The movie that never stops casting, THE HUNGER GAMES, finally has a bit of news that doesn’t have to do with an actor whose joined the film (though Donald Sutherland just did sign on as President Snow). Rather, the news is that the trilogy of books will actually be split in FOUR different films, though it’s unclear whether the second or third installment will be chopped in half.
This is news to me because I didn’t even know that THE HUNGER GAMES was going to be more than one film, and I’ve been writing about it this whole time like it was a single movie. I guess that reveals my unfamiliarity with the books, but now I understand why everyone is making such a fuss about who is landing these roles, many of which will be spanning four movies, not one.
With sagas like HARRY POTTER and TWILIGHT wrapping up, studios need to find new franchise properties that they can release in perpetuity. I’ve heard the books are good, but they hardly have the massive worldwide fanbases of Harry and Edward, and so I’m curious to see how these will do at the box office.
Are they that sure of this series’ performance that they’re willing to commit to four movies already? Even in a sequel happy Hollywood, it seems a touch pre-emptive for a relatively unknown property. Yes, the book series has its fans who will probably yell at me for saying that, but when they were talking about some grand film and TV series for THE DARK TOWER, as I fan I voiced the opinion that this would probably never happen due to lack of mainstream appeal, and I stand by that.
Is THE HUNGER GAMES different? Is the source material that good where a pre-emptive four picture deal is warranted?