The Hunger Games Series

[LeafontheWind]

I don't remember hearing that Gale's family survived the hit on District 13. Regardless, I was merely commenting on their different experiences: Gale witnessing widespread death and destruction vs Kat's smaller (though more personal) experiences...

I believe that everyone survived the attack on District 13. I am not sure if it was directly stated in the movie because I haven't seen it in awhile, but I am fairly certain that no one in 13 died in that attack due to the advanced warning they were given by Peeta. Unless you meant the attack on 12 at the end of Catching Fire. I do wish we could have seen more of Gale's family, and the people of 12 in general, adjusting to life in 13.

On a totally different note, I liked what JM did with the role of Coin. She didn't get much screen time, but I think she did a great job of showing how duplicitous a politician Coin really was. I especially loved the little twitch of her mouth when she and Plutrach discussed Katniss' near miss at The Nut. I have read all the books several times, and I never suspected Coin had anything to do with what happened there, but something of JM's reaction in that moment made me think she was trying to make Katniss a martyr long before the invasion of the capital.

[truthaboutluv]

I don't remember hearing that Gale's family survived the hit on District 13. Regardless, I was merely commenting on their different experiences: Gale witnessing widespread death and destruction vs Kat's smaller (though more personal) experiences in the Games.

 

 

It was mentioned in the books but as Gale's family was never mentioned in the movies and frankly they were barely a factor in the books as well, it's understandable it wasn't mentioned in the movies. But yes, all his siblings as well as his mother got out of District 12 just fine. I don't really care about the triangle one way or the other and so that really factors little in any opinion I have about any of the characters. 

 

I still do not really agree about the different experiences. Yes, he stood on a hill with all the people he was able to save and convince to leave and watched as bombs dropped on their whole district and wiped them out and I will not deny that was horrible but Katniss had to murder people who did nothing to her because it was either she kill them or they kill her. She watched and listened to Cato be ripped apart and tortured for hours by mutts, Peeta and Johanna went through goodness knows what being held prisoner in the Capitol. 

 

And at the end of the day she understood the cruelty of their life as much as him, having lost her father really young as well, always barely having anything to eat, having to put their names in the Games multiple times to get a little bit of extra crappy food, etc. Katniss had just as much reason to hate the Capitol and Snow as Gale did. And she saw widespread death and destruction as much as Snow and the Capitol was trying to quell it, when on her and Peeta's Victory tour. She saw the different districts up close and realized what they were living through as well and the unrest and anger and destruction. She was also there along with Gale when Snow sent in bombs to blow up the hospital of wounded in District 8, this after seeing those wounded and how much pain and suffering they were in. 

 

I think it is just a YMMV view of the characters and the story. For the record, I absolutely understood Gale's perspective and it makes sense that Collins put it in the story. Because there are many like Gale who justify all atrocities in the name of war when in their minds they are fighting on the side of good. And having been oppressed for so many years, yeah they lose sight of any and everything but just winning the war at any cost. So I didn't hate Gale for his perspective but I will never agree that he saw and experienced something so much more different than Katniss. Especially since Gale was already angry and full of rage and had much of the attitude he had in Mockigjay from the very first book. The subsequent rebellion and war just gave him his opportunity.

Edited November 29, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[NoWillToResist]

I believe that everyone survived the attack on District 13. I am not sure if it was directly stated in the movie because I haven't seen it in awhile, but I am fairly certain that no one in 13 died in that attack due to the advanced warning they were given by Peeta. Unless you meant the attack on 12 at the end of Catching Fire. I do wish we could have seen more of Gale's family, and the people of 12 in general, adjusting to life in 13.

 

Whoops, yes, I meant the attack on District 12. Sorry! :)

[stealinghome]

Just saw the movie tonight and agree with most of what has been said here. I liked it, but they really needed to shift like 10-20% of the plot to MJ 1, because everything after the mutt attack was really rushed and didn't have the emotional impact it ought to have had (most notably Prim's death, and I DID like their relationship quite a bit). I wouldn't have minded the movie being 20 or so minutes longer, in fact--iirc it's NOT the longest of the series but it warranted being so long imo. Snow and Coin's falls just needed more time to breathe

Josh Hutcherson was really good as hijacked Peeta throughout--I find that he and JLaw's chemistry improved in every film, and it was at its best here. You totally bought them as a star-crossed couple, much more than her and Gale, which seemed flat and weird in comparison. Agree that the triangle was meh, especially because Katniss so clearly was into Peeta. Give it up, Gale!

