Remembering 5 Years of The Hunger Games - YA Novel to Worldwide Phenomenon

Can you believe it’s been five years since The Hunger Games opened in movie theaters in North America?! To mark this special occasion, we've got a couple of great guest posts from some of our fellow fan site favorites. First up, Courtney from WelcomeToDistrict12.com takes us through the excitement of being one of the first fansites as The Hunger Games became a phenomenon. 

The World WAS Watching...

On March 4th, 2012 my alarm woke me up very early to get ready for the first Hunger Games fan event. I was bouncing off the walls with excitement! This was the first time I would be with fellow fans partying up at the Hunger Games Mall Tour kick-off at Century City in L.A. According to the rules, wristbands were to be given for meet and greet at 8 am, and no one would be allowed to line up before that. I mean, Hunger Games was semi-popular on Tumblr, so how crowded could it really be? 

Never for a second did I think The Hunger Games would be classified as a "phenomenon." THG was an intelligent story about war for young adult readers. The last phenomenon, in my opinion, that deserved its popularity was Harry Potter and THG being in the same category was a pie in the sky dream. In fact, I was just hoping it was popular enough to get us to the Mockingjay film. OH, HOW WRONG I WAS.

 

It was pure fan girl/boy insanity. There were hundreds of fans, cosplay, signs, and just all around craziness. I ended up scoring a meet and greet on the fly and experienced the Q and A from the pit. It was clear from this that The Hunger Games fandom was very much alive and a force to be reckoned with.

Only about 30% of the entire crowd pictured here

 

To get an idea of the mania, here is a video I took of the fans in the pit while they played the trailer. The fans went ballistic...

 

1 year and five months earlier....

 I had to talk about these books with someone. ANYONE. It was quickly becoming my favorite books of all time, and my friends had not read them yet. So I turned to Tumblr and made a page: F*** Yeah District 12!

I became a member of The Hunger Games fandom on October 11th, 2010. I discussed many book events and reported on developments on the upcoming film to be released more than a year later. In this time, things drastically changed. A Tumblr movement called Panem October (the precursor to TheCapitol.pn) had people creating tumblrs just for the district they got put in, and I had an influx of people flocking to F***YeahDistrict12 on the assumption of that it was the tumblr for District 12. Sometime after this, I appeared on HG Fireside Chat and became more involved in the podcast. Back then, tons of fans gathered on Twitter and listened every Monday night. In just a few months, HG Fireside Chat became a staple in the THG Fandom. Shout out to the hosts Adam and Savanna for being the pioneers of Hunger Games fan awareness! (be sure to listen in to the reunion show Monday, March 27th at 9pm ET/6pm PT!)

The announcement of Katniss' casting in March 2011 and the first look at Katniss in Entertainment Weekly in May led fans old and new all aboard the hype train. Choo choo! In the coming months, THG fans would break the VMA ratings record (first THG teaser aired), and I finally made the decision to graduate the tumblr to a website. I brought in my closest friends Tiffany and Denise, and Welcome To District 12 became our new identity (and a name I didn't have to be embarrassed about when talking to my relatives). From that point on our goal was to bring about fan hype and experiencing as many Hunger Games events as possible.

Come November, fans were clamoring hard core for the first trailer of The Hunger Games. As a member of the fan site community, Lionsgate invited some site runners to see it early. Not only were Lionsgate employees eager to see our reaction, but they were so thrilled to show us what they had. It was evident how enthusiastic they were about the project and they genuinely wanted our input. 

March 2012 remains to this day the busiest month of my life. In between human existence, posting news, and attending THG events I could barely keep up. The month kicked off with the Hunger Games Mall Tour, which was a serious reality check on just how huge the fandom was. If you won't take my word for it, check out what Josh Hutcherson said in an issue of Entertainment Weekly: 

The most incredible thing during all this was the way THG was connecting me with people from all over the world. Fans started forming friendships, all linked by a story. As for me, I will never forget the day my fan site friends flew into L.A. for the THG premiere. We were all together for the first time, and there was a feeling in the air that we were part of something special. While these dedicated fans were in town, we experienced the first Hunger Games Fan Camp and the premiere.

