Since Lionsgate has announced that they’re officially expanding the Hunger Games trilogy into four movies by splitting the final book into two parts (echoing the treatment of the Twilight and Harry Potter film series), I’ve been attempting to figure out how to feel about the news. On one hand, I’m certainly a fan, so I suppose I should be happy about having an extra film to look forward to, and more Hunger Games to love. On the other hand, I’m curious about how the split is going to work in terms of the narrative, and how it will affect which elements of the series are foregrounded in the adaptation.
[Spoiler warning: if you haven’t read Mockingjay yet, and don’t want any plot points revealed, you should stop reading here.]
I’ve written about Mockingjay here before, and I think it’s actually a better conclusion to the series than many people give it credit for, but I can also see why it’s the least favorite installment of the series, for many fans. So much of the book is concerned with Katniss’s inner turmoil, and mental and emotional trauma—how well will that translate on screen?
There’s certainly enough action to fill two movies, but I can only imagine that the book’s intense focus on our protagonist’s internal struggles won’t completely carry over—and perhaps it will be an improvement, if the alternative is two hours of mopey Katniss fighting with Gale and skulking moodily around District Thirteen. As much as I appreciate Suzanne Collins’ efforts at establishing the psychological factors that lead inexorably toward the series’ climax, I doubt the movies will depart from the pacing and constant action of the first two novels nearly as much as the third book did.
I also wonder whether the extra installment will give the filmmakers an excuse to heavily foreground the love triangle, playing up the Peeta/Gale rivalry as much as possible. Personally, I hope that doesn’t turn out to be the case—I was actually quite pleased with how little it factored into the first movie—although 
I’m sure many fans don’t feel the same way. I’d prefer the romantic angle to remain secondary to the larger, life-and-death plot points of the rebellion against the capital, but something tells me that the melodrama of tragic, damaged pretty people in love will be too irresistible for Hollywood. At least hijacked Peeta will be crazy a lot of the time, which might make up for all of the jaw-clenching angryhandsomeface we’re in for
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So what are your predictions for how they’ll split the action up? The bet around the Tor.com office right now is that the first movie will end after Gale destroys the Nut in District Two and Katniss gets shot, but that seems a bit too dark to be a satisfying stopping place. Maybe the first movie will culminate with the horror of the Nut, followed by Finnick and Annie’s wedding and Katniss’s defiant declaration that she is going to help attack the Capitol, come hell or high water. Which leaves training, the mission and its aftermath in store for Mockingjay II: Mock Harder and at this point, I suppose I should admit that the more I think about it, the more excited I’m getting about the prospect of three more movies.
Maybe it’s just a cynical grab for extra box office dollars on the studio’s part, but if they do a good job, does it really matter? I’m starting to think that, done well, the four movies might actually present fans with a more satisfying conclusion than the source material initially provided at this point, though, there’s nothing left to do but cross our collective fingers and remain (wildly) optimistic.
Bridget McGovern is the non-fiction editor of Tor.com, and seriously needs to know who is going to play Finnick Odair, right now. If you’re privy to any top secret Finnick casting intel, please let her know on Twitter.
Geh, consider me wildly unenthused. It just doesn’t feel like there is material to justify this, and I can’t think of any story published as one volume that after being split makes for a more compelling story. I really didn’t like Deathly Hallows I or II, and primarily for that reason. Part I was two acts of a story and II was just the third act. Don’t even get me started on Breaking Dawn. The only two-parter that I feel really works is Kill Bill, and I still would prefer that to be one volume (I’m still waiting for The Whole Bloody Affair to come out…please let it be soon). It all just feels like a blatant cash grab and I feel it will really disrupt the flow of the story. Well, at least we now have YA film tropes to go along with book tropes. In addition to having a love triangle, if it’s a series the final volume will now ALWAYS be split into two movies to make people pay twice to see the finale.
If they are concerned about the time, make it a longer movie. But, I can almost guarantee you that a single, complete, taut 2.5 hour movie will make a better movie and experience than two meandering, unfocused 1.5-2 hour movies.
I can’t think of a good reason to divide Mockingjay into two movies. It’s no longer than any of the other books. It doesn’t have any more plot than they do. If you can do Hunger Games in one movie (and they did), and do Catching Fire in one movie (which apparently they think they can), why stretch Mockingjay into 2? I guess it’s just what’s done now: when you adapt a series of kid’s books into movies, you make the last one into two movies, whether it needs it or not.
Obviously, it’s still a long way off, but I right now I’m thinking you can count me out for this one. Mockingjay was a hard book to read, and by about the midway point, I no longer cared whether District 13 or the Capitol won. I would have been hard pressed to sit through one movie based on it. I can’t see myself sitting through two.
I’m assuming that the decision was a purely commercial one, since I can’t seem to come up with a compelling plot-based argument for splitting Mockingjay in half, either. The studio suddenly has a huge hit on its hands, and dividing up the last book means squeezing out the maximum profit from the franchise. For every purist who refuses to abide this sort of meddling, there’s probably a hundred more people who don’t particularly care about the details and just want to be entertained, and then there are fans who might be slightly annoyed, but have gotten hooked in by the first couple of films and are bound to stick with the series through the grand finale.
