When the credits began to roll after Harry Potterr and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, I was overwhelmed by the feeling that my childhood was officially over. I, like so many other children of my generation, grew up with adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione.
I eagerly looked for something new to fill the void that had been diffindo-ed into my heart and first settled with the Twilight novels. I had high hopes until it was ruined, like many great novels, by being turned into a movie.
Yes, it had amazing potential, but the terrible casting and mediocre special effects had me blushing in embarrassment for the producers—and wondering if Kristen Stewart knew the difference between feeling “happy” and “sad,” because it certainly didn’t register on her face.
“Twilight stinks, in my opinion,” said sophomore Liza Turrill. “It’s like an older lady’s wet dream, sparkly vampires and werewolves with no shirts. I guess Twilight is the new generation’s Harry Potter, unfortunately.”
But fear not lovers of fantasy, action, science fiction and romance—something new is on its way.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins follows the story of Katniss Everdeen, a girl who lives in a post-apocalyptic society called Panem where the United States used to exist. The country is divided into 12 districts with a central city called the Capitol.
To remind the districts of the Capitol’s power, each year they hold a tournament called the Hunger Games. Each district selects two tributes between ages 12 and 18 using a lottery-like system. These tributes are then sent to the Capitol to compete in a bloody fight to the death, which is aired on national television throughout the districts.
Citizens are supposed to watch with excitement, like the way our society watches the Superbowl. Except instead of watching a ball being thrown around, they watch their children die. And are expected to cheer.
Strong, intelligent and independent 16-year-old Katniss is chosen from District 12. Let the games begin. The story has a bit of everything.
There is humor accompanied with great sadness, romance with great loss and moments of joy brought with moments of nearly absurd disturbance that left me yelling at the mute pages of my book.
I spent a week holed up at home reading these novels, completely unable to put them down. Even when I did, when I finally decided I should get at least a small amount of sleep, I would lay awake for another hour just thinking about it. And I know I’m not the only one.
Collins’ novel now has more than 2.9 million copies in print and is a USA Today and a New York Times best seller. And this is just the first novel, not counting Catching Fire or Mockingly, the other two books in the trilogy.
With such success, naturally a movie deal comes next. Lionsgate Films eagerly snatched up the rights to The Hunger Games and named Gary Ross as the director.
Freshman Jackeline Chaparro is eagerly awaiting the release of this new saga.
“I’m very excited. I just hope they stick to the story line,” she said. “It may not be Harry Potter, but it will be big enough.”
A trailer aired at this year’s VMAs and was found to be admittedly a little disappointing. But the ambiguity of the trailer was no doubt a tool to whet the appetite of anticipating fans all over
the world.
The cast list looks promising, with Jennifer Lawrence (most recently seen in X-Men: First Class) to play Katniss Everdeen. Josh Hutcherson is all grown up from The Bridge to Terabithia in time to play Peta Mellark, the other District 12 tribute and (spoiler alert!) a potential love interest, in addition to Liam Hemsworth (from The Last Song) as Gale Hawthorne.
Collin’s book is an amazing production all on its own. If the producers of this film stay as true to it as possible without cutting corners, it has the potential to bring to life another world that avid readers have created in their minds.
The highly anticipated end result is expected to be release on March 23, 2012. Hopefully this will be the next big feast for sci-fi and fantasy lovers everywhere.