 16, women in film 21...

thats actually pretty good, remember kirsten dunst looking about 10 years older than what she should have in spiderman and tobey maguire looked about 15 years older,

if you watched that MTV show hard times of RJ Berger about half the main cast was 30+ playing teenagers,

she probably doesnt look as young as your probably want her to, im reading the books at the moment (on book 3) and id find it hard to picture anyone else playing katniss, she has to look nailed, now to see if she can play it, which im fairly confident she can,

foodie66 · 22-11-2011 12:45am

expectationlost wrote: »

girl in book 16, women in film 21...

Not only that but she looks older, or more mature. Katniss is supposed to be a delicate girl who has little food and Jennifer is a very healthy and sturdy looking girl.

Saoirse Ronan was up for this i think

cynder · 22-11-2011 5:10pm

Gales character should be peeta, and peetas character should be gales, the girl should also be scrawny. A bit of a disappointment in the casting.

VinLieger · 09-01-2012 11:25pm

Got the first book for christmas and could not put it down, it was so addictive. Went straight out and bought the other 2 and even though I didnt enjoy them quite as much compared to the first one the whole series was still a fantastic read and i cannot wait till march 23rd.
So far from what ive seen in the trailers and screens its looking pretty good, although i dont think its gonna be perfect as trying to condense such an amazing book into a 2-3 hour movie means some stuff has to be left out, but nonetheless im really looking forward to my next hunger games fix.

saralou2011 · 27-01-2012 8:23pm

Just finished the first book! Going to buy the other two tomorrow:D. Can't wait to see the flim, hope they don't ruin it

VinLieger · 03-02-2012 12:37am

NEW TRAILER!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoUT7q2iTbQ

Otacon · 03-02-2012 10:37am

I really like Jennifer Lawrence as an actress but some of the delivery in that looks real choppy. Obviously its a trailer so I cannot fully judge it.

Cirque Du Freak · 10-03-2012 3:10am

I don't think the film will do the book any justice at all. The only character they got spot on is Primrose I think.

WatchWolf · 10-03-2012 12:17pm

Is this just like a tween-girl version of Battle Royale?

Skinfull · 10-03-2012 2:11pm

WatchWolf wrote: »

Is this just like a tween-girl version of Battle Royale?

Or the running man. I've never read the book, but it should be worth a look.

Galvasean · 10-03-2012 5:16pm

To me (someone who hasn't read the books) it just looks like a very blatant rip off of Battle Royale. Anything I'm missing that sets it apart?

Kinski · 10-03-2012 5:56pm

Galvasean wrote: »

To me (someone who hasn't read the books) it just looks like a very blatant rip off of Battle Royale. Anything I'm missing that sets it apart?

It's based on a series of YA novels, so I wouldn't expect anything terribly original. But Battle Royale wasn't all that original either, given its similarity to The Running Man.

Oafley Jones · 10-03-2012 7:07pm

Know nothing about the series either - bar the amount of people I hear on the net saying that it's a BR rip-off - but the production design looks pretty low budget from any clips I've seen. Costumes, make-up, hair and set design all look like they wouldn't be out of place on a tv show.

CharAdriel · 11-03-2012 7:43am

I also have reservations about how the book is going to translate on film. However, I still can't wait to see them try. The books were great and I appreciate that the author didn't drag the story out longer than 3 books.

lestat21 · 11-03-2012 9:25pm

Galvasean wrote: »

To me (someone who hasn't read the books) it just looks like a very blatant rip off of Battle Royale. Anything I'm missing that sets it apart?

I taut that too but the writer apparently got the idea channel swapping between american idol and some war film .... shed apparently never heard of BR

I havent read BR but I've seen the film and it didn't really look at the issues behind the kids been forced to kill each other. Hunger Games were set up to punish regions of a post apocolyptic state for rebelling against the city. Its a trilogy that evolves into a dark look at civil war, post traumatic stress, torture and all that stuff.. I taut it was something very different from the usual young adult BS but you might disagree. Does that sound like the BR book or bit different?? Id actually luv to know..