The adult actors were all so well cast. They're uniformly just perfect for their roles, especially Snow, he was DELICIOUSLY evil here. Wish we'd gotten more Johanna and Finnick. The actors were good and the characters played well off of Katniss; Finnick's death also would have been more meaningful with more build-up. But they, along with Haymitch/Effie/Plutarch/Coin, made the most of their relatively limited screentime. The camera crew, too--I was bummed that most of them died, and inordinately happy Natalie Dormer lived!

Agree that Catching Fire was probably the best movie. I'd say MJ 1 was #2, MJ 2 was #3, and the first movie is 4 (though it has some great moments, Rue's death is one of the saddest moments in the whole series).

[Eyes High]

The Terminator was on tonight, and I suddenly realized that Sam Claflin (Finnick) is the spitting image of a young Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese). A Google search confirmed that I'm not the only one to see a resemblance, but wow.

...Claflin could have used the intensity and charisma in the HG movies that Biehn had. He was serviceable as Finnick, don't get me wrong, but I was disappointed.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Eyes High

[methodwriter85]

The Terminator was on tonight, and I suddenly realized that Sam Claflin (Finnick) is the spitting image of a young Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese). A Google search confirmed that I'm not the only one to see a resemblance, but wow.

...Claflin could have used the intensity and charisma in the HG movies that Biehn had. He was serviceable as Finnick, don't get me wrong, but I was disappointed.

 

I just think it's funny, in retrospect, just how much speculation there was about casting Finnick, and so many names thrown around with many actors vying for it, and Finnick's role was pretty small. And then we get Annie Cresta, who people also speculated about, and who literally got maybe 5 or 10 lines through 3 movies.

 

Sam Claflin's real test is going to be with Me Before You. If he can't bring it in that role, he's pretty much doomed. Will Traynor is basically a dream part that should basically prove any guy as a leading man.

Edited November 30, 2015 by methodwriter85

[truthaboutluv]

I'm not sure why anyone would have expected Annie's role to pretty significant as she's really not in the books. Yes, Finnick loves her but she's not a character the reader actually meets until the victors are rescued and then Katniss' interactions with her are very minimal. I was fine with Claflin in the role.  I thought he acquitted himself just fine in Catching Fire. And while I get what some are saying about the Mockingjay films but in rereading the books, I don't think the movie eliminated much of Finnick's presence. 

[Enero]

I just think it's funny, in retrospect, just how much speculation there was about casting Finnick, and so many names thrown around with many actors vying for it, and Finnick's role was pretty small.

Right. Lol. I think whether people would accept Claflin in the role came down to whether they thought he was beautiful enough to play Finnick. We all had our own ideas of who, physically, would make a perfect Finnick. And of course whether he could exude the charisma Finnick had as described in the book. Claflin wouldn't have been my pick for the role, but if he could make Finnick unforgettable then I was game. IMHO, he was unable to do this and not because he had so few lines. Jena Malone had few lines as well but managed to make Johanna memorable. I think Claflin was respectable as Finnick, but not as dynamic as he should've been.

And then we get Annie Cresta, who people also speculated about, and who literally got maybe 5 or 10 lines through 3 movies.

Yeah. People were going on and on about her and the wedding etc. People had really built the character up in their minds only for her to be around for a millisecond. I think the longest scene she had was when her and Finnick were dancing at their wedding, which in hindsight I feel was kind of pointless. Yeah I know it was significant in the book. There were some things that happened there that were important to the story. However, those things were left out of the movie which made the scene almost filler.

[absnow54]

The movies really dialed back on Finnick being a playboy, which nullified the point of Annie even more so, and also cut back the impact of Finnick's big confession. I'm not sure how the movie could have improved this, since most of the tales of Finnick were hearsay from Katniss. Maybe they could have featured him during the Victory Tour in Catching Fire to show him schmoozing with the Capitol women. I thought Claflin was more than serviceable in the role, which is why it bugged me in Mockingjay Part 1 that a lot of his scenes were transferred to Gale.

