'Hunger Games' ushers in darker movies for youth
Source: Agencies |
July 23, 2013, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PARENTS of morose teenagers be warned: The next big trend in films for young adults could make the mood at home even darker.
Vampires, werewolves and boy wizards are out - dark, depressing worlds are in. Having seen the popularity of "The Hunger Games," movie studios are rolling out films that explore darker themes.
Summit Entertainment's "Divergent" and "Ender's Game" and Sony Pictures' "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" are all aimed at the lucrative audience of young adults.
The films were front and center at the Comic-Con convention that wrapped up in San Diego on Sunday in the largest gathering of fans of science fiction, fantasy and video game genres.
The industry's move to very dark worlds comes after the "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" franchises both ended in 2011.
The five "Twilight" films, based on novels by Stephenie Meyer about a human girl entangled in a love triangle with a vampire and a werewolf, grossed more than US$3 billion at the worldwide box office and set studios on the hunt for the next young adult franchise to capture the audience. What they found was significantly darker in nature.
Last year's Lions Gate film "The Hunger Games," the first film based on author Suzanne Collins' trilogy, features a post-apocalypse society in which a totalitarian government holds an annual "Hunger Games," a televised survival game where 24 children must fight to the death until only one remains.
Heroine Katniss, played by Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, who survives by playing by her own rules, quickly becomes a beacon of hope.
The film, which made US$691 million worldwide last year, will be followed by sequel "Catching Fire" in November, which puts Katniss back in the game.
"Ender's Game," due out in November, is based on the sci-fi novels by Orson Scott Card. The film explores a futuristic universe where gifted young children are taken to military school early in order to train for warfare against alien invasions on their planet.
Vampires, werewolves and boy wizards are out - dark, depressing worlds are in. Having seen the popularity of "The Hunger Games," movie studios are rolling out films that explore darker themes.
Summit Entertainment's "Divergent" and "Ender's Game" and Sony Pictures' "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" are all aimed at the lucrative audience of young adults.
The films were front and center at the Comic-Con convention that wrapped up in San Diego on Sunday in the largest gathering of fans of science fiction, fantasy and video game genres.
The industry's move to very dark worlds comes after the "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" franchises both ended in 2011.
The five "Twilight" films, based on novels by Stephenie Meyer about a human girl entangled in a love triangle with a vampire and a werewolf, grossed more than US$3 billion at the worldwide box office and set studios on the hunt for the next young adult franchise to capture the audience. What they found was significantly darker in nature.
Last year's Lions Gate film "The Hunger Games," the first film based on author Suzanne Collins' trilogy, features a post-apocalypse society in which a totalitarian government holds an annual "Hunger Games," a televised survival game where 24 children must fight to the death until only one remains.
Heroine Katniss, played by Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, who survives by playing by her own rules, quickly becomes a beacon of hope.
The film, which made US$691 million worldwide last year, will be followed by sequel "Catching Fire" in November, which puts Katniss back in the game.
"Ender's Game," due out in November, is based on the sci-fi novels by Orson Scott Card. The film explores a futuristic universe where gifted young children are taken to military school early in order to train for warfare against alien invasions on their planet.
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