There were countdowns on Facebook, people reading aloud to each other in their seats, fights over who was marrying which male character, then, at 12.01, everything went silent. The lights dimmed.
The Games began.
The Hunger Games centers around Katniss Everdeen, the first volunteer Tribute from District 12, the coal mining district. By volunteering for the games, Katniss has essentially sentenced herself to death. 24 children go in, only one comes out.
People arrived at Cinemark as early as 2:00 p.m. for the midnight release of The Hunger Games.
Freshman Macie Miller waited until a more reasonable time.
“I think we got there at like, 7:30 pm,” Miller said.
Miller read the New York Times bestselling novel only recently.
“I started at the end of February, beginning of March,” Miller said.
People arrived at the theatre hoping that their favorite scenes from the book weren’t cut in the film making process.
Freshman Madison Davenport wanted to see them “get the Game Makers scene correct” and Miller wanted to see the cave scene, between Katniss and Peeta, the male Tribute also from District 12.
Both scenes made it to the final film.
Once the movie ended, people were eager to compare thoughts. Senior Maddie Johnson said the movie was exactly what she expected, except for one thing.
“Parts of the Capitol, the high tech scenes, were cheesy, not what I wanted,” Johnson said. “I think the next movies will be better.”
According to eonline.com, The Hunger Games is the only movie on the top 10 list of midnight releases that is not a sequel. The novel is only the sixth book to sell over one million Kindle eBooks. The series also holds the top three selling spots of the year on the Kindle store.
Many of the teens that read the books slowly found themselves connecting with various characters in the novel.
“[I would be] Katniss,” Davenport said. “I would like to save my friends, but I would still have the backbone to kill.”
Miller would be Prim.
“I have two older sisters,” Miller said. “I depend on them a lot, like Prim does [to Katniss.]
The first thing the Tributes see when they enter the Games is the Cornucopia, a structure filled with supplies that could save their lives, weapons, food, first aid, etc.
Miller says she would like to try and grab a backpack and water, but would “probably just run away.”
Johnson would run away, not even try to get supplies.
“I would just try to survive and avoid everyone else,” Johnson said. “I’m positive I would get killed if I tried to fight someone.”
Only Davenport would run into the other Tributes’ paths to gather supplies, namely, a bow and arrow, just like Katniss, eyes on the weapon, waiting for the games to begin.
“I would grab what I can and try to find at least one ally,” Davenport said.
Both Johnson and Miller think they would probably die pretty soon into the Games. Only Davenport has any confidence that she could win.
“I would do my best to try to win,” Davenport said.