 

There's one scene in particular in the hospital where Finnick and Katniss witness one of Peeta's interviews that both Coin and Gale try to hide from Katniss. In the movie, Kantiss and Gale see it after they've gone hunting and Gale gets all OOC and starts accusing Peeta of being a traitor. In the book, having the scene between Katniss and Finnick works well with the story because it's the first concrete evidence that the reader shouldn't trust Thirteen (Katniss's skepticism of them is mostly baseless at this point) and at the same time, drives a wedge between Katniss and Gale more naturally because even he's hiding things from Katniss since he believes it's better for the cause. I think it would have been better setup for the next film to leave the scene as is instead of turning it into a scene that pretty much only pushed the love triangle.

 

I will also forever miss the "Do you find this distracting?" scene.

[truthaboutluv]

Maybe they could have featured him during the Victory Tour in Catching Fire to show him schmoozing with the Capitol women.

 

 

I think that was the point of his and Katniss' first scene in Catching Fire. As for Mockingjay, I can't really say I thought they gave many scenes of Finnick to Gale. In the first part of Mockingjay, before the victors are rescued, Finnick is pretty useless with all his crying and being medicated and doped up, much like Katniss was. It led to one of my favorite lines in the book, when Katniss said she stopped being mad at him for them abandoning Peeta in the arena because it was just too hard to stay angry at someone who cried that much. I thought the really important part of the first half of Mockingjay was the scene when he and Katniss were tying the knots and he talked about not allowing yourself to fall apart. And the movie kept that. And while his death seemed quick in the movie, it was kind of the same in the book as well. 

[proserpina65]

It probably helps having read the books first, and I'd be interested in seeing if a book virgin saw the movies and was able to grasp the world of Panem without having to have anything explained to them.

 

I saw the first two movies before reading any of the books (haven't read book 3 yet because I wanted to wait until I saw the last movie).  I didn't have much problem understanding Panem from just the movies, although I did appreciate the additional detail which I got from the books.  I found the storyline and setting pretty easy to follow from the films.

[proserpina65]

And Josh did great, his acting was the best of the movie.

 

I guess this is my HG unpopular opinion, but Josh Hutcherson's acting didn't seem any better to me than Liam Hemworth's was.  I felt absolutely nothing for Peeta other than a little sympathy for the torture, and only a very little.  For me, Peeta and Gale were the weakest links in an otherwise excellent cast; both characters were kinda wet.  I'd gladly have sacrificed both of them for more Finnick and Haymitch.  And more Johanna, whom I found fascinating in what little I saw of her.

 

I did really enjoy the film overall.  I do wish I hadn't been accidentally spoiled about Prim's death, but man, when Katniss broke up in the scene with the cat, I found I had some dust in both eyes.  And although I hadn't been spoiled about Finnick's death, as soon as he and Annie got married and had a moment of happiness, I knew he was dead man walking.  At least he got to go out fighting.

Edited November 30, 2015 by proserpina65

[proserpina65]

Those mutts were the stuff of nightmares.

The friend I saw this with and I both commented on them reminding us of the cave mutants in The Descent.  Stuff of nightmares, indeed.

[proserpina65]

Wait, if I recall correctly, Snow was bringing everybody to his mansion to build himself a human shield. That is why the gates never opened for them, until the bombs fell. As for Gale's connection to the bombing, the book made it very clear that he had been greatly involved with the idea of the bomb, which was later crafted. Katniss realized after Snow spoke to her that the design of what killed Prim was exactly what she overheard Gale working on and from that moment on was unable to disassociate him from Prim's death. In the film it was less clear on why HE was being blamed, but she was shown to severely disapprove of the concept.

I figured that out immediately, when the first bombs went off at the gate, without having read the book.  Idk, maybe I just expected something like that to happen after the conversation between Beete and Gale.

[GaT]

The movies really dialed back on Finnick being a playboy

He wasn't really a playboy in the books, all those women he slept with paid for him, he was basically a sex slave. Since they barely touched on the part where he explains it, they couldn't really show him being a playboy.

