By Alexandra Salerno
Managing Editor
The first “Twilight” film banked $140 million opening weekend. Associated Press and various other news outlets pose the question: Can “The Hunger Games” rival “Twilight’s” premiere at the box office?
Fans of “The Hunger Games,” which opened at midnight, do not think the association between the book-to-film series is a fair comparison.
“The Hunger Games” books are really good,” said freshman journalism and mass communication major Melissa Scott. “I don’t think the movie is being blown out of proportion like ‘Twilight’ movies.”
“‘The Hunger Games,’” written by Suzanne Collins, is the first novel in a trilogy about a futuristic dystopia in which young people from different districts are chosen yearly to fight to the death in what’s called “The Hunger Games,” while the rest of society is made to watch on television. The heroine, Katniss Everdeen, volunteers to take the place of her sister, Prim, after she is chosen to partake in the games. What follows is Katniss’ journey to survive the games.
“It’s ridiculous that people are comparing ‘The Hunger Games’ to ‘Twilight,’” Scott said. “I mean, ‘The Hunger Games’ is so much better. It has such a better storyline, and when I read it I didn’t want to kill Katniss like I did Bella in ‘Twilight.’”
Sean O’Brien, a freshman journalism and mass communication major, said he’s excited to view the movie, although he already thinks the book will be better.
“Generally, the book is always better than the movie,” O’Brien said. “I hope that the movie is a decent companion to the book.”
O’Brien compared the amount of publicity surrounding the first novel in the dystopia series to the first novel in the vampire series and their respective book-to-film adaptations.
“The hype are both equal, but ‘The Hunger Games’ books are far superior,” he said. “I’d actually go out on a limb and say that the movies are already better than the ‘Twilight’ movies.”
Leanna Chojnacki, a junior political science and international studies major, said the hype surrounding the Twilight series is what drew her to Collins’ trilogy.
“Ironically, the author of ‘Twilight’ had a huge blog about ‘The Hunger Games’ on her website,” she said. “I’ve read both series, but I don’t actually compare the two at all. Stephanie Meyers (‘Twilight’ author) wrote on her blog that she couldn’t put ‘The Hunger Games’ down, so that’s why I decided to read it.”
Chojnacki said the publicity surrounding the film is warranted, especially because of the casting choices.
Directed by Gary Ross, “The Hunger Games” features a mixed cast of both known and lesser-known actors and actresses.
Jennifer Lawrence plays heroine Katniss Everdeen. Lawrence has previously starred in films like “Winter’s Bone” and “X-Men: First Class.” Some students are pleased with the heroine’s casting.
“I think they did really well with casting,” Chojnacki said. “It’ll be kind of interesting to see (Lawrence) in this series, and maybe it will launch her into starring in other movies like ‘Twilight’ did for Kristen Stewart.”
Siika Merriman, a sophomore psychology major, is skeptical about Lawrence’s casting.
“(Lawrence) looks a lot more feminine and pretty than I would think Katniss would look,” Merriman said. “Katniss is described as a lot more tomboyish in the book, but I guess that’s Hollywood.”
Rayann Seager, a freshman biology major, is unhappy with the casting of Katniss’ two main love interests — Gale Hawthorn (Liam Hemsworth) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).
“I think Gale and Peeta should be switched,” Seager said. “I think Liam Hensworth is bigger, and Peeta’s supposed to be a strong guy, so I think he should be Peeta instead of Gale.”
However, Merriman does agree with most of her peers when comparing the dystopia flick to the vampire love triangle.
“‘The Hunger Games’ came (into fashion) really quickly, just like Twilight did,” Merriman said. “I kind of get a feeling that ‘The Hunger Games’ are going to be better made than the ‘Twilight’ movies because it has a more general audience. It appeals to both men and women.”
