Reel News...The Hunger Games Trailer

With Harry Potter putting his magic to rest and Twilight having only one left, people (teenage girls) can set their eyes on a new franchise this March in The Hunger Games.  Adapted to the screen from a series of books from author Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games takes place in a ruthless society of the near future where children are chosen at random to fight each other to the death until a last-man-standing winner is declared in the country’s annual Hunger Games. Children ages 12-18 are eligible to partake in the tradition as entertainment for its viewers, reminiscent of gladiator battles of the Roman era.

To consider The Hunger Games as congenial to the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises might be a little wayward.  Yes they're all books, but from what’s evident, Hunger Games doesn’t appear to have any vampires or wizardry magic within its world.  Instead, it’s a story of adolescent struggle, and adversity to the extreme.  It centers on a young girl, Katniss, played by Jennifer Lawrence who received an Oscar nomination last year for her role in Winter’s Bone.  In a way, it’s a similar role for Lawrence as she, once again, plays a fatherless girl who takes up caring for her younger sibling.  Another notable member of the film’s cast is rock icon Lenny Kravitz.  Without an Oscar nomination  and little acting experience for that matter, it should be interesting seeing him on the big screen without a guitar but I guess we will have to wait until March for the opportunity.

Check out the trailer for Winter’s Bone. (There’s a link in the paragraph above.)  Watching it, I can definitely see why she was chosen for this upcoming trilogy.  

The Hunger Games is set for release on March 23, 2012.