 

The Hunger Games Fan Camp has been put on twice: for The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. It's an event in which fans camp out at LA Live for a few days. Lionsgate brought cast members to sign posters for fans, radio station giveaways, swag from sponsors, and in the case of Catching Fire, put on a screening of The Hunger Games. When premiere day comes, fans get a spot on the side of the red carpet as well as getting to see the film. It's without a doubt, the best thing a studio can do for its film if the fan base is large enough. Camping out with fellow fans builds camaraderie and morale which flows right into social media promotion. Here's a look at how the first fan camp went:

 

Jennifer came to sign photos at the fan camp, a rare appearance before her super-duper stardom status

Denise & JoshFan site group photo at the first THG fan campMore pics from the event.  

The premiere was electrifying. You could feel Hunger Games insanity in the air. The fan area, the screaming fans across the street, the media circus, it truly felt like the world WAS watching. I'm still super jel about my friend Denise being in the fan area for the first film. While we visited the fan camp, she camped out (it looked so fun it inspired me to attend the one for Catching Fire) and took lots of pictures for us.  Media outlets like to use press photos from that event for their articles even to this day, and sometimes I chuckle to myself because I can see Denise in it!

There was something incredibly special about the fandom surrounding the first film, and while the fan base has grown, nothing can match the energy and anticipation for the first film. This was personal for me, and it didn't just have to do with the film or even the books. The fan site runners, at least the ones I was close with, we formed friendships with one another a good year before we physically met. When we finally did meet for premiere madness, I felt a sense of universal humanity for these people and the story that linked us all together. Now, things have changed. Time and life events cause us to move on to other things, such as new opportunities, relationships, and interests. For the most part, we're all still involved in the fandom but its definitely not the way it used to be. I like to think it was just one of those things that was meant to be a new exciting experience but doesn't last forever. That is not to say the fandom now is less important, quite the contrary. Life changes and people change. Things will never be how they once were, and we as humans are perpetually moving forward. The fandom has grown astronomically since the first film giving the franchise more support and the ability to be successful. The number of fan sites (Hello Panem Propaganda!) has grown since that time, and we have more fans than ever creating art, cosplay, recipes, and more all in the name of love for The Hunger Games. I have seen my favorite book series blossom and skyrocket into chart-topping popularity, and sometimes, even now at the end, I still can't believe it's real.......or not real? See what I did there?

Huge thanks to Courtney from WelcometoDistrict12.com for this awesome walk down memory lane. For more THG memories, tune in to the HG Fireside Chat reunion show Monday, March 27th at 9pm ET/6pm PT!

Remembering 5 Years of The Hunger Games - Casting Katniss

Can you believe it’s been five years since The Hunger Games opened in movie theaters in North America?! To mark this special occasion, we've got a couple of great guest posts from some of our fellow fan site favorites. This post from Amanda at The Hob (we miss you guys!) is a little walk down memory lane during the casting of the now iconic character, Katniss Everdeen.

For me, one of the most exciting milestones in the development of a book-to-movie adaptation is the casting of characters who had previously only existed in fans’ heads. This has the opportunity to make (think: Divergent) or break (think: The Mortal Instruments) an adaptation, especially in the YA realm. As part of The Hob fansite, I was acutely tuned into every twist and turn in the casting of The Hunger Games.

When some friends and I started The Hob in September 2010 (a month after Mockingjay was released), our first post was a summary of everything there was to know about the status of The Hunger Games movie at that point … not that there was a lot to report. It basically boiled down to three things: 

 

1) Lionsgate had acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the series

 

2) There was a screenplay from Suzanne Collins and Billy Ray

 

3) Gary Ross was the frontrunner to direct (he was officially announced a month later). 

 

That’s it. No release date. No filming locations or schedule. And definitely no actors.

 

Not that that stopped the rampant casting rumors and fan casting discussions. But you couldn’t blame anyone for filling the white space with dream casting debates and polls – that’s what fans do with their favorite books: We imagine the perfect actor or actress to bring our beloved characters to life. I still remember the first time Jennifer Lawrence’s name was mentioned as a dream casting for Katniss. I looked at the picture of her from Winters Bone and thought “I have no idea who she is, but that’s my Katniss.”

 

But Jennifer Lawrence certainly wasn’t the only name in the running. In fact, it may be hard to believe now, but her name was barely a part of the discussion until the final weeks leading up to the casting announcement in March 2011. Instead, every young actress on the planet was publicly campaigning to take on the coveted role of Katniss and threw her hat in the ring at every media opportunity (“I love the books! I relate to Katniss! I’ve read the script! I’ve met with producers!”) – not that anyone can blame them. There was a list upwards of 30 actresses who were being considered for the role, including Hailee Steinfeld, Lyndsy Fonseca, Abigail Breslin and Saoirse Ronan.

