Was "The Hunger Games" inspired by "Battle Royale"?

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 7977

Ursula K. LeGuin wrote:

Her credit to JK Rowling for giving the "whole fantasy field a boost" is tinged with regret. "I didn't feel she ripped me off, as some people did," she says quietly, "though she could have been more gracious about her predecessors. My incredulity was at the critics who found the first book wonderfully original. She has many virtues, but originality isn't one of them. That hurt."

I'm going to bet that the reason those reviewers called Rowling's work "original" is because they normally did not review "genre" books and only made an exception in her case once the Harry Potter books became a cultural phenomenon.

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 7977

My idea for a movie called The Hunger Games was rejected by Hollywood. Five models are trapped in a room and the only one who will be set fee is the one who is the first to consume a hamburger.

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 7977

I may see this movie tomorrow. Does anybody know if it is any good?

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 7977

*gasps for breath*

Linda, I had no idea how far down the WANderground was before I had to walk upstairs here. Would you mind installing an elevator???

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

Li'l Jay wrote:

Rafael wrote:

How was it?

Well done. Enjoyable. But not recommended if there's no family enjoyment going on. I like it because everybody in the family can enjoy it and talk about it.

But it doesn't really hold up if I was just some guy in a van going to the movie.

The Professor · 30 Oct 2004

Hunger Games shares little to no similarities to Battle Royale unless you want it to. Battle Royale is a story about the battle. Hunger Games is about a lot more than the Game itself.

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 7977

If I have time, I may see a matinee tomorrow. My brother-in-law told someone else "Go read the book [first]" if this is a REALLY good movie, reading the book should be unnecessary. For those of you who remember this reference, I want to see if this passes the "Garp" test.*

*Many years ago, my cousin Mark saw the Robin Williams movie The World According to Garp. He hated it, but his friends who loved the movie said "You have to read the book first!" Mark's retort was "They didn't hand out the book in the movie theatre!" A really good movie adaptation should pass the "Garp" test and be accessable to people who did not read the original source material. Of course, if Mark eventually reads the book and also dislikes it, it may be that Garp really did pass the "Garp" test without him being aware of it.

The Professor · 30 Oct 2004

I loved GARP and have still never read the book. Have no clue how accurate an adaptation it was. I just know that was a frigggin awesome movie.

Glenn S. · **Joined:** 30 Oct 2006 **Posts:** 3375

Li'l Jay wrote:

Ian Sokoliwski wrote:

This all sounds very loosely similar to The Long Walk.

I posted the other day it's like The Long Walk combined with The Running Man.

Actually, the first place I ever heard of these books was in an Entertainment Weekly column by Stephen King. He loves them.

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 7977

My brother-in-law said that going to last night's showing was like attending a midnight screening
to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have a feeling that even if the movie is good, I won't like
it NEARLY as much as TRHPS.

Hanzo the Razor · 24 Jun 2007

Saw it last night, thought it was pretty good.

Don't see how these are considered "girly" other than having a lead female protagonist -- no sappy love story or anything like that. I thought that while you didn't really see a lot of the violence head on, it was pretty brutal and dark for kid's material.

Hanzo the Razor · 24 Jun 2007

Amazing...

Quote:

Weekend Report: 'The Hunger Games' Devours $155 Million

The odds were definitely in The Hunger Games favor this weekend: the big screen adaptation of the immensely popular young adult novel opened to an enormous estimated $155 million, which ranks third all-time behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($169.2 million) and The Dark Knight ($158.4 million). Remarkably, it debuted above all of the Twilight movies, and it also topped Alice in Wonderland ($116.1 million) for highest debut ever for a non-sequel.

Among all the impressive Hunger Games statistics, two lesser-discussed ones are worth highlighting. First, the movie had an incredible hold on Saturday—it only fell 25 percent to $51 million, which ranks second all-time behind Spider-Man 3 ($51.3 million). This suggests that demand for The Hunger Games exists across a wide array of moviegoers, and isn't just rooted in the type of rabid fans that drove the front-loaded openings for recent Harry Potter and Twilight movies.

But alas...

Quote:

This may have been the weekend where John Carter officially transitioned from domestic disappointment to disaster. The movie plummeted 63 percent to just over $5 million, bringing its 17-day total to just $62.3 million (or less than The Hunger Games made on opening day). It is playing better overseas, but it's still not at the levels needed to really ease the pain over at the Mouse House.

http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3401&p=.htm

Marcus · 27 Nov 2004

Hanzo the Razor wrote:

Saw it last night, thought it was pretty good.

Don't see how these are considered "girly" other than having a lead female protagonist -- no sappy love story or anything like that. I thought that while you didn't really see a lot of the violence head on, it was pretty brutal and dark for kid's material.

There was a review in the Charlotte observer that thought the movie wasn't violent enough.

Glenn S. · **Joined:** 30 Oct 2006 **Posts:** 3375

(T)Eddy wrote:

My brother-in-law said that going to last night's showing was like attending a midnight screening
to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have a feeling that even if the movie is good, I won't like
it NEARLY as much as TRHPS.

A lady I work with drove her teenage son and his girlfriend to see it and she said a lot of people outside of the theater were in costume. I knew these books sold well but I had no idea they had that kind of cult already.

The Professor · 30 Oct 2004

My son has gone to see it 3 times already. My daughter has seen it twice.

Marcus · 27 Nov 2004

My wife and kids will go next week. Too crowded this week.

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 7977

I saw the movie yesterday afternoon at a second-tier theatre, so it wasn't that crowded and I sat in the very back.
Didn't have any problems with fans cheering things I didn't understand and didn't see anybody in costume. If you
go in the middle of the week at an off-time, I don't think anybody will have any problems.

Hanzo the Razor · 24 Jun 2007

I heard a girl go, "YEESSSSSSS" when the new Twilight trailer played. :lol:

(T)Eddy · **Joined:** 02 Jul 2009 **Posts:** 7977

Hanzo the Razor wrote:

I heard a girl go, "YEESSSSSSS" when the new Twilight trailer played. :lol:

I may have to rent the Twilight film on Netflix if only to hear "my" song:

Rafael · 03 Dec 2006

Hanzo the Razor wrote:

I heard a girl go, "YEESSSSSSS" when the new Twilight trailer played. :lol:

The name of that girl?

Jason Powell.

Joe Mayer · 21 Jun 2006

A friend and I were discussing the comparison of the two books on Friday. We have not read The Hunger games, but we have Battle Royale. The point we finally came to in that any similarities are likely coincidental, if you had to steel something to write a book, why on earth would you steal BR to try and turn it into children's fare?

Joe Mayer · 21 Jun 2006

But I do have two reasons for being very interested in the Hunger Games...

Was "The Hunger Games" inspired by "Battle Royale"?

Who is WANline