If you’re like most true bibliophiles, the idea of turning your favorite book series into a movie may raise your skepticism flag. In (fairly) recent years, as the film industry inevitably runs out of original ideas to produce, we have witnessed many of our favorite book characters come to life on the big screen. Generally speaking, response to this phenomenon is varied; some people love seeing the stories play out before their eyes and others bemoan every little discrepancy between the two forms. Regardless of this fact, more and more book series are being turned into movies every year, and people don’t seem to have a problem paying to see them. These films are attracting the “original” series lovers as well as viewers who have never read the books (but don’t have to now…how convenient).
Recently, we’ve seen many of our favorite Young Adult book series arriving in theaters across the country. Some of the most notable series include the Harry Potter books, The Twilight Saga, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and, most recently, the Hunger Games Trilogy. Something interesting to note about these particular series is the book-to-movie ratio… all of the above have (or will have) one extra movie added to the lineup. When Harry Potter fans found out that the 7th movie of the series, The Deathly Hollows, would be one of two eventual installments, reactions were mixed amongst book and movie fans alike. However, in 2011 when The Deathly Hollows part 2 was released, Americans spent more than $169,189,427 (according to IMDB.com) for tickets on the opening weekend alone. This illustrated an extreme willingness of Americans to participate in the expansion of a well-loved entertainment franchise.
The innovative idea of splitting the final movie of a series into two parts continues to grow in popularity. The last book of the Twilight series (Breaking Dawn- due in theaters November 2012) and the Hunger Games (Mockingjay – part 1 is scheduled for release in 2014, part 2 in 2015) will be broken into two parts as a movie. While the Lord of the Rings trilogy is affirmation that if producers really try, a three-part book series can be effectively made into a three-part movie series, creators have probably recognized that they missed the “cash cow” on this one. The Hobbit,which originally preceded the trilogy in book form, will be released in December of this year and (you guessed it!) it will be coming out in TWO parts
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Whether you love the idea of even MORE of your favorite series becoming available, or you resent that fact that you have to wait YET ANOTHER year to see the completion of the series it is hard to refute that this technique is extremely effective. It’s enjoyable, convenient, and logical (I’ve already seen the first 7 movies…what’s one more?). So sit tight! The end of your favorite series will be coming EVENTUALLY to a theater near you!
– Lauren Habig, Hannah Eure, Erin Kiffmeyer, Ally Walton, Gene Lee
IMC Hawks Blog 