Why 'Hunger Games' Prequel Movies Would Not Be a Good Idea
Do you really want to see prequels for "The Hunger Games?" Regardless of your answer, it looks like you will get them.
According to Variety, Lionsgate is looking to extend the franchise as long as it can. And by that it means bringing prequels to the series.
It is completely feasible to do the prequels as well. When the original book starts, the society of Panem has already gone to over 70 Hunger Games competitions. The main trilogy essentially takes us to the moment of crisis in the story and the reversal of the establishment.
But that is unimportant in prequels for the most part. Those are more about world building and establishing the ideas and notions that were presented in the original books. For Lionsgate, there is certainly a ton of history to play with and it would not be surprising to see prequels showing the first series of Hunger Games and how the tradition came to be. It could also follow the corruption of Snow, the dictator and main antagonist of the main trilogy of books / films.
Of course, it depends on where you choose to start the story. If you start the prequels in the years preceding the arrival of Katniss Everdeen and bring back familiar characters, then their fates are already clear for the viewer, thus making for an experience lacking in any real drama or suspense. If you start 70 years earlier, then there is a better chance of creating high stakes. By the same token, it is harder for the audience to connect with a world from a differing point of view. Even then the problems still exist however; everyone would know that at the end of the day, the fascist regime would still stand tall. What then would be the point of the film aside from establishing a world that has already been built in the first set of movies.
Therein lies the main danger of the prequels. Even if there is a clear intent to create a link with the original films (as in "Star Wars") there needs to be a sufficient angling of the material so that it elucidates or even contradicts our perception of the earlier films (again, see "Star Wars").
Would you be excited to see a new "Hunger Games" prequel?
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