The closer Hunger Games was going to hit the screens, the hype intensified. This had me wondering about the how, when, why and what.

Years ago, through in your face kind of realization, Steven Spielberg created the summer tent pole movie with Jaws. Before that, I'm not sure what scheduling was for a movie release except maybe the winter preparing for the Oscars. Since Jaws, we now see highly anticipated movies placing their flags in very special spots on the summer calendar to get the most bang for the buck. Also, I don't think we are talking the best movies, but the movies that will bring in the highest dollar.

Then we saw another realization by the studio's with sequels and then major serial movies from books like Star Trek, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. James Bond has been using this model since forever, but the fan base for the books was not nearly as big or rabid.

So what does a studio do when they see their series dry up? I mean these were huge money makers and just about carried a studio. They have to look for new books to make into movies. I would think they would take a close look at those books that are making a hit with the kids... the cash cow that goes to the movies.


Thus came Twilight. I don't know the history of Twilight. Did hype feed from the book to the movie or did the studio generate hype for the movie towards the book?

The point I'm getting at... can the movie industry generate hype or do the stars have to align?

Many times I think studio's have tried to generate this hyper cash cow from what they think will be the next things people are eating up in books, and/or movies. I think of all the Asian movies that were americanized. Some did well, but most fell flat after one iteration.

I know they tried like hell to make the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series the next Lord of the Rings. I don't think it did well.

Now I noticed with the Hunger Games the media hype slowly peculating to a huge head. Is this from the studio? Is this really the best movie ever... before anyone sees it? Is the movie really that good? Are the books good?

I move with caution when I see all these amazing reviews by critics before it hits the theater. It almost appears as plants to generate the hype. I also think young people are easily influenced... good or bad. And it doesn't take long for word to spread. But I also see younger people eating up some major crap too (see Twilight).

I'll take a wait and see to get a better feel of the general public's reaction to Hunger Games.