Biggest Films of 2012 - The Hunger Games

Join me as I take an objective, fair and (dare I say it) borderline humorous look at the biggest blockbusters and films to grace our screens in the coming months.

As the boringly predictable awards season has now come to a close, we can look forward, sidewards, upwards and diagonally (basically any way but backwards) to the rest of 2012. Join me as I take an objective, fair and (dare I say it) borderline humorous look at the biggest blockbusters and films to grace our screens in the coming months. Day by day for the next 10 days I will give my thoughts and opinions on the biggest films 2012 has to offer, all in the name of good debate and buzz building ahead of this year€™s cinema. We start with the film most closest to release, the much anticipated adaptation of Suzanne Collins' novel The Hunger Games. Release Date: 23rd March 2012 (UK) WHAT COULD BE AWESOME ABOUT IT: Billed as an English speaking version of the Asian classic Battle Royale but with more of a focus on a coming of age emotional story, this could be one of the most startlingly good films of the year. One too that carries the potential for a kick ass franchise on the back of its 7 trillion book sales (don€™t say I don€™t do accurate research). The teaser tantalises action balanced with character and story and makes it out to be a less sucky version of Twilight. Anchored by an actress who can actually act in Jennifer Lawrence, who was brilliant in X Men: First Class and has an Oscar nomination under her belt, the film has plenty of top talent involved and an adult themed story with plenty of allegory for deeper readings. Here's the trailer if you haven't yet seen it; WHAT COULD SUCK ABOUT IT: Well...it's being compared to Twilight. Which is not something you ever want for a film. Although the marketing isn€™t saying €˜THIS IS THE NEXT TWILIGHT€™ and the subject matter is actually radically different, it€™s a novel involving teens, for teens, based on a multi-million pound adaptation for teen audiences starting the year Twilight ends. Although it€™s a little obvious to say what could suck about this movie is it€™s comparisons to Twilight, Twilight€™s over the top success could drive the film makers to give it a dose of €˜Twi-Ification€™ (A word, look it up) and ruin it. It€™s a testimony to how successful Twilight€™s evil crusade against good cinema has been that even a slight comparison to it is enough to make you nervous about watching the film in question. The prevailing tone of unimportant teenage angst and its annoyingly over the top fanbase make you worry about the potential of this film. Even if the kids do all start killing each other at the end, it might not be the worthwhile ending you want after sitting through an upsetting amount of teens looking moody. There are other issues; the trailer makes the film look a little too long, an over long set up to a potentially underwhelming action sequence which hasn€™t been played on enough in the build up. It has potential, but it could be a disappointment. Trailer; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzht93HMqZw&feature=fvwrel Predicted Star Rating: 4/5. Despite comparisons to an unwanted teen franchise, the trailer is wonderfully made and it could be one of the most surprising films of the year if the actors can act and the material is handled as well as its 12A rating allows it. Predicted Worldwide Box Office Gross: $400m -$600m With an estimated 100 million dollar budget, a big advertising campaign behind it and the legions of loyal book fans waiting to turn up and obsess about/abuse the finished product means this film should make a solid profit. Tomorrow: The Avengers Assemble goes underneath my purely metaphorical microscope.
Contributor
Contributor

One time I met John Stamos on a plane - and he told me I was pretty.