[kili]

I figured that out immediately, when the first bombs went off at the gate, without having read the book.

 

This is the first HG movie I've seen and I've never read the books and I too figured it out long before Snow explained it. I think Kat did as well. When she climbed on that big vechicle and was looking at how the people were being funelled into the front of the gate while fleeing the bombs, it was a perfect illustration of Gale's description of the bombing technique. I thought she realized immediately that those were bombs and that she ran to her sister knowing what was coming next.

 

I still do not really agree about the different experiences. Yes, he stood on a hill with all the people he was able to save and convince to leave and watched as bombs dropped on their whole district and wiped them out and I will not deny that was horrible but Katniss had to murder people who did nothing to her because it was either she kill them or they kill her.

 

This is the difference in experience in a nutshell. To Gale, the enemy was faceless and not like him. He had not encountered them as people and therefore he had no qualms about designing a bombing strategy that would result in high civilian casualties. A bombing strategy thad had little military strategic value and a lot of emotional strategic damage.

 

Kat, on the other hand, had seen the face of the enemy. She got to know some of the people that she was expected to kill. She saw them die. She knew they were humans. She knew they were like her. She could not condone bombing frightened people to win the emotional war.

[Guest]

He wasn't really a playboy in the books, all those women he slept with paid for him, he was basically a sex slave. Since they barely touched on the part where he explains it, they couldn't really show him being a playboy.

 

I think though that was hard to translate on the screen.  He was, from the audience perspective, a playboy until you learned in Mockingjay that he had no choice.  

 

I think the movies should have included the mayor's family even if they couldn't go into full detail. I think that added a lot to the books.

[Browncoat]

Yes.  Having Madge give Katniss the pin was much better than Katniss getting it in the Hob and giving it to Prim for good luck.  Fat lot of good luck that pin brought Prim!  Another thing I missed from the books was the bread that District 11 sent Katniss after she took care of Rue.

[truthaboutluv]

I don't know, the change to Katniss making the District 12 sign and seeing the people in District 11 responding, really worked for me. I enjoyed seeing the glimpses of the other districts that we couldn't get from the books. 

Edited December 5, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[stealinghome]

I don't know, the change to Katniss making the District 12 sign and seeing the people in District 11 respond really worked for me. I enjoyed seeing the glimpses of the other districts that we couldn't get from the books.

I agree. On the one hand, I do miss 11 sending Katniss bread because it sets up Catching Fire really nicely. However, seeing 11 revolt when Katniss "buries" Rue is imo one of the best scenes not just in the first movie, but in the whole series, so I would never want to give it up. It just WORKS on all levels. Edited December 5, 2015 by stealinghome

[GaT]

There was nothing on TV & I happened to notice the The Hunger Games is on so I put it on as background noise, & I'm amazed at how different it looks from Mockingjay. For one thing, Katniss has a mass of wavy auburn hair instead of straight dark brown hair, and the whole movie is very colorful. I guess because it takes place in the Capital before the revolution, but even in practice the tributes have got some color in their clothes. The whole thing just looks very different than the later movies.

Another thing I missed from the books was the bread that District 11 sent Katniss after she took care of Rue.

I wish the movie had as many of the gifts as the book had, I missed them.

Edited December 5, 2015 by GaT

[absnow54]

The Hunger Games has a different visual style than the other films because it was directed by Gary Ross, while the other 3 films were by Francis Lawrence. Gary Ross tried to make more of an indie/art film which I think lends to how color played in the first movie. District 12 is very pre-Oz, desaturated and gray, while the Capitol has all these vibrant colors. Francies Lawrence seemed to pick up the former color scheme and ran with it. He also made a more typical blockbuster, in my opinion, with swelling scores and sweeping cinematic shots. He was much more true to the books, which is why Katniss had black hair in the Francis Lawrence movies and Buttercup was the right color.

