Talking to someone this weekend and not hearing The Hunger Games come up was pretty rare. This highly anticipated movie scored a $155 million opening weekend. While Twilight’s audience consisted of 80% women and girls, Hunger Games had that number around 61%.
I was at church yesterday, where they asked me to do a book signing. A woman came up to me and was telling me that her 12 year old daughter wanted to read The Hunger Games. After it was bought and read, mom had a go at it and loved it. She told me she went to several stores only to find the second book sold out. When she finally did find it, she immediately bought the third book in the series. The mom was planning to take her daughter and 14 year old son to the movie, hoping, “He gets excited enough from seeing the movie to want to read the books too.”
Last week, at the airport, I saw a mother and teenage daughter reading. The daughter had an e-reader, but the mom was reading The Hunger Games. She’d stop everyone once in a while and say something about it, but her daughter would just smile and say, “Just wait until you get to Chapter 16.” Talk about role reversal. It was a joy to watch.
My son, Andrew, 29, called from Atlanta to tell me he saw it with friends. “It showed on a half a dozen screens and they were all packed. I loved it and while it didn’t follow the book exactly, what they did with it was fine with me.” Now, you’d all know what an amazing statement that is if you understood that 6 months ago, Andrew never read a book for pleasure. He listened to The Hunger Games in his car on the drive from Milwaukee to Atlanta. And now he’s looking for another good book to read.
His road to reading actually started when he saw the movie trailer for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I saw the original Swedish version and enjoyed it, so he wanted to try to read the book before seeing the movie. I really didn’t think he’d do it because I have never seen him read a book other than for school. Well, he’s now read all three.
Since this whole books to movies to books thing works, I say make even more good ones. If kids need an addiction, let it be books and I’ll be an enabler. I hope schools wake up and start paying attention by having kids read books in school that would make them enjoy reading. Personally, I’d like to The Scarlet Letter replaced (I had to read it 3 different times in my school life). I think the trick is to let the kids find the books and get the adults excited about it. And I know adults are excited about it because on Twitter and Facebook, everyone is talking about either seeing The Hunger Games or have already seen it.
Have you seen it or are planning on seeing it? Do you know young people who have read the book and are excited to see it? Do really good movies make you want to read a book or have you seen a good movie you’d like to see as a book?
Bottom Line: Ok, maybe Andrew is 29, but he’ll always be a kid in my eyes.
I read The Hunger Games for my book club, having no idea what is was. And I was hooked!! Got my daughter hooked on it and she can’t wait to see the movie! We will go during her spring break. Everywhere I went this weekend, parents of the friends of my daughter were telling me they were going to see the movie, and I was personally elated as to how many of them read the books FIRST!! And not just the first book, all THREE!!
I think I am old school though, because I like reading books first before seeing the movies.
I would love to see Laura Caldwell’s Izzy Series books as movies!! The right actor playing Izzy would seal the deal.
Thrilled that a book is catching fire so much. I took my 15 y.o. niece this weekend & gave her a copy of the book, which she has NOT yet yet, though I read all three. I’ve also lucked out & this is the book I’ll be giving away for World Book Night in April.
Anything that gets young people excited about reading is good news, IMO.
I read Hunger Games because of the hooplah. I rarely read YA, but I’m glad I read this one. I was impressed with the depth of the story.
I’m also a fan of books-to-movies… anything that gets more people (especially kids) to read, is a good thing in my mind.
My youngest grandson is reading the book for English class (7th grade)
. I’ve read all three books and enjoyed the series. I’m sure that at some point we’ll go see the movie. Fun!
I saw it yesterday with friends *in IMAX no less
* and have to say it was one of the best book to movie adaptations that I’ve seen. Casting was brilliant and I hope those young actors are prepared of the frenzy that will be surrounding them from now on.
A consensus was agreed that reading the book enhanced seeing the movie as some of Katniss’ relationships were not as fully developed in the film as it was in the novel.
My one big criticism would have to be the shaky camera effect. I who rarely get vertigo thought it was wayyy overused.
