The Hunger Games

[GeneChing]

Might as well get one started on this as it opens in a few weeks. And it's got archery.

Hunger Games Star's Sultry Side

[doug maverick]

i liked it better when it was battle royale!!

[ghostexorcist]

i liked it better when it was battle royale!!

Me too. My niece and nephew have been reading the book series. When I learned about the plot, I made it a point to tell them about Battle Royale. This is such an obvious rip-off that I'm surprised the Japanese author hasn't taken legal action.

[doug maverick]

thats what i said....such a giant lawsuit...and nobody is even saying anything.

[GeneChing]

The Running Man was '87. Battle Royale was 2000. The Hunger Games has the game show element of RM, with the kids of BR. A lot of my kid's friends a very into the book series, so it's very highly anticipated.

HG only really came to my attention when I was interviewing Saoirse Ronan for Hanna.

HANNA: The Girl Who Kicked Ass
Pleased to be part of rising bevy of girl fighters in film, Ronan believes that it is indicative of what film audiences want now - girls who are strong and can kick ass. "I went a screening the other night, which Joe wasn't allowed to go to because it was an 'all girls' screening. And there were women, some of them were mothers, they were all in their late 30s. And what they really got out of the film was a sense of empowerment and the fact that not even that she's young, but that she's female and has this strength over so many people. It's very exciting to see on screen. And I'm glad now that there's more characters coming out."

"It'll be great when Katniss from the HUNGER GAMES (slated for 2012) comes out at well. Not to go on to a different film, but I remember reading the book and thinking that this is a character that girls are going to look up to. And I think they're going to do the same with HANNA as well. The reason why I did was because she's weird. She's a bit of a misfit and she's got strength."

[doug maverick]

The Running Man was '87. Battle Royale was 2000. The Hunger Games has the game show element of RM, with the kids of BR. A lot of my kid's friends a very into the book series, so it's very highly anticipated.

HG only really came to my attention when I was interviewing Saoirse Ronan for Hanna.

the ny time put forth an article calling hunger games, straight up plagiarism...im trying to look for it online, but the article went point for point the similarities between hunger games and the 1999 novel battle royale. and its a wonder the royale will finally be getting an official blu ray release just before the hunger games premiere date.

[GeneChing]

The Hunger Games (2008)
Suzanne Collins
Reviewed by Stephen King | Sep 08, 2008

EW's GRADE
B
Details Release Date: Sep 14, 2008; Writer: Suzanne Collins; Genres: Fiction, Sci-fi and Fantasy; Publisher: Scholastic Books

As negative Utopias go, Suzanne Collins has created a dilly. The United States is gone. North America has become Panem, a TV-dominated dictatorship run from a city called the Capitol. The rest of Panem is divided into 12 Districts (the former 13th had the bad judgment to revolt and no longer exists). The yearly highlight in this nightmare world is the Hunger Games, a bloodthirsty reality TV show in which 24 teenagers chosen by lottery — two from each District — fight each other in a desolate environment called the ''arena.'' The winner gets a life of ease; the losers get death. The only ''unspoken rule'' is that you can't eat the dead contestants. Let's see the makers of the movie version try to get a PG-13 on this baby.

Our heroine is Katniss Everdeen (lame name, cool kid), a resident of District 12, which used to be Appalachia. She lives in a desperately poor mining community called the Seam, and when her little sister's name is chosen as one of the contestants in the upcoming Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place. A gutsy decision, given the fact that District 12 hasn't produced a Hunger Games winner in 30 years or so, making them the Chicago Cubs of the postapocalypse world. Complicating her already desperate situation is her growing affection for the other District 12 contestant, a clueless baker's son named Peeta Mellark. Further complicating her situation is her sorta-crush on her 18-year-old hunting partner, Gale. Gale isn't clueless; Gale is smoldering. Says so right on page 14.

The love triangle is fairly standard teen-read stuff; what 16-year-old girl wouldn't like to have two interesting guys to choose from? The rest of The Hunger Games, however, is a violent, jarring speed-rap of a novel that generates nearly constant suspense and may also generate a fair amount of controversy. I couldn't stop reading, and once I got over the main character's name (Gale calls her Catnip — ugh), I got to like her a lot. And although ''young adult novel'' is a dumbbell term I put right up there with ''jumbo shrimp'' and ''airline food'' in the oxymoron sweepstakes, how many novels so categorized feature one character stung to death by monster wasps and another more or less eaten alive by mutant werewolves? I say more or less because Katniss, a bow-and-arrow Annie Oakley, puts the poor kid out of his misery before the werewolves can get to the prime cuts.