[Emily Thrace]

But the impression I got with the pods was that they were all created and installed in the few days before the rebels arrived. Which is... far fetched. They must have had hundreds, if not thousands of game-makers to do that, but only had one set of games a year? That's a very inefficient employment model. Also, if Katniss & co were following the rebel advance, why were all those pods undisturbed? Why did the refugees think metal devices dropped from a plane in the middle of an active battlezone would be welcome at all? And why did anyone think that Snow bombed his own people, when it didn't give him any advantage at all? So much of it doesn't hold up to scrutiny, and if the explanation is in the books, then it's not a good adaptation.

 

Well the movie actually does mention that pods are a built in security system for the city and that Plutarch stole the map before he left. In the book they mention the pods were created after the first rebellion.

 

 

I know some disagree and see Gale as stronger because he was masculine, a fighter, had all this fire and anger but in my opinion Peeta had more strength than most people - that he survived all that he did (the Games twice, losing his leg, his entire family wiped out, being a POW who was tortured to the point of barely knowing what was real and what wasn't) and was still able to be one of those in the end to say no to the special Games and point out that it made them no better than Snow and the Capitol and the people they believed were evil, showed amazing strength of character.

 

And it was especially poignant due to his fear back in the first book, before the Games, that he didn't want them to change him. That if he was going to die he wanted to die being himself. And that he was able to have that even after they turned him into a Capitol "mutt" convinced that Katniss was some evil monster wanting to kill him, was admirable in my opinion.

 

This exactly also Peeta survived to hunger games and was taking down Mutts with his bare hands in those sewers he was not weak or passive by any measure. Peeta gift was more about words than anything else and this movie showed that. When everyone wants to give up and spend the rest of the war hiding in a cellar Peata gets them moving again. Which is one of the bigger points of the whole series that words and ideas are more powerful than anything else. That's why we don't see much of the battles because the war is not the point of the story. The reasons for the fight and the way everyone's words fuel the fire are thereal point of the story. Its also what make it stand out from so many other David and Goliath stories in the Hungers Games its words that speak louder than actions. . That's why its so important even thematically that Katniss winds up with Peeta because like her he uses words as weapons.

 

In a way Gale and Peeta represented different aspects of Katniss herself. In the end Gale just represented part of Katniss she didn't like anymore. Even before the first games Gale helped Katniss survive but he never really made her feel hopeful or want more. Peeta was the one who did that. Gale is a man of action and black and white he simply doesn't see the shades of grey. I'm not saying Gale is stupid or slow in fact he's truly cunning in his own way hes just rigid. He's done so much surviving he literally doesn't know how to be another way. That's why I've always thought even without the Games Katniss would have chosen Peeta in the end.  

 

Frankly I also feel there's a lot of sexism in a lot of the pro-Gale argument. Gale is better because he more aggressive and angry and masculine while Peeta's strength and gentleness are not valued. its subtle but Annie and Finnick are like a gender flipped version of Katniss and Peeta but I rarely see it argued that Annie is weak or that Finnick should have been with Joanna.  Its such a cliche that the action hero gets the girl I've always liked that Katniss chose the more passive man this time.

 

Having seen the movie I have to give credit to the actor playing Pollux. He really drew me in and made me like the character and feel for him living in the dark for five years without ever uttering a line. Natalie Dormer was great too.

 

Josh Hutcherson and JLaw were really great in this as well. I always knew Josh would do well with this part but it was almost better than I expected. I also think the chemistry between these to was better because it was simply more honest. This is the first movie where Katniss and Peeta weren't pretending to be something else. I also think the connection between Josh and Jennifer lent itself more to the place Katniss and Peeta are in this movie. Where the focus is on the deep connection not so much romance.

[Rick Kitchen]

There will be prequels.

 

I want to see Haymitch's Games.  There is a really good fan fiction video of it on YouTube.

[SnoGirl]

I wonder if this explains the lack of Haymitch's backstory in the movies. I hope they pull a Hobbit and start the movie with a scene from Catching Fire where Katniss and Peeta are watching the previous games and they stumble across Haymitch's.

[QuinnM]

I know this is so shallow but I need to know what happened to Ceasar Flickerman.  The book doesn't say a word either.  So very disappointed.

[Kromm]

There will be prequels.

 

I want to see Haymitch's Games.  There is a really good fan fiction video of it on YouTube.

I hear the sound of cash registers and the scent of greed.