Other than that would highly recommend and yes I saw a whole mix of ages and genders
Friends raved about Hunger Games on FB last week, so I made plans to see it Saturday with my daughter. All showings sold out. We LOVED it.
At church Sunday, I asked to borrow the books from my friend Rychi. I know he had them, because he posted as much on Goodreads. I love the Interwebs.
My book club just read The Hunger Games Trilogy and we all loved it. I fought reading this for so long because of the premise, but finally, since everyone in the world was reading it (literally) and my daughter was so excited about it I gave in and I’m glad I did. I haven’t seen the movie yet but I’m looking forward to it. My other daughter, who doesn’t really read for pleasure, is into it also. I loved the Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I just found out that one of my favorite books, The Book Thief, is being made into a movie.
I did not know The Book Thief was being adapted for film! Thanks for the tip.
I’m quite excited for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. It’s by the same author as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which yes, is a gimmick as smash-up fiction, but he handles the meshing of the classic with the zombie twist so expertly – and hilariously – both books are worth reading.
I may be wrong, but I think the people who did Downton Abbey are producing The Book Thief.
I read the books over a year ago. Was very excited about the movie, and was praying they stayed true to the book. My prayers were answered – loved the movie, they did a very good job of it. I went with my 18 yr old son, who thought the movie was good, and has now said he would read the book. When I had the books, he said nah he didn’t want to read them, so I gave them to a 12 yr old girl who was ecstatic to get them. Will probably now be getting them again for my son to read, which is fine with me. Any reason to get someone to read.
When I told my son it was a fairly good adaptation, his comment was “That’s great. At least they didn’t mess it up like Eragon” That was one movie adaptation that has him very wary of seeing movies from books he likes. If the adaptation is good, it can really generate interest in actually reading the book. I haven’t read Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but the movie has made me put it on my TBR list. My son is now furiously trying to finish the 2nd book in the Game of Thrones series before the 2nd season on HBO so it’s not spoiled too much for him.
We did discuss what books we’d like to see as movies and we both thought Brent Weekes Night Angel trilogy could be good movies – as long as they don’t “mess it up.”
Saw the movie this weekend with my family. My son was complaining when I refused to go to the midnight premiere – he’s 16 and it was a school night. We both read the first two books but he hasn’t finished the 3rd so I’m on a waitlist. This was definitely one of the best adaptions I’ve seen. I usually hate adaptions because something always changes – the only one I thought was an improvement was the miniseries of Scarlett (the sequel to Gone With the Wind) – they really changed that one for the better. Years ago I created the rule “If you Want to See the Movie, You Have to Read the Book”. I desparately thought my son should read Eragon, which in the end he did, and loved. He now has the complete series. The rule continued to work but then again, I also try to keep with that rule, which helps. It made my son a reader. I do prefer to read the book before the movie but I read Captains and the Kings after seeing the miniseries in the 70′s. Same with Testimony of Two Men, although the adaption of that Taylor Caldwell novel was closer to the book than Captains and the Kings.
My 27 yr. old daughter got me hooked on them last year. I loved them. She went to the premier with a friend and we are going tonight with 2 more of her friends. So obviously she liked it since she is going to see it again and so soon lol. I’ve read that a lot of people said it was “just” good compared to the books but it’s rare that any movie can be as great as the book. I thought LOTR came very close and of course there was Harry Potter. I enjoy reading the same books as my daughter and it’s wonderful when we both like something (not always lol).
Oh, I meant to add that she got me to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I haven’t read the others yet). I liked the book but I did think it got complicated in some places so luckily I could reread those spots, unlike the movie which glossed over a lot of things.
Enjoyed the movie, Jennifer Lawrence held the movie together and made it as strong as possible. My only critique is it may not have established the history of Panem as well as it could; in a book there’s more time to reflect on backstory, but a movie progresses quickly. I didn’t feel like the world was set up as well as it could – why would a society of people be resigned to accept the Hunger Games for so long? If you read the book, you gain a deeper perspective but I felt the movie lacked in that crucial “buy-in” a bit; moviegoers who didn’t read the book (and who also read a lot of sci-fi) might have had an issue with accepting the premise, regardless of how well executed the film was.