 

But that all came to a halt when – in a fortuitous moment caught on video – Jennifer’s mom let the cat out of the bag on the Oscar’s red carpet. 

 

Two weeks later Lionsgate officially announced Jennifer would be Katniss, followed by a surge of additional casting news and months of filming.

First look at Jen as Katniss in Entertainment Weekly May 2011

Some of the first stills released

The cast in the Dec 2011 issue of Vanity Fair 

 

With each early look at the film – either through official images released by Lionsgate or cell phone pics emailed to us by fans who came across the set – I became more and more excited and confident that the team at Lionsgate was working its butt off to get this movie right for the fans. (This devotion extended to the Hunger Games DVD as well, which they were working on long before the film even hit theaters in order to give the fans something special! In November 2011, Lionsgate interviewed me – along with a couple of others from The Hob – about the fandom and love for the trilogy. Talk about one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of!)

 

By the time The Hunger Games was released in March 2012, we’d been through rounds of leaked images, trailer rumors, rating debates and everything else that is likely with a series of this magnitude. The fandom’s expectations were sky high, and nerves were on edge to see if Lionsgate could pull off the movie that this amazing book so very much deserved … or if the movie would be a disappointing beginning (and perhaps an untimely end) to the movie series.

 

But as we all know, those expectations were met – and exceeded.


 

For more Hunger Games memories, read "YA Novel to Worldwide Phenomenon," an awesome guest post by Courtney of Welcome To District 12 on the early days of the fandom. 

And tune in to the HG Fireside Chat reunion show Monday, March 27th at 9pm ET/6pm PT!

The Hunger Games: The Exhibition - Stef Dawson Meet & Greet in Australia!

The Hunger Games: The Exhibition is just a few days away from opening in Sydney, Australia! Stef Dawson (Annie Cresta) has come home for the grand opening on December 20 and would love to meet some of YOU from 2-4pm at the exhibition.

Details:

What: Stef Dawson Meet & Greet

When: December 20, 2-4pm

Where: The Hunger Games: The Exhibition @ ICC Sydney – Darling Harbour, 14 Darling Drive, Sydney, NSW, 2000

Why: To celebrate the grand opening of The Hunger Games: The Exhibition in Australia!

How: Purchase your ticket for opening day and be there from 2-4pm. 

The upcoming  Australian leg of The Hunger Games Exhibition World Tour begins in Sydney on December 20th, 2016 through February 4th, 2017.

The exhibition’s new home is Sydney’s International Convention Centre on Darling Harbour, and tickets are now on sale via Ticketek.com.au and the official Hunger Games Exhibition website.

‘The Hunger Games’ Series Is Coming to 4K Ultra HD

Experience the blockbuster phenomenon franchise like never before when The Hunger Games series arrives on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack November 8 from Lionsgate.

The films will be presented in 4K UHD resolution which is 4 times higher than the current max HD resolution of 1080p. The Hunger Games and Catching Fire 4K discs in this combo pack will also include Dolby Atmos audio for the first time on home media.

Additionally, the 4K release of The Hunger Games includes an exclusive audio commentary with Editor Stephen Mirrione, Visual Effects Supervisor Sheena Duggal, and Supervising Sound Editor Lon Bender.

For those without a 4K player, the combo pack will also include traditional Blu-ray and Digital HD versions of the films.

Check out the versions of each cover below and click the image to order on Amazon:

 

LIONSGATE ANNOUNCES THE WORLD OF THE HUNGER GAMES AUCTION With HOLLYWOOD MEMORABILIA HOUSE PROFILES IN HISTORY

Lionsgate is partnering with Profiles in History, one of the world’s leading auction houses for Hollywood memorabilia, to hold The World of The Hunger Games Auction on May 20, 2016. For one day only, nearly 500 authentic costumes, props, and set pieces will be available for purchase from each of the franchise’s four films: The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2.

 
“Everyone will have a chance to acquire items from their favorite characters and moments of The Hunger Games series,” said Joe Maddalena, President, Profiles in History. “We’re extremely proud to offer a collection of this caliber for such a beloved studio franchise.”

“The Hunger Games films have captured hearts and minds around the world,” said Kerry Phelan, Executive Vice President, Global Franchise Management & Strategic Partnerships, Lionsgate. “We are excited to bring fans the unique opportunity to own a piece of this global phenomenon.”