Collins is an efficient no-nonsense prose stylist with a pleasantly dry sense of humor. Reading The Hunger Games is as addictive (and as violently simple) as playing one of those shoot-it-if-it-moves videogames in the lobby of the local eightplex; you know it's not real, but you keep plugging in quarters anyway. Balancing off the efficiency are displays of authorial laziness that kids will accept more readily than adults. When Katniss needs burn cream or medicine for Peeta, whom she more or less babysits during the second half of the book, the stuff floats down from the sky on silver parachutes. And although the bloody action in the arena is televised by multiple cameras, Collins never mentions Katniss seeing one. Also, readers of Battle Royale (by Koushun Takami), The Running Man, or The Long Walk (those latter two by some guy named Bachman) will quickly realize they have visited these TV badlands before.

But since this is the first novel of a projected trilogy, it seems to me that the essential question is whether or not readers will care enough to stick around and find out what comes next for Katniss. I know I will. But then, I also have a habit of playing Time Crisis until all my quarters are gone. B

The Long Walk was 1979.

[GeneChing]

He also did The Lord of the Rings and Narnia.

Stunt Coordinator/Stuntman, Allan Poppleton
By TheJust

"Did you guys have to go to boot camp [for the stunts]?"
"How funny would that be? Allan, like, 'Argh, get down!' That's funny!"

For anyone who loves the film series, The Chronicles of Narnia, the name Allan Poppleton is most likely a familiar one. Allan is the stunt coordinator for all three of these films. But Narnia is not the only place you'll know him from:

He has also worked on films such as Eragon, The Lord of the Rings and, more currently, (Freak out, girls!) The Hunger Games.

I was recently given the opportunity to interview this amazing stuntman for Teen Ink.

RH- Tell us a little about yourself.

AP- Born and raised in New Zealand. I'm married to Erika Takacs, [who is a] presenter, actress and singer. We have three amazing children: Tai, who is thirteen, Scarlett, who is three and a half and Maximus, who is one.

RH- How did you first become interested in

AP- To be honest, I've never went after it. The offer came my way. But once I started in the business, I never looked back. If you find a job that you love, you will never work a day in your life. I haven't worked in nearly eighteen years. I'm a very lucky man.

RH- You have been a stunt coordinator for all three of Walden Media's The Chronicles of Narnia adaptions; tell us about that experience.

AP- Yes, I was a stunt coordinator and fight coordinator on all three Narnias; I helped create the different fight styles for the creatures. I also doubled different characters in each film:

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I doubled Peter Pevensie when his unicorn got taken out by an arrow, and he got thrown off.
In Prince Caspian, I doubled King Miraz when he fights Peter at the end of the film. (We shot the one hundred-thirty beat fight over eight days.)
In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I doubled Drinian for a stair fall on the ship, in the serpent attack.

RH- What has been your favorite Narnia stunt to choreograph?

AP- I think the battle sequences are the most demanding, but also the most rewarding; especially with Prince Caspian. That film had three large choreographed battles:

1. Night raid in the castle
2. Aslan's How, cisterns, and Miraz verses Peter
3. River god

RH- What is it like working with Skandar Keynes?

AP- It's been an absolute pleasure knowing, working with and watching Skandar grow into a young man. I first met him in New Zealand back in 2004.

He and his family are great; down to earth and would do anything for me or my family. My wife is part Lebanese, and Skandar's mum (Zelfa) has tried several times to take her back to Lebanon...Which one day we hope to take her up on that offer...

RH- How does choreographing a fight or battle scene for a fantasy film such as Eragon differ from those of a realistic film?

AP- They differ usually by props, costume, character powers...Normally fantasy films are just that...And we have to keep it real for contemporary films.

RH- Explain the process of creating a fight scene from rehearsal until filming close.

AP- It starts with script/treatment, which would outline the fight. I would gather information from different departments, like armory, costume, art, location, ect. From there, I throw in my intellectual property and then take that along to meet with the director.

From there, I will start choreographing; then teach the doubles or performers, and then film the rehearsals to then show to the director. Once he has signed off on the fight, I begin to teach the actors. Once they have learned it, I see it through on set with the filming of it.

RH- Has there ever been an accident during filming? Or something went awry yet ended up in the finished project?