 

Also Bullshit like this:

 

http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/the-hunger-games/news/a776689/the-hunger-games-will-live-on-and-on-and-on-as-lionsgate-studio-head-drops-hint-at-prequel-films/

 

 

Burns told Variety, “Whatever extensions of ‘The Hunger Games’ brand we pursue, the intent is not to glorify violence by arbitrarily telling arena stories, but to continue Suzanne Collins’s exploration of the concepts of just war theory.”

{Coughing in hand} "Bullshit".

[scarynikki12]

I don't want a prequel I want a miniseries.  A miniseries would allow us to see all the details that the movies couldn't/wouldn't include like Madge, Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta training like Careers before the Quell, learning about Haymitch's games, and everything Katniss goes through after Prim dies.  It would also allow the opportunity to flesh out characters like Prim and Gale, giving more of an impact to the former's death and the latter's ruined friendship with Katniss.

 

So we're getting a prequel instead.

[absnow54]

It's way too soon to reboot Katniss's part of the story. This isn't Spiderman or Batman! I do hope that the next time they adapt the trilogy that they go the television route. Yes, these were YA novels, but they're far too dark for a PG-13 mass appeal Blockbuster to do them justice.

 

I think it could be interesting to explore the first uprising that led to the Dark Days and the creation of the Hunger Games. And also Haymitch's Games, because Catching Fire sort of implied that there whispers of a rebellion around that time too. A standalone Finnick movie could also work because there's the bond he has with Mags (who was most likely his mentor a la Haymitch) and his love story with Annie. There's no way to end them on anything but a dour note, and it's not like Mockingjay is the most uplifting conclusion, so I don't really see the need to explore the series further, other than to -- as someone said earlier: money, money, money.

[stealinghome]

Yeah, this is obviously motivated by money money money, but I'd go to a movie featuring Finnick's, Joanna's, or Haymitch's Games. Depending on how they write the script, we could also see the aftereffects of the Games, and the script could stretch up until we meet each character in the books (would be a little more difficult for Haymitch obviously, but certainly not impossible, especially if they The Hobbit it, as someone else said).

[raezen]

Okay, is THG's going to be this generations Star Wars? Banking on nostalgia but producing sequels that never seem to reach the remembered brilliance of the original?

[BatmanBeatles]

At least it's not a gender switch format...right?

[bluvelvet]

I wouldn't mind seeing Haymitchs games but that's about it for me.

[Danny Franks]

I really don't think the movies, or the world they're set in, are interesting and well realised enough to warrant a spin-off. How can they 'glorify violence' when they're too busy chasing the tween demographic to actually show any violence? Not that I particularly care for violence, but if your intention is to show a brutal, ruthless, oppressive society that makes sport out of forcing its people to kill one another, you have to be more visceral and confrontational about it than these movies were. You have to make the audience face the reality of it and think about it, rather than asking them to think about the dreamy romance between the plucky heroine and the non-threatening nice guy.

[methodwriter85]

Which...I mean, they can't really have two surviving victors in the same games for any of the prequels. So the love story can't have any kind of happy ending.

[Rick Kitchen]

They could do the Finnick and Annie love story.  There's also a good fan fiction video of that on YouTube.

[thuganomics85]

I wouldn't work as a film, but I'd totally watch a Game of Thrones-ish series, watching Snow's rise to power.  He'd probably did a few things that either would impress or terrify the Lannisters.  But even then, I'd only accept it if they somehow kept Donald Sutherland and de-aged him throughout the entire thing.

 

Besides that, yeah, anything else just feels like a cash grab.  I guess seeing Haymitch's games or even Finnicks or Johannas might be fun, but I'm still not sure it will be all that worth it.

[Browncoat]

Please, god, no prequels!  We saw how well that worked out for Star Wars.....

[BatmanBeatles]

 

But even then, I'd only accept it if they somehow kept Donald Sutherland and de-aged him throughout the entire thing.

They could cast Kiefer as young Snow.

[Zuleikha]

If it's well done, I wouldn't mind seeing Haymitch's games or Annie/Finnick's love story. I wouldn't mind reading Johanna's, but I feel like her games would be both too depressing and not easily contribute to the wider world and themes. If they're going to do Johanna's or Finnick's games, they need to do it fast before the actors get too old to believably play (well, Hollywood version of believably play) their teenage selves. I guess I could deal with a recast for teen Finnick, but I don't want anyone other than Jena Malone playing Johanna. 