Also I can imagine the first film will be very good and stick to the material of the book. But as the subsequent books get darker, I imagine it will get the hollywood treatment.

TheIrishGrover · 11-03-2012 11:38pm

I haven't read the BR manga but I have seen the film (and, unfortunately, the sequel) and I have read the Hunger Games books. To be honest, there is a fair point to be made about the similarities and I don't really believe that Battle Royale (the movie/s) had no influence altogether. There are just too many similarities. Of course there are differences: The whole different region thing, the fact it's televised etc but, once they got into the games themselves and the other books, I kept being brought back to Battle Royale. I enjoyed the books (Wasn't too gone on the last one though) but I can't see what the hysteria is all about. They were fun and quick reads but not earth shattering (My favourite "kids" books have to be Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy which I urge everyone to read). It seems they have laid off the advertising a bit lately, although I'm sure it's the calm before the storm, but I'm already a bit jaded by the barrage of advertising. (Maybe because I've read the books)

Galvasean · 12-03-2012 1:23am

lestat21 wrote: »

I havent read BR but I've seen the film and it didn't really look at the issues behind the kids been forced to kill each other. Hunger Games were set up to punish regions of a post apocolyptic state for rebelling against the city. Its a trilogy that evolves into a dark look at civil war, post traumatic stress, torture and all that stuff.. I taut it was something very different from the usual young adult BS but you might disagree. Does that sound like the BR book or bit different?? Id actually luv to know..

It's been ages since I've seen BR (never read the manga), but IIRC the idea behind it was to 'sacrifice' one class of school kids every as the youth of Japan were being too disrespectful to authority.
Just checked Wiki and the film apparently opens with this text:
"At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, AKA the BR Act..."

TheIrishGrover wrote: »

Of course there are differences: The whole different region thing, the fact it's televised etc but, once they got into the games themselves and the other books, I kept being brought back to Battle Royale.

Reminds me of The Condemed, where a TV mogul rounds up the world's deadliest convicts and puts them on an island BR style and streams it live on web bases pay per view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0w3vKgka_Y

Starring Vinny Jones and Stone Cold Steve Austin no less! :pac:

That_Guy · 12-03-2012 2:25pm

Saw the trailer for this. Doesn't look too bad. As others have said it looks like Battle Royale lite though.

cynder · 12-03-2012 2:30pm

They still dont have a rating on the film, do you recon it will be a 12A?

cant pre book tickets yet either

Sasquatch76 · 12-03-2012 3:18pm

One thing it has going for it is Jennifer Lawrence. I was very impressed with her in Winter's Bone... she could be a talent.

Otacon · 12-03-2012 3:22pm

Sasquatch76 wrote: »

she could be a talent.

Yes, yes she could be!

14-03-2012 12:18am

We're going to be getting a cut version over here, the BBFC has said that in order to achieve a 12 rating in the UK cuts have to be made so 7 seconds is being removed. It's obvious that they are going after the Twilight audience which I think is the wrong idea. While many of us instantly think of Battle Royale or the Condemned when we see posters/trailers for this there is a lot of potential.

I'm curious as to why the BBFC allowed them a 12 cert meaning that under 12s can now go see a film about kids killing one another. Good chance that there's little in the way of onscreen violence.

Sad Professor · 14-03-2012 12:24am

BBFC cuts usually only affect our DVD/Blu-ray releases. The cinema version should be untouched.

14-03-2012 12:38am

Sad Professor wrote: »

BBFC cuts usually only affect our DVD/Blu-ray releases. The cinema version should be untouched.

Hopefully we will get the uncut version, the one positive of digital is that it's much easier to create versions for each region. If the cuts were made in a half decent manner such as in the recent I Spit on Your Grave then it wouldn't be too bad but watching The Immortals a few weeks back I was struck by how poorly the cuts were implemented.

Sad Professor · 14-03-2012 1:08am

Was the Irish theatrical realise of Immortals cut? What did they cut?

14-03-2012 1:29am

Sad Professor wrote: »

Was the Irish theatrical realise of Immortals cut? What did they cut?