AP- Through my career, there have been a couple of mistakes, that I have seen, that have been used in the finished product. Our job is a lot safer than what people think; risk management and risk assessing sequences is a big part of a coordinator's job.

RH- When working with animals such as horses, how do you collaborate with the animal trainers?

AP- I work closely with the horse masters and wranglers. Safety is paramount, and I have the job of making sure the actors, stunt performers and extras are safe in and around the horses, along with the wranglers. We also work together on making the action sequence safe and exciting.

RH- How has training in multiple forms of Kung Fu helped your career?

AP- Martial Arts has been my passion since I was twelve, and is how I got into stunt work. I still train in several different Arts (Muay Thai, Wu Shu, Krav Maga). Training in different Arts definetely helps. All shows are different and it is important to not overuse styles that don't suit the genre of the film that you are working on.

RH- Aside from The Chronicles of Narnia and Eragon, you have also worked on the film adaption of The Hunger Games; what can fans expect to see?

AP- Hunger Games is going to awesome! I am still working on it at the moment, so am unable to say anything about it...Sorry! But make sure you check it out!

RH- Tell us about your work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

AP- I did around eight or nine months on the three movies, over a period of three years. I was performing as an ogre, elf, gondorian, Urakai, along with other characters. I also did a little doubling and rigging on the show.

RH- What has been your favorite film to work on?

AP- The Narnias, Avatar, Kingdom of Heaven, 30 Days of Night, Spartucus...Sorry, I can't choose one. Every film/TV show I have done has allowed me to meet different people, go to different places, see so many different things and get to work with really cool stuff...

RH- Tell us about the project you're currently working on.

AP- I'm {working} on Hunger Games in North Carolina at the moment, and I'm still consulting on Spartucus: Vengeance in New Zealand.

RH- What advice do you have for aspiring stuntmen?

AP- If you're keen, get training! Join a Martial Art, start horse riding, bike riding, gymnastics, high diving, free running; anything that will help with body awareness, timing and conditioning. Try and get Extra work so you can start to understand how the filming process works. Have a play with making your own short films...

[GeneChing]

I know a lot of people headed to opening day tomorrow.

More than 2,000 Shows of ‘Hunger Games’ Already Sold Out
Fandango announces record numbers for the Gary Ross-directed film out Friday.
12:59 PM PDT 3/20/2012 by Jordan Zakarin

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in the Crowd at the Reaping
Lionsgate

The Hunger Games is off to a killer start at the box office -- more than two days ahead of its release.

The wildly anticipated big-screen adaptation of Suzanne Collins' dystopian best-selling novel has presold out nearly 2,000 screens, Fandango announced Tuesday. The company said that the film is garnering 92% of its daily sales and has already surpassed the first Twilight film's presales numbers.

Directed by Gary Ross and starring Jennifer Lawrence as the protagonist teen warrior Katniss Everdeen, the film is riding off a massive marketing campaign as well as more than 26 million books from the trilogy sold.

Tracking estimates put its box-office take at $85 million at the most conservative, with studio insiders saying that it could reach between $130 million to $140 million. That could put it higher than the opening $138.1 million taken in by Breaking Dawn, Part 1, the most recent Twilight film. The film is Fandango's most successful March presale ever.

[Hebrew Hammer]

I enjoyed Battle Royal, but can't see what the big deal about this movie is? The previews look mediocre at best, its another Hollywood retread....maybe I'm too far removed from the 13 year old demographic that Hollywood tries to appeal to. That's probably why they keep remaking the same thing hoping for a better result? 13 year olds don't have a long memory.

[sanjuro_ronin]

I'll wait for the porn parody.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Don't you always?

[sanjuro_ronin]

Don't you always?

Yes, yes I do.

[GeneChing]

I enjoyed Battle Royal, but can't see what the big deal about this movie is? The previews look mediocre at best, its another Hollywood retread....maybe I'm too far removed from the 13 year old demographic that Hollywood tries to appeal to. That's probably why they keep remaking the same thing hoping for a better result? 13 year olds don't have a long memory.

Because when something scores with the tweener market, it scores big. Look at Twilight or Harry Potter. I wish kung fu would appeal to the tweener market. If only, man, if only...

[doug maverick]

Because when something scores with the tweener market, it scores big. Look at Twilight or Harry Potter. I wish kung fu would appeal to the tweener market. If only, man, if only...

its all about packaging and presentation...actually harry potter, didnt appeal to the tweener market...according to the stats, kids under ten and adults over 20 were the ones most into the harry potter movies...interesting combo.