But other than that, the casting was excellent and some of the scenes were shot beautifully. I really enjoyed it.
I’ve not read the books nor did I see the movie. The books are in my TBR and I can wait for the movie to go to DVD. It’s rare that I come across a movie that I have to see on the big screen.
However, I did hear on the news about an entire class that got taken to see the movie on Friday. It was their prize for reading the book and completing assignments surrounding the book they read last year.
I asked my niece if she (13 yrs old) read the book and she told me she read all three. She beat me to them. I’m glad that one set of my niece and nephew like to read besides playing on the computer and watching TV.
As for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I saw the foreign movie and it made me want to read the book. I got that book and the other two. Once I finished those, I watched the other two foreign movies. I love the books and the movies. I still need to see how the U.S. treated the book.
I’m a 50-yr old man who normally reads nonfiction almost exclusively, but I work at an audiobook catalog and everyone who read Hunger Games raved about it. After my wife and daughter both read them all, they talked me into reading it and, thank goodness, this was after Mockingjay was already out so I could read the trilogy straight through.
My wife and I took our daughter and two of her schoolmates to the midnight premier. We decided to make a “school night” exception. Even though we’re in California, it was rainy and cold but they let us inside at 9:30.
Don’t think I’ll ever do that again, but it was worth it for the anthropological aspect alone. Good movie – thumbs and toes all up.
I saw Hunger Games on Friday at 3pm, and there were maybe 15 people in the theater. It was wonderful! I was really nervous about the movie, but I really enjoyed it. It was so much better than I was expecting! Although, it has been quite awhile since I have read the books.
I think Entertainment Weekly explained it well when they said the movie tells you how and the books tell you why. They both work so well together. It was interesting talking to people who saw the movie and read the books, and people who saw the movie but did not read the books.
The changes they made for the movie worked well. It’s as if they simplified it to where I was able to focus on the characters and their emotions. The shaky camera effects were a bit much at times, but I figured it helped them keep the PG-13 rating? I loved Lenny Kravitz as Cinna. I’m not sure why I expected Cinna to be “flashier,” but I liked the simplicity they used.
It’s tough to put into words, but I thought everything worked well. While someone told me they thought the movie was “watered down,” I fully embraced the stripped down version. The movie held my attention the whole time and sucked me into what the characters were feeling, and I lost all track of time. I still have no idea how long it actually was
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have not read nor seen the movie, grandson wanted to see it, but now said no, so not sure.
You are so right, Barbara. Someone in very high position in a large school district in Georgia once said to me that we are teaching our teens to hate reading because of the books they are forced to read (she was a lone voice), rather than encouraging what they might read on their own. As adults, we have specific likes and dislikes, but we have the luxury of reading what we want. It’s nice to see so many young adult books these days and if movies have them reading more – great.
PS – I have a movie date this week with hubby to see Hunger Games movie and I’ve read all the books.
Saw the movie last night with Mary Buckham after reading the books. So fun to go with an author of her caliber and discuss it thoroughly over dinner. I think the trend in authors writing imaginative YA stories encourages kids to read more. Let’s keep it going!
I loved this movie and the books. I’ll admit that I was reluctant to read the series because I didn’t really care for the covers. I was used to reading historical fiction or romance so you probably know what covers appealed to me LOL but it ended up being one of my all-time favorite YA series’.
The story of your son reminds me of my best friend who recommended the series to her brother who never reads. Her brother, who works on the different gas well drilling sites here in PA, read the whole series while sitting in his truck on the drilling site! Talk about cool! I love it when a great story can get people hooked on reading! The BFF I mentioned also wouldn’t think of picking up a book to read “for fun” before I recommended the Twilight series to her–now she bugs me for books and even has her own e-reader!
I’m waiting until the crowds die down to go see the movie. Loved the first book. The scond and third? Not so much. But you feel compelled to read them to find out what happens. I did start skipping parts though.
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