I’m not excusing or agreeing with their strategy, but it makes purely financial sense from the studio’s perspective. I barely remember the penultimate Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Damp Sadness? There was a fair amount of camping and depression, from what I recall), but I sat through it to get to the last film, which I ultimately enjoyed. In the case of the Hunger Games, I’d certainly prefer for them to stick to the trilogy, but if they play up the action effectively, stay focused on Katniss and don’t get bogged down in Team Gale vs. Team Peeta nonsense, I’ll stay along for the ride.
Like all the other posts, I am underwhelmed by this idea. At least with Harry Potter there was a lot of material to cover… I could kind of justify 2 movies. The last hunger games book doesnt seem substantial enough and there is too much inner turmoil in it that wont really make a good movie, let alone 2 movies. my guess is the second movie will focus on the battle for the capital… first movie will be everything leading up to that. I really was surprised by how much I liked the first HG movie… I have a bad feeling it is all downhill from here.
@Bridget
“Harry Potter and the Damp Sadness” HAHA, yes that exactly! That gave me a much needed chuckle here at work. This summer of movies is both exhilarating and depressing. I love the original work that we’ve seen so far this year, but between Spiderman and news like this…it’s aggravating to see the Hollywood system making purely monetary based decisions. That’s not to say that Amazing Spider-man and Mockingjay Pts I&II are/will be bad movies, but the decisions leading up to them are not made to preserve artistic merit and intent. And this makes me sad. It also makes me sad because the established series will mean that the studio will be rewarded for this kind of crap and we’ll get an inherently inferior movie than if it was one movie. That’s what aggravates me most, is that it’s not a victimless crime, by splitting up the book, it destroys the pacing and flow that Collins came up with by writing the books. Mainly, I hate seeing half a movie and paying for a full one.
@3,
I wouldn’t necessarily assume that it makes financial sense from the studio’s perspective. I certainly don’t think it’s as simple as “two movies will make twice the money of one.” Whether or not this works I think will depend greatly on how they do with Catching Fire. If it’s as good as the first movie, the gamble will probably pay off: pretty much everyone who would have seen a single movie will see at least the first one, and some percent will stick it out to the bitter end. If, on the other hand, Catching Fire kind of sucks, then I think they’re running a serious risk of the following scenario:
1. Moviegoers are no longer so enamored of the series that they will go see another Hunger Games movie no matter what.
2. Mockingjay I isn’t all that good because they’re trying to stretch the plot to fill two movies.
3. Even after sitting through this mediocre movie, you don’t get any resolution to the series and will be expected to shell out yet again if you want the ending.
1+2+3 = “I’ll wait for DVD” or “Eh, I’m sure it will be on cable eventually.”
Money almost has to be why the studio is doing it, but that doesn’t mean that they’re right. I personally would have waited to make this call until after I got audience reaction to Catching Fire.
Here’s my two cents:
If they could contain all the epicness of Lord of the Rings in three movies, than other stories (especially ones much smaller than the LotR books–hello Mockingjay) should be able to as well, and their cry of “just too much story for one movie!” falls onto my unsympathetic ears.
i am thrille dthey do it in two parts, the book started slow for me, and if they would have not done it they would have rushed a lot of things, where i will think the splitting part will happen cracking the nut too, the gun shot might be dark to end on but will keep those that did not read the book something to ponder about, the book also worked up to this part only to go into high gear in the attack on the citadel, theepic ness of the lord of the rings on the other hand were movies with another hour into it where they cut out a lot of small things and went into book 3 in the 2nd movie, so book 3 was also cut in half in sorts,
the turmoil katniss is in , needs to be shown greatly else some actions wont make sense, and yes mocking jay is shorter than return of the king, but in return of the king just so much unimportand stuff happend it went on and on, mockingjay spends time on showing katniss as the heroine even tough she doesnt want to be and doesnt know her strength yet,
where snow is just an evil jerk and coin a meanie so we need to see katniss grow into the mockingjay ifthat will be rushed it will loose a lot of impact during the assault,
Ending with the Nut would be best. Yes, depressing.
And totally a grab for more money and the chance to make it more about the “romance.”
Sorry, I just don’t see the stories as a romance, unless it’s the unrequited kind. She cares about Gail as a BUDDY. But he’s cute, so let’s make it more Hollywood, by all means. ugh…
Likw #7 said, if you can put all of the LoR in three movies, the Hunger Games should be a snap.
My big question is why split Mockingjay and not Catching Fire? I agree that there’s enough action for two Mockingjay movies, but Catching Fire has much more to cover and would make so much more sense to split. I don’t get this trend of splitting up the final installment of the series, but not any of the middle ones that warrant it (Goblet of Fire, I’m staring right at you!)