Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) in The Hunger Games. Photo: Murray Close
Christine Sams, The Age, reports
There's not a child wizard or lovelorn vampire in sight, but the US film The Hunger Games is on track to be one of the biggest releases of the year in Australia.
Centred on the story of a reality television show in which 24 young people fight to the death, the film is breaking records for advance ticket sales in the lead-up to its local release in 11 days.
"There's been tens of thousands of advance tickets [sold]," said Kristie Atkins, group promotions manager at Event Cinemas. She confirmed extra screenings had been added in Sydney cinemas because of the demand, with the level of interest rivalling successful blockbusters including the Twilight series and Harry Potter films.
"We keep adding screens the more they sell out," Ms Atkins said.
"The way this is tracking to opening is absolutely fabulous. I guess what's interesting from our point of view is it's a new franchise and there's loads and loads of interest.
"It doesn't necessarily have the inbuilt movie audience that something like Harry Potter did when we got to the seventh film, but when we placed them on sale there was instant interest."
The Hunger Games is based on a book of the same name by Suzanne Collins, and like those other hugely successful film crossovers she has written a trilogy. Sales figures reveal 30 million people own a copy of the series.
The Australian actor, Liam Hemsworth, stars in the film alongside the American newcomer Jennifer Lawrence. She plays the main character, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to take the place of her sister in the televised deadly battle between young people.
One boy and one girl are forced to take part in the battle from one of 12 districts in the fictional country of Panem (loosely based on a post-apocalyptic North America).
A Sydney premiere is being held on March 20, three days before the official American release date, and there is speculation some of the leading cast members will attend.
But such is the interest in the film, guests invited to the premiere have already been warned about extra security measures before the screening commences, including the removal of mobile phones and any other potential recording devices.
Much of the buzz has been generated on social media. The film has already garnered more than 2.5 million "likes" on Facebook.
The rating of the film is yet to be confirmed by the Australian Classification Board.
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