With studios mourning the Deathly Hallows and the twilight of Twilight, all eyes are seemingly on The Hunger Games, with many expecting it to become the next big thing.
Suzanne Collins’ trilogy of novels have proved to be a huge success, with a rabid fanbase already in place for Lionsgate’s films, and Deadline have narrowed down the three previous potentials for the director’s chair to Gary Ross, writer of Big and director of Seabiscuit and Pleasantville.
Ross was linked to a new adaptation of Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth but if he picks up Lionsgate’s offer he’ll be taking on something of a phenomenon.
The fans will no doubt debate the choice of director, just as Harry Potter and Twilight fans did before them, and if Ross is selected I wonder if he’ll court the legion of fans who are eagerly awaiting (or not) the film adaptation?
The role of Katniss will also be under intense scrutiny and while Chloe Moretz was, perhaps inevitably, the first to be suggested, if Ross takes on the job his first, and perhaps most important, choice will be finding the right person to play the heroine.
Here’s a nice fan made poster for the films by Lina6y which I found on MockingJay.net and thought looked pretty cool.
A synopsis from Barnes & Noble goes like this,
Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games.” The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat’s sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.