The auction will feature genuine costumes worn by the series’ leading cast members, unique props, and recognizable set pieces used throughout the film production process. Highlights include:

 

• Katniss Everdeen’s wooden District 12 hunting longbow from The Hunger Games
• Katniss Everdeen’s iconic Mockingjay armor from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
• Peeta Mellark’s tribute combat wetsuit from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• Gale Hawthorne’s District 13 combat ensemble from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
• Katniss Everdeen’s hunting ensemble w signature leather jacket and stunt hunting longbow from MJ2
• Katniss & Peeta’s iconic Tribute Parade costumes from The Hunger Games
• Katniss’s signature silver bow and quiver used in Catching Fire
• District 12 reaping bowl filled with name slips from The Hunger Games
• District 12 “Victors’ Village” archway sign from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• Tribute Parade chariots used in both The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
• Prop “holo” device with flip-top screen from MJ2
• Signature costumes from Effie, Pres. Snow, Caesar Flickerman, Finnick, Johanna Mason, Pres. Coin
• Peacekeeper uniforms and props
• Numerous items with the Panem emblem: flags, banners, china, pins, + the gold eagle statue from President Snow’s office

 

Qualified bidders can participate in the live auction beginning at 11am PDT in the following ways:

IN PERSON: At the Profiles In History headquarters located at 26662 Agoura Rd., Calabasas, CA 91302

BY TELEPHONE: By calling 310-859-7701

ONLINE: Either with absentee bidding or in real-time from anywhere across the globe through the Invaluable Live Auctions platform

 

More information, including auction registration and a full 3D catalog, is available at http://thehungergamesauction.com.

Thank You for 4 Years of The Hunger Games!

Happy ‪4 Years of The Hunger Games‬, tributes! Can you believe it was four years ago TODAY, The Hunger Games made its debut in theaters? We're so honored to be a part of this wonderful fandom. Some of you have literally grown up with this book series and film franchise! And some of us that are already grown-up have made lifelong friends, and shared such amazing experiences with you. Thanks for letting us be a small part of your world. And thank you to The Hunger Games for bringing us all together!

There are much worse games to play....

And, of course, may the odds be ever in your favor!

“Seven Hours’ Worth of Movies Over Three Years”: Francis Lawrence on The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Filmmaker Magazine sat down with Mockingjay Part 2 director Francis Lawrence the day before the movie hit VOD and asked him to reflect on the whirlwind experience of the past few years. The result is a really interesting and insightful read for any Hunger Games fan. Here are some of the highlights:

Filmmaker: Let’s go back to your initial involvement with theHunger Games series. How aware of the books and first film were you when you came on board?

Francis Lawrence: I was very aware of the books – I had read and really enjoyed them, and I had just seen the movie. I was in New York shooting a pilot for a television show that didn’t get picked up, and my assistant and I went to see the movie on my birthday in 2012. While we were in post I got the call that Gary wasn’t coming back, so I reread the books —

Filmmaker: What did you respond to at that point, and did it change over the course of directing three films?

Lawrence: It never changed. The thing that made me want to do the movies is that I saw the first Hunger Games as a sort of stand-alone genre or exploitation movie – something you might find in the ’70s. But in the grand scheme of all the books there was something thematic about the consequences of war and violence, and the second story, Catching Fire, was where that started to blossom; the world was opening up, and those themes and ideas rose to the surface before reaching their full potential in the final movie. That’s what drew me in, and it’s what I talked about when I first met with the producers. Luckily, everyone was on the same page and wanted to truly make the books without making them more “fun,” which I think a lot of people might have wanted to try with a project like this.       

Filmmaker: What were those initial conversations with the producers like? Did you feel a lot of pressure to live up to what had been established with the first film, given that it was hugely successful?

Lawrence: Quite honestly, I never felt any pressure from the producers or the studio – I was very upfront and frank with them about what my approach to the movies was going to be, and they embraced all of those ideas and changes. The biggest pressure came on Catching Fire, and the pressure was that I was the new guy for the fans. Here are these people who love the books, who loved that first movie, and suddenly I’m there and they don’t know what I’m going to do. Hoping that they were going to like my take on these stories was really stressful, especially given the timing; originally I signed on for one movie, and in prep they asked me to stay for the next two. I said yes, and then realized that Catching Fire was going to come out after we had been shooting the Mockingjay movies for about five weeks – which meant there was still nine or ten months of shooting left. So there was a moment where I thought, if Catching Fire bombs, or gets panned, how am I going to show up on set? I was hoping people would accept Catching Fire just so I could make it through the shoot! Luckily, the world was happy with the movie and that gave the cast and crew a great energy going into the final two movies.

