Well, two movie guys I read who often disagree with other on just what kind of fluff movie they like both agree this one is a stinker.
I think they’re slightly outnumbered by the critics that like it.
I suspect it will come down quite a bit starting tomorrow as the big batches of reviews start coming in, until this morning it was at 100%, even among top critics. How far remains to be seen. Or maybe it will hold. I know quite a few people who have seen it (I didn’t get to one of the promotional screenings) and so far the negatives are outpacing the positives. But they aren’t exactly a representative cross sampling of society.
I hope it is good. While I’m not a big fan of the book, I do see the potential for a decent movie in it. But for now I just find it interesting that two guys who are often on opposite sides of movies like this both pretty much gave identical explanations for what they felt were the big flaws.
I can tell you the books are not “kids books”. How they handled the movie will be another story that we will have to wait a few more days to find out.
The books are definitely kids books. If they were intended for adults they might have had some depth.
That said, they are not elementary school kids books (though I’d probably have read them in elementary school but then I read Clan of the Cave Bear in elementary school).
Well, I am a 29 year old man and I think the book is great. I loved the survival aspects of it. And also that it had a strong female lead who’s strength wasn;t that she was physically strong, but had skill and mental toughness (I also love Hit Girl from Kick Ass).
I like Sci-Fi stuff, which the future setting gives just enough of. And living in PA, I have an interest in what life was like when coal ruled the land. And the post apocalyptic setting works well for that.
I also liked the writing style. I kept moving and stayed interesting.
I just hope the movie dosn;t focus on the romance aspect more than the books did. If they keep it at the same level as the books, I will be ok with it.
Then you will need to define “kid”. Cause I think we are thinking of different age groups. I would say the books were written for 14 and up. When I head “kids books”, I think of like 9-13 year olds.
I would say anything intended primarily for an audience of not adults are kids books. “Kids books” is a casual term, for me, that can then be broken down into the more formal category of childrens books and YA books.
Same. From what I gather, it’s a toothless, sanitized rehash of BR. I prefer the fucked up Japanese version.
Who?
The NYT has an interesting article about the marketing campaign for this movie. Their marketing budget was about 45 million dollars–less than half the typical budget for a would-be blockbuster. Their strategies have been … unique.
Regarding the built-in audience due to the popularity of the book: one thing the article notes is how the movie marketing campaign has significantly helped the book sales. It’s hard to say for sure how much–but 60% of the sales volume for the book have come since the beginning of the movie marketing campaign.
Jeff Wells and David Poland.
Neither one is a critic per se. But there among those I read with some interest on their opinions, though I regularly disagree with both.
When this movie was first green-lit it was intended to be done as a low-budget flick but then the books took off like crazy and the budget got amped up. Will be interesting to see if it suffered any growing pains from that change in the middle of the process.
[QUOTE=The AV Club]
Fandango reports that the film has already sold out more than 2,000 showtimes this weekend, accounting for 92 percent of the site’s daily ticket sales.
The Hunger Games has now sold more advance tickets than any non-sequel ever, and it’s due to knock one or more of the Harry Potter or Twilight films from their perch on the Top 5 Advance Ticket-Sellers list by Thursday, officially entering the pantheon of those blockbuster franchises before its first chapter is even released.
[/QUOTE]
Can I revise my guess and put it in the $140-$150 million range? This movie is going to be the biggest thing ever.
Bigger than Jaws ?
Eh, what the hell, I’ll go $200 million opening weekend (defined as from when the movie opens until the following Sunday evening, so if it opens on Thursday, I gets me an extra day.)
Box Office Mojo has their write-up… Available Here
Next Twilight? It’s starting to look like the next Harry Potter, at least in terms of cultural impact and media prominence if not necessarily quite the same demographic target.
Is anyone else uncomfortable with the fact that dystopic themes have become so prevalent in juvenile fiction?
For those who didn’t click over, that Times article also answers how many books sold: 24,000,000 in the U.S..
For comparables, the Harry Potter series has sold around 150,000,000 in the U.S. and Twilight has sold 100,000,000 in very round numbers.
Neil Stephenson is also not happy with this dystopic trend, and not just for young adults.