The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, Fans of the best seller “The Hunger Games” turned out in force Monday night at the Los Angeles red-carpet premiere of the postapocalyptic survivor flick.

Published in 2008, the first novel in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy has become one of the most anticipated films of the year. Some predict the films will be the next “Twilight” or “Harry Potter.”
“The book is amazing, and the actors they picked are beyond perfect,” said aspiring actress Jasmin Rodgers, 20, of Poughkeepsie, who camped out hoping to snag one of 400 fan tickets to Monday night’s performance at the Nokia Theatre.
“The first time I saw the trailer on TV, I was flipping out, running around my house screaming, I was so excited,” Rodgers said.

The movie stars Academy Award nominee Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson as lead characters Katniss Everdin and Peeta Mellark.

The film also features Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland, Stanley Tucci and Lenny Kravitz.

“I really loved watching myself disappear in the mirror every day and watching Effie appear. It was three hours in hair and makeup,” said Banks. “They really helped me feel like I was working in a different time and a different place. The undergarments were really constricting, so it was a constant reminder Effie wasn’t truly free. …I hope that young people remember that they matter and that their actions have consequences.”

‘The Hunger Games’ Trailer

‘The Hunger Games’ Trailer, It’s T-minus one month until the March 23 release The Hunger Games, which you all named your most anticipated 2012 release in our Movies Without Pity Awards. And we like the way you think.

Because the movie’s release is drawing closer, the marketing campaign is starting to ramp up big time. In addition to a just-announced mall tour, expect to see a lot more photos, trailers and TV teasers hitting the airwaves and the web over the next few weeks. For now, watch our Trailers Without Pity team take aim at the current Hunger Games theatrical trailer featuring more footage of Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta Mellark and lots of shots of Panem’s Capitol.

As for what goes down in the battle arena? You’re apparently going to have to wait for March 23 to see more of that.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games, Talking exclusively to MTV News following the premiere of her new video for “Safe & Sound” from “The Hunger Games,” Taylor Swift revealed that the clip contains several references to the best-selling YA book series that fans should recognize.

“I felt like I was really needing to pay tribute to this movie and tell this story,” Swift said. “There’s this moment in the music video where I find this mockingjay pin and hold it up.”

For those who have not read the books, the mockingjay pin is one of the most iconic symbols from the series. It was given to the main character, Katniss Everdeen (played in the film by Jennifer Lawrence), as a token to take into the arena to remind her of her Home, District 12.

The mockingjay and the pin itself are both symbols of rebellion in the books. The mockingjay is a species of bird inadvertently bred when the Capitol released “jabberjays” throughout the nation of Panem in an attempt to spy on its citizens. After the mission failed and the citizens of Panem learned how to feed lies to Capitol spies through the jabberjays, the Capitol ended the project, but the birds bred with mockingbirds in the wild, creating the mockingjay, which the Capitol was never able to eradicate.

We won’t spoil the rest, but the third book in the series is titled “Mockingjay,” and that isn’t just a reference to the bird or the pin anymore.

“Having a music video with that much symbolism in it is something I’m not used to,” Swift continued. “Everyone who is a ‘Hunger Games’ fans knows what it means when there’s fire in the trees and they know what it means for the house to be burnt and they know what it means for the ‘Hunger Games’ pin to be covered in rust and old. Everybody can take their own meaning away from it, but it all goes back to the symbolism of the book.”

To avoid spoiling the books and film, the only bit here that we’ll address are the burning trees, which can be seen throughout Swift’s video and briefly in the film’s second trailer. In the arena, the Gamesmakers use fire to keep the tributes from hiding in trees and to push groups of them into the same area so they can fight to the death for all to see.