Lionsgate Considers ‘Hunger Games’ Theme Parks; Misses the Point of ‘Hunger Games’

Let’s talk about irony for a minute.

The wildly popular Hunger Games YA book and film franchise takes its name from an event involving an arena constructed by a dystopian totalitarian government for the sole purpose of sending randomly selected children to go fight each other to the death. It’s a terrible, horrific thing that the story’s protagonist spends three whole novels (which equals four whole films in Hollywood math) in an effort to burn it to the ground. It sounds like a great place to take your family.

At least, that’s what Lionsgate and a few other interested parties seem to think, according to CEO John Feltheimer, who, during a quarterly earnings report, had said the studio had been approached with the prospect of Hunger Games theme parks in two territories. Feltheimer would not say anything else on the matter, lest one of the analysts present interrupt him to ask something like, “Have you even SEEN The Hunger Games, man? You’re aware that they’re about kids killing each other, right? Do you know how much money our insurance policy is going to cost?”

It’s not the first Bright Idea from the Catching Fire marketing team. If you missed it, these are the folks who decided to come up with a flashy, ostentatious clothing line without seeming to care very much that the thing they’re promoting spends several hundred choice words decrying flashy, ostentatious fashion choices.

But it doesn’t matter, because Panem is real, and the Capitol is us, and in ten years you’ll be kicking yourself for brushing off “Those silly Hunger Games books,” which we will then be calling the First, Second, and Third Book of Katniss after recognizing them for the prophetic works that they are and adding tiny verse numbers to every paragraph. You should probably take up archery or something.

Source: Variety