How do you know when a movie is going to be a cult phenomenon? Is it the millions of dollars that they rake in on tickets an merchandise? Or the fact that there is a whole set of faux posters being created before the movie has even been open for a week? In fact these posters were circulated the day of the opening.
The Hunger Games is the book and movie that everyone is talking about and these posters from EW.com are just as brilliant. They show what the movie poster might have looked like if different directors were involved…
The original Hunger Games poster
Comments
41 Comments so far
Aside from the original and Alfred Hitchcock’s version, all of those were very lame. At least change the pictures and names so that the actual characters/actors are shown…
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*still don’t get what all the fuss is about*
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I’m wondering why you captioned the obvious “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” version of the poster with “As directed by David Fincher, Director of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. It’s more like the poster for Social Network.
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HOLY BEJESUS THE MALICK AND HERZOG ONES OOOOMMMGGGGG
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Having never read the books I wish that I could get the 90+mins and the $20+ I spent on this horrid movie.
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I was lucky enough to win preview tickets lat week to see it and it didn’t disappoint! I managed to quickly read the first book before doing so (a rule I try to stick by) and found both to be great entertainment with a great deal of action and a lot of heart!
If you’re not sure what all the fuss is about, here’s my review …
http://www.themoneylibrary.com.au/blog/2012/3/24/movie-review-the-hunger-games.html
p.s. these posters are very well done. Aren’t people creative!
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Very nice!
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My son saw this movie on the weekend and now wants to read the books.
I don’t care what this movie is about – HE WANTS TO READ!!
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Children killing other children, a fitting way to get into literature.
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Yep, I feel a bit disturbed that a book trilogy and movie based on such a “game” is gaining momentum like this. I understand there’s more to the story, but that element totally puts me off.
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I felt exactly the same – in fact I downloaded the first book planning on reading a bit, hating it and then coming on here and other sites and saying ‘terrible concept, terrible plot terrible book’ but to my enormous surprise within two pages I was utterly hooked. Yes its brutal and disturbing but somehow it works as so much more than what you’d imagine as kids killing kids. You have to read it to see what I mean and seriously I’m the most wimpy sensitive to violence person I know, bawl my eyes out at everything…(my son also started reading the books after seeing the movie and he hasn’t read a book in about 15 years (he’s 20)) I don’t think everyone will love it but I was taken by surprise and I really did.
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Actually it is making a statement about our culture. Saying; look at what we think is entertainment now, picking apart peoples lives on reality tv. Then add a few hundred years and this is where our society will end up’.
Get off your high horse, anyone who bags literary work like this i think is uneducated and stupid. It’s like people who bag Harry Potter for being stupid wizard stories. Harry Potter stories are generationally-defining works of literary genius.
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You made the claim that “anyone who bags literary work like this I think is uneducated and stupid.”
Where is your evidence?
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Well… I guess to me a good book is whether it can grab your attention. I actually can’t believe that people only judge the book on the overall story. But if I put it this way, I’m sure most of you will see it differently. You are only seeing it as ‘Kids killing kids’. Yes, that’s the whole movie on the surface, if you can only see that far then keep being offended. But if you look at it, it’s the decision made by the people in the Capitol, and a way to surpress the people from the districts. You think the districts would fight against each other if they didn’t have to? The best thing about this book compared to other books is that the main character is a part of this tournament even though she hated the idea to save her sister, not because of a boy or parents or the Capitol but because she is a strong individual. It’s not often now that you find a female lead that isn’t overly sexualised or dependent on a male counterpart.
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It has made over $155 million US so far, must be doing something right.
Yet only made $9 million thus far in Australia.
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Well we are comparatively minuscule, and I think that’s more than the UK actually.
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Totally off this topic (still on THG), but just came across this on Jezebel…
http://jezebel.com/5896408/racist-hunger-games-fans-dont-care-how-much-money-the-movie-made
Awful. People complaining that Rue (in the movie) is black??? So so sad.
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That’s funny considering she’s described as black in the books, isn’t she?
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I’d love some help with this. When I was a young teenager, I think I read a book where kids were placed into a building (think warehouse, but never ending – no walls or ceiling, etc) that was full of stairs. Just stairs leading off stairs, etc .. and no rails. It was a similar premise as The Hunger Games, by the sound of it .. kids having to do what they had to do to survive. But it was an experiment by some group and at the end, I remember the remaining kids were let out and as they walked into the street and bright sunshine, they could only see in black and white.
I’ve tried and tried to find what this book was .. but no one knows and I just have these images of bits and pieces of it. I’m not sure that it wasn’t just a dream that I had, since I have pretty vivid dreams that stay with me.
Please .. does this story ring any kind of bell with anyone??
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House of Stairs by William Sleator
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Oh, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Mickie!!!
I will have to get it and read it again .. now that I know I’m not going nuts!
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Your’e welcome Suza, I’m going t get a copy as well, its been a long time since I read it
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By definition, a “cult” film would not be making this much at the box office!
