'Mockingjay 鈥 Part 2' trailer: Why make two movies from one book?
The 'Games' movies star Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth. The last book in the trilogy, 'Mockingjay,' has been split into two movies for the film adaptation.
The 'Games' movies star Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth. The last book in the trilogy, 'Mockingjay,' has been split into two movies for the film adaptation.
A new trailer has been released for the upcoming movie 鈥淭he Hunger Games: Mockingjay 鈥 Part 2.鈥
The film is the last in the 鈥淗unger Games鈥 series, following what's become a Hollywood pattern of making two films out of the last installment of a best-selling book trilogy.
This movie, starring Jennifer Lawrence, is based off the trilogy of novels by Suzanne Collins, and "Mockingjay 鈥 Part 2" the movie, will be released this November.聽
The new trailer focuses mainly on the relationship between protagonist Katniss Everdeen (played by Lawrence) and her younger sister, Prim (Willow Shields). It was for Prim鈥檚 sake that Katniss originally volunteered for the Hunger Games after Prim鈥檚 name was picked. For the Games, children from each district of the country of Panem are selected to fight to the death.聽
The new movie finds Katniss as a key figure in the rebellion against the national government, including President Snow (Donald Sutherland).
The 鈥淕ames鈥 films have consistently been some of the highest-grossing in the years in which they have been released. The previous movie, 鈥淭he Hunger Games: Mockingjay 鈥 Part 1,鈥 was behind only 鈥淎merican Sniper鈥 in the list of the highest-grossing movies of 2014, according to Box Office Mojo,聽and the second 鈥淕ames鈥 movie, 鈥淭he Hunger Games: Catching Fire,鈥 was the top-grossing movie of 2013.
If you鈥檙e a fan of movies based on young adult book series, that 鈥淧art 2鈥 in the title of the upcoming movie is familiar to you by now.
The 鈥淗arry Potter鈥 movie series popularized the idea of dividing the last book in a series into two films with its installments 鈥淗arry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1鈥 and 鈥淗arry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.鈥 Other young adult franchises such as 鈥淭wilight鈥 and 鈥淕ames鈥 followed suit with 鈥淭he Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 鈥 Part 1鈥 and 鈥2鈥 and the 鈥淢ockingjay鈥 movies. The 鈥淒ivergent鈥 film series will do the same next year, with a pair of movies based on author Veronica Roth鈥檚 book final book in the trilogy,鈥淎llegiant鈥 (though that franchise has eschewed the 鈥淧art 1鈥 and 鈥2鈥 titles and given the final movie in the series a whole new title, 鈥淎scendant").
There鈥檚 no question this strategy makes sense financially 鈥 fans flock to each film. But how does it affect the movies creatively? Especially with the 鈥淏reaking Dawn鈥 and 鈥淢ockingjay鈥 movies, some critics seemed to feel the first movie was simply killing time until the second arrived.
One聽critic wrote of 鈥淏reaking Dawn 鈥 Part 1,鈥 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear that most of the juicy stuff will arrive in Part 2,鈥 while another wrote of the first part, 鈥渟o little else occurs between these momentous events [like a wedding] in 鈥楾wilight: Breaking Dawn 鈥 Part 1鈥 that you can practically hear every second ticking by while awaiting the payoff.鈥
Some reviewers felt similarly about last year鈥檚 鈥淢ockingjay 鈥 Part 1,鈥 calling it 鈥渁n overgrown and bloated trailer for a film yet to come鈥 and writing, 鈥淲ith no real beginning and no real ending, the unsatisfying 鈥楳ockingjay Part 1鈥 is essentially all middle.鈥澛
Moviegoers recently also saw the peril of stretching source material thin, with the recent 鈥淗obbit鈥 films being mostly poorly received by critics. In the case of 鈥淗obbit,鈥 a book around 300 pages, some supplementary material by 鈥淗obbit鈥 writer J.R.R. Tolkien was adapted to produce three films.聽
However, as long as the last film in a series continues to do well at the box office, Hollywood has little incentive to change.