[JustaPerson]

Finnick was what, 14 when he won? Sam Claflin is youthful looking, but that youthful.

[stealinghome]

If it's well done, I wouldn't mind seeing Haymitch's games or Annie/Finnick's love story. I wouldn't mind reading Johanna's, but I feel like her games would be both too depressing and not easily contribute to the wider world and themes. If they're going to do Johanna's or Finnick's games, they need to do it fast before the actors get too old to believably play (well, Hollywood version of believably play) their teenage selves. I guess I could deal with a recast for teen Finnick, but I don't want anyone other than Jena Malone playing Johanna. 

I agree that Johanna's games would probably be the hardest to do a standalone movie about, but I would also say that for any prequel, showing life afterward is going to be just as important as showing the games themselves. So I'm wondering if there's a way to contrast Finnick and Johanna's different choices in life after the arena, as a way of illustrating Snow's cruelty. Annie and Johanna won in back-to-back years and it seems like Johanna and Finnick were solid friends (or as close as Johanna gets!) before Catching Fire...maybe Finnick takes Johanna under his wing once she's a victor and mentors her in victor life?

[Zuleikha]

Finnick was what, 14 when he won?

He won before Annie, though, right? I was thinking more of Annie's games with the Finnick/Annie romance as what Sam Claflin would do. Finnick doesn't seem so interesting without Annie because the cruelties done to him seem dependent on her existence.

[stealinghome]

He won before Annie, though, right? I was thinking more of Annie's games with the Finnick/Annie romance as what Sam Claflin would do. Finnick doesn't seem so interesting without Annie because the cruelties done to him seem dependent on her existence.

Yeah, I belive Finnick won 5 years before Annie. So he was 19 when he was her mentor, she was probably like 16ish.

I could see a Finnick&Annie movie using flashbacks liberally. Like the present-day stuff is Finnick watching Annie's games and politicking trying to help her, while we flash back to Finnick's games and post-games life as he watches her. While I'm not sure they'd want to go for this, that's even an easy way to work in the prostitution angle--have him exchange sex for a badly-needed gift for Annie or something. Gotta say, though, I think the horror of being prostituted out on Snow's command is equally awful with or without Annie around.

[methodwriter85]

They would pretty much need to recast for that.

 

I still think Haymitch's games would probably work well, especially because it seems like the arena itself killed more than the actual kids did.

[bluvelvet]

Haymitch's games also had 48 tributes instead of the usual 24 and there was his friendship with that girl whose name I can't remember right now.

[truthaboutluv]

Haymitch's games also had 48 tributes instead of the usual 24 and there was his friendship with that girl whose name I can't remember right now.

 

Maysilee Donner. She was Katniss' mom best friend or one of her closest friends and the Mayor's wife sister, so Madge's aunt. That's partly why the Mayor's wife always struggled with severe migraines and from the description in the book, sounded kind of depressed. 

[lion10]

Maysilee Donner. She was Katniss' mom best friend or one of her closest friends and the Mayor's wife sister, so Madge's aunt. That's partly why the Mayor's wife always struggled with severe migraines and from the description in the book, sounded kind of depressed. 

 

They cut Madge completely out of the book so I don't know how they'll do that...

[truthaboutluv]

They don't have to mention Madge to include Maysilee in a film about Haymitch's Games, especially as I imagine Madge wasn't even born when Maysilee competed and died in the Games. Katniss only really learns about Maysilee because she was Katniss' mom's friend and her mother told her about it. In other words, it would be very simple to just make her the female tribute from District 12 and that's it. By the way, this sounds like I'm in favor of these films and I'm not. 

Edited December 15, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[revbfc]

Please, god, no prequels! We saw how well that worked out for Star Wars.....

I'm with you. They'll have to come up with a stellar story that breaks new ground not yet thought of in the series so it's not just a cash grab. The movies (and books) made huge statements about war, celebrity, destruction of innocence, power relationships and class. What will the prequels improve on?