Mark your calendars, collegiettes! Something b-i-g is coming. We’re not talking about Carolina Cup or that 15-page paper you’ve been putting off … we’re talking Twilight-big.
What: The Hunger Games movie
Where: Everywhere, including the Carmike (which is only $8 on Fandango)
When: March 23, midnight premiere on the 22
Why: Do I really need to answer that?
On March 23, The Hunger Games is rolling into Winston Salem’s finest theaters. The movie marks the beginning of a new movie franchise with actors Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth (sigh), Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, and Stanley Tucci (I could go on).
Now for those of you that have not read and thereafter become an avid—read: obsessed—fan of The Hunger Games yet, don’t worry, you still have time! Get yourself down to Barnes & Noble ASAP, or bug your suitemate to loan you her copy (someone on your hall will have it).
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If you haven’t read the books, you’re probably wondering, What the heck is this about?! Trust me, I know. If I had seen that trailer blind without reading the books I would probably save my interest for another series. But trust me ladies, this movie is about to blow up.
The Hunger Gamestells the story of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), just a young girl trying to make her way through a dystopian, post-apocalyptic America. What was formerly known as the U.S., a country ravaged by disease and war, is now Panam: quaint little place comprised of 12 districts ruled by the rose-wearing, blood-smelling President Snow (Donald Sutherland). The President sits in his mansion in the Capitol, watching the people of the districts starve and struggle to make ends meet.
Katniss is from District 12, the coal-mining district. She lives in the Seam, immersed in poverty and forced to hunt illegally to put food on her family’s table. Her daily routine of sneaking under the electric fence to the woods to shoot down deer and rabbits with her best friend and hunting partner, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), is completely destroyed the day of the Reaping. This event happens once a year when the Capitol requires each of the 12 districts to send a boy and a girl to participate in the “Hunger Games.”
The Hunger Games is essentially a fight to the death among the 24 boy and girl “tributes” of the districts to reiterate the fact that they are not as strong as the Capital. Charming, right? On the day of the Reaping, when names are randomly selected and her younger sister Primrose (Willow Shields) is picked, Katniss’s world turns upside down. She volunteers to take her sister’s place and thus enters the life-and-death struggle of the Hunger Games
We can only hope that the movie will be just as good as the book. From the trailers and special clips, it seems that Gary Ross’ vision is truly bringing the book to life. From Lawrence’s emotional portrayal of Katniss to the tiniest detail such as Kravits’ gold eyeliner, The Hunger Games promises to make an impression.
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So collegiettes, prepare yourselves for The Hunger Games phenomenon that is about to start, and buy your book and movie ticket today. If you’re obsessed like me, you will be at the midnight premiere. Dressed like Katniss. With a bow and arrow over your shoulder. Too much?