I was referring to the Blu-Ray which had the following cuts:

removal of the bloody focus on a throat being cut
reducing the focus on young women dying, having been burnt
reducing the focus on eye gouging
removing the shot of a beheading, and
reducing some focus on large splashes of blood resulting from characters being killed.

The problem with the cuts to Immortals is just how jarring they are. There are numerous moments where you find yourself asking what the hell just happened there as it's obvious that footage is missing. There is one great moment where a character falls down dead and we have no idea what just happened.

It seems that the version of the Hunger Games the BBFC cut had been cut by the studio before submitting it.

Lirange · 14-03-2012 9:37pm

This is receiving plenty of hype. I'm skeptical that it will live up to the expectations that some people seem to have. I'm not sure the books translate well to the screen. A central element of the books was the first person account of Katniss. That for me was the biggest strength of the story. That will be missing. The film will tell it in a completely different way. I'm not sure it will resonate as well. The inner conflicts of the character drove much of the story. It is completely inevitable and unavoidable that the audience that only knows the character from the film and not from the books will see Katniss much differently. Her outward projection of feelings often differed from what she really felt. Often her thoughts were probably much different than one might expect from most others. I'm not sure even a superb performance from Lawrence can address that.

giddybootz · 15-03-2012 10:18pm

I read the 3 books last week and I loved the 1st one, really liked the 2nd one and was a bit 'meh' by the end of the 3rd.

I am dying to see the movie though....not because I think it can be a patch on the book but because I am so excited to see more of Effie Trinket and the stylists!!! Totally the most exciting thing about the film release IMO!!

I'm a bit worried the love triangle will be over emphasized to reel in Twi-hards but fingers crossed it won't be too lame!

Sad Professor · 18-03-2012 2:36pm

The Irish release of this has been passed uncut with a 12A rating.

Sentid · 21-03-2012 7:54pm

Will it break the $100M barrier on its opening weekend? I can tell you that it's got all the hype of Twilight, but fellas are joining in too. Hope it does well, good reviews flowing in on Rotten Tomatoes

OldeCinemaSoz · 21-03-2012 10:50pm

Is it just me or are the trailers just too carbolic?

Like something for BBC's MERLIN? :rolleyes:

I know it's a 12A and all that...

johnny_ultimate · 22-03-2012 12:42am

Where did all the hype for this come from? Kind of making me feel really unhip

Everything I read about it sounds like a sanitized Battle Royale, but hey there's no money in originality

mach1982 · 22-03-2012 1:48pm

I only started reading the books( I've give the 1st 8/10 better than Twilight but not as good as Harry Potter ), on Kindle for android , this week. I though WTF haven't been to cinema in a while , so going to see it tomorrow..

Lirange · 22-03-2012 5:04pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Where did all the hype for this come from? Kind of making me feel really unhip

Everything I read about it sounds like a sanitized Battle Royale, but hey there's no money in originality

Much of it is due to the popularity of the book trilogy. Which unlike a certain other recent "tween" book series has better transcended gender and age. There will be 3 possibly 4 films. BR and HG are not as similar as some people seem intent on suggesting. In fact beyond similarities in the initial premise they are quite fundamentally different. Kids forced to kill each other. That's where the similarities end. In this story much is focused outside the Games on the social structure and society of Panem.

Only half of the first book is even spent on kids fighting in the arena. Less than half of the second book features fighting in an arena and most of them are adults not kids. The third book doesn't feature any arena fighting whatsoever as there's a rebellion against Panem.

But the fighting itself is much different too. For Starters unlike BR the Hunger Games are a reality TV Show

Contestants favoured by the audience are sponsored with gifts that help them and thus alter events in the arena. There are Gamesmakers that manipulate the environment (floods, fires, or even genetically engineered predators) during the games to put on a better show or push towards more desirable shifts of power or conflicts. So as a contestant you have to be mindful not only of your opponents but of how you are perceived in order to gain favour with the audience and avoid the wrath of the gamesmakers.

The Hunger Games

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