Filmmaker: Speaking of the cast, you inherited most of them from the previous film. I presume they already had pretty strong ideas about their characters, so what was your role in terms of helping them shape their performances? And how did you put them at ease with you after they had started the series with another director?

Lawrence: Certain people did have firm ideas about the characters, but there was still the journey those characters take, which changes from movie to movie. So my approach was to talk about each particular story and what was different about it – the character of Effie (Elizabeth Banks), for example, goes through very different things in Catching Fire from what she experienced in the first Hunger Games, so that gave Elizabeth and I a lot of ideas and material to discuss.

To answer your second question, when I got the job and started prepping I called all the actors and started meeting with them. I chatted with Jennifer while she was in Prague shooting, and then when she got back to LA we had breakfast together and had a great conversation. Elizabeth and I got together, Josh and I got together, Liam…everyone welcomed me fairly quickly, and I was thrilled because I was inheriting a lot of great actors. The only one who was a little tricky was Woody [Harrelson], who is very loyal but takes longer to warm up. I think he was uneasy with the situation of having a director thrust upon him; he had signed on to do these movies with Gary and suddenly Gary left. He was feeling disoriented and wanted some time with me, so I flew to New York where he was doing a play and we hung out and talked about the character until he was more comfortable. Everyone else got on board right away, which was a nice surprise.

Filmmaker: You’ve got such different levels of acting experience here, from newcomers who literally grew up on set to veterans like Donald Sutherland. Do you have to modify your approach to suit each individual performer?

Lawrence: Yes, but not because of experience but just because each actor has a different approach. Julianne [Moore] comes in with very specific ideas and doesn’t need to talk about it that much, but she’s happy to talk a little bit, especially about blocking; Jen is very instinctual and hates to rehearse but needs to discuss her emotional arc ahead of time. On the other hand, Philip Seymour Hoffman loved to rehearse and talk about it and grind away at the character.

Filmmaker: Did that create problems when you had one actor, like Jennifer Lawrence, who hated rehearsal, and another, like Hoffman, who loved it?

Lawrence: No, because this group was really good…with the wrong people you would definitely have that kind of problem, but it wasn’t the case here. Jenn hates to rehearse, but she would do it with Phil because she loved him and respected him. She wasn’t going to deny him.

Filmmaker: Getting back to the idea of what a massive, all-consuming endeavor this has been…now that you’re literally at the final stage of the process, putting the last movie out on Blu-ray and VOD, have you had any time to decompress and reflect on what the experience has meant to you?

Lawrence: It’s a long process – I don’t think there’s any one moment when you figure that out. There’s a lot of processing that one does when a movie is released; it’s a very vulnerable time for a filmmaker when the movie’s out there and everyone starts sharing their opinions, good or bad. You’re reading reviews and watching box office numbers come in and all that, and you start to think about this object that you’ve made and what it means to you and what it means to other people and what you could have done differently and how it’s perceived in the world…and was it worth it? That’s the strongest point of self reflection, the moment of release – there’s probably a thirty to sixty-day window when you’re thinking about it constantly. But I still think about it a lot. It was an unbelievably fulfilling experience for me doing three movies of this size so close together, directing basically seven hours’ worth of movie over three years and working with a story that I really believed in, with a cast and crew that had massive filmmaking talent and were wonderful people to be in the trenches with – you’re lucky in your career if those things can come together on one movie, let alone three.   

Read more at FilmmakerMagazine.com

New Extended Cut of a Katniss & Gale Scene From The Hunger Games

Gale Hawthorne and Liam Hemsworth fans rejoice! Here's an extended cut of a scene from The Hunger Games with Gale and Katniss talking about The Reaping. We get a little more of their conversation in the meadow than we saw in the original theatrical release. This clip is georestricted to U.S., unfortunately! Check out our friends at QuarterQuell for a non-restricted version of the clip if you're outside the US.  

The clip is apart of the bonus features in The Hunger Games Complete 4 Film Collection. You can get the collection on digital HD NOW, but some of the Bonus Features are only available on the DVD And Blu-Ray versions of the Collection. See the bottom of our post HERE for details on the digital download, and the end of the post HERE for where to buy the DVD/Blu-Ray on March 22nd -  with a list of all the special features included.