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Loved the 3 books, loved the movie.
It is nit-picking to compare them to what’s gone before in other novels or film, much entertainment or art is derivative.
They are absolutely accessible and it is frighteningly easy to understand the concept,especially for this younger generation brought up on action RPG s and reality television – the books and film just take it to another level.
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I’ve just finished watching “Battle Royale” which was very realistic and definately not for children.
I haven’t seen “The Hunger Games” but I have read the book. I’m a little disturbed that they have apparently toned down the bloodshed, this in itself encourages people to allow their pre-teens to see the movie.
I don’t know…but I’m not comfortable at all about all this excitment about going to see a movie which glorifies children killing children.
How much better are we these days than the Roman gladiator days, back in those days people watched people forced to slay each other in the arena for publc entertainment. These days we are taking our children to the cinema to watch children being forced to slay each other in the arena for public entertainment.
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Umm, they’re not really dying? Let’s face it, the Haryy Potter franchise had lots of people dying in it. Many fairy tales have people trying to kill the protagonists. It’s fiction. If you’re concerned, they’re a good talking point.
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I think you’ll find that one of the main points of The Hunger Games is that Katniss and Peeta (and Gale back home) hate the fact that something such as the hunger games exists. I wouldn’t say they are glorifying killing children.
But that’s just what I think.
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There have been loads of books/movies over the years about dystopian futures where people kill each other for the entertainment of others. I’m sure they all influence each other, but probably the biggest influence was the Romans who did it for real. The point to me is that the killing is not glorified (at least in the book, I haven’t seen the movie yet so I can’t comment on that). The people of the Capitol might think it is entertainment but for the people of the districts it is repression and punishment. The message for me at least is what can happen when democracy is lost and how easy it would be to lose democracy in a time of environmental change and political instability (i.e. what formed Panem).
And even more important is that this is a book that kids are devouring. My mother was a primary school teacher and can talk for hours about how difficult it is to find books that really engage problem readers. Stories like this, like Harry Potter, like Tomorrow When the War Began that have young readers hanging out for the next book and reading with a torch under the doona should be applauded for the fantastic things they do for literacy.
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hi Lisa – i enjoyed your comments re the reactions of those in the Capitol to those in the districts re the reality of the Hunger Games,. I saw it on the w/e and haven’t read the books – as a past English teacher, I think an interesting way to ‘teach’ introduce this film which is based on books that kids really want to read – is to team it with snippets form “Ben Hur’ and “The Gladiator’ and also snippets from reality shows like “Survivor’ and that opens up so many areas for discussion / communication and critical response which is the basis of English
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Um the books/film are a critique on war/violence as entertainment.
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I enjoyed the series, but the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness (including ‘Knife of Never Letting Go’) Is so much better. Understated in a way that most American writing can’t seem to achieve. I would recommend the series to anyone.
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Apparently The Hunger Games is very similar to a Japanese film produced years before this story was written…. is that true?
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Maybe, not sure about that one but I think a more likely genesis for Humger Games might be http//www. shmoop.com/lottery-shirley-jackson/ studied in most good first year uni literature courses
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The movie you’re thinking of is Battle Royale (Poster #13). Having never seen BR, I can’t comment on it either way. I’ve read the IMDb.com page though and it seems similar but I prefer the story of THG, to be honest.
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Yup, similar to Battale Royale, but BR is quite graphic – more horror than anything else and not for kids. Similar plot – kids in an arena, fight to the death, one winner, cost of winning (sanity).
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I can’t believe how similar they are
– a big group of teens killing teens
– only one survivor allowed
– the whole thing being imposed due to a previous ‘rebellion’
– the love story evolving (although perhaps this is inevitable in any story).
She says she had never heard of it – but I find it hard to believe it could be such a coincidence…? I have never heard of such very similar stories.
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Yes, I too recall an earlier piece/interview where Suzanne Collins (HG author) mentioned ‘Battle Royale’ but I may be imagining it. The premise is very similar, however, if you look closely, there are quite a number of works out there taking inspiration from the barbarian practices of ancient Rome.
‘Battle Royale’ is on a totally different level though and both book and film are immensely disturbing.
I am reading the 2nd book in Hunger Games trilogy and I like the political undertone of it; it does grab at your sense of justice and equality. If teenagers want to get involved in literature like this, I see it as a positive vehicle to get them thinking.
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Average gallery TBH. I prefer re workings which actually take the story into account. These are mostly original posters for other movies with Jennifer Lawrence’s head shopped on.
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Im pretty sure Ron Howard directed Apollo 13. Great posters though…about to start book number 2 after ripping through the first.
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I had a good little giggle at some of these. I particularly enjoyed #5 “Brunette Actress as Katniss”.
In other news, if you haven’t at least read the books, do it.
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I’ve just started reading the first book after hearing everyone’s raving- terrible and wonderful at the same time. Can’t wait to see the movie.
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