‘The Hunger Games’ touted as new ‘Twilight’

Forks Chamber called for fan advice

 

Tena Gagnon

Chris Cook – Forks Forum photo

Tena Gagnon displays her "The Hunger Games" inspired jewelry at the 2011 Stephenie Meyer Day/Bella’s Birthday celebration held in downtown Forks.

 

UPDATE FRIDAY, MARCH 23: Charlotte N.C. newspaper posts quotes by Bruce Guckenberg about Twilight fans in reference to "The Hunger Games"; photo by Mike Gurling of McIrvin family’s home as Bella’s home posted alongside story. Newspaper begins calling fans "Hunger Gamers," a name similar to "Twilighters." Click here to read story.

   

The first Summit Entertainment trailers for the final (at least for now) Twilight film, “Breaking Dawn Part 2,” are being shown at screenings of the popular new teenage-focused film “The Hunger Games.”

The movie theater connection is the latest tie-in between the two youth-oriented book and film series. 

In Forks, jewelry maker Tena Gagnon has been onto The Hunger Games trend for well over a year. Her “the forks forest” jewelry sales page located on the popular esty.com crafters website is doing very well in sales.

Gagnon set up a “The Hunger Games” table at the Twilight-themed Stephenie Meyer/Bella’s Birthday celebration held in September 2011 in downtown Forks.

The Hunger Games is a young adult novel written by Suzanne Collins, and first published on September 14, 2008 right at the peak of the international craze for all things Twilight.

The story (no vampires) tells of Katniss Everdeen, 16, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the imaginary nation of Panem, a place that covers what we know as North America.

The lead character, the “Bella” of The Hunger Games, is faced with competing to the death in an annual event that pits boys and girls ages 12 to 18 in a televised reality show where they battle until only one youth is alive.

Location filming for “The Hunger Games” took place last year in Shelby, North Carolina, which is located in the rural center of that state.

A radio station from Shelby recently called the Forks Chamber of Commerce, Forks Visitor Information Center Manager Mike Gurling said, to seek advice on how to handle the influx of visitors expected as the film version of Hunger Games rolls out across the nation and world.

The popularity of three The Hunger Games books is also reflecting the long run of best-sellers that came out of the Twilight series through 2010. Currently the Hunger Games books are the top four overall best-sellers on Amazon.com’s online book count list.