WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.–In a couple of days, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2” will be released in movie theaters worldwide. Fans have been awaiting the final movie since the first “Hunger Games” was released on March 23, 2012–and for good reason. Based on ratings and box office numbers, the cast and crew have always delivered on the quality of the movie. Movie adaptations like these succeed in satisfying the hunger of pop culture, and even in moving the audience to tears. Many fans are expecting the final “Hunger Games” to be as great as the previous ones, if not better.
Because of time constraints, a majority of novels that are created into movies end up losing important parts of their stories, which oftentimes leaves the viewers wanting more of what the books had. But even if they feel the directors and producers missed the mark on certain film adaptations, or if they know how a story ends, fans may still venture out to see the movie anyway. Is this because they have to see how each book will be portrayed onscreen, or is it because they feel as if they would be disloyal fans if they do not go out and watch the movies?
It is not an uncommon phenomena for people to venture out and see a movie because they enjoyed reading its corresponding book, but then leave the theater feeling disappointed and discussing with their peers what scenes from the book the directors did not incorporate into the movie.
This might be the case for a few “Hunger Games” fans, but a more perfect example of a recent book craze that left many fans feeling unfulfilled is the “Fifty Shades of Grey” movie adaptation. For those who loved the novels, they were expecting much more from the first movie. Unfortunately, the film could not reach the same level as the books because the raunchy content could not be portrayed onscreen as easily as it was in the novels, and this was reflected in its lackluster IMDB ratings.
Many fans felt that “Fifty Shades” did not excel, but the producers have announced that they will be making a sequel based on the second novel in the series. According to E Online, they decided to make another movie because of the money and the hype that resulted from the first movie. Even though many fans did not like the “Fifty Shades of Grey” movie, they might still go to see the sequel in hopes that it will be better than the first.
Movie adaptations seem to fail more than they succeed. It is hard for a fan to create the story in their minds while they are reading and then go see the actual movie, only to see something totally different. Personally, books are more enjoyable than their movie adaptations because movies seem to always rush the story lines and character development. Watching these movies is still enjoyable, and seeing that a favorite novel is headed toward the big screen has the ability to get a fan pumped and ready to go out and see it on the silver screen. However, it is difficult not to immediately start judging and comparing the movie to the book that inspired it.
It will be interesting to see what fans think of the final “Hunger Games” movie adaption in the context of these thoughts.
