“Have you heard of the movie Catching Fire?” the customer asks senior Janea’a Brown.

“Yes,” said Brown politely.

“Is it good?” the customer asked.

“Have you read the books?” said Brown.

“No,” the customer responded.

Standing at the register at Tinseltown movie theater, Brown rolled her eyes as customers passed by to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: it upset her that so many were watching the movie without having read the books. While checking customers out, she would scroll through the movie times to plan her breaks to try to catch a glimpse of the screen.

“I was being tortured,” Brown said. “Everybody kept saying, ‘nah who are these people anyway?’ I was like in so much pain because half the people in the movie theater didn’t even known about it and the other half are watching it and they didn’t read it. I just felt so alone.”

Having read these books before the movie came out, many students are interested in the Hunger Games movies.

“I read the books back when I was in eighth grade,” senior Marc Parra said. “I thought they were really good and then the movies came out and I thought they did a pretty good job at paying homage to the book. I like the premise for it because of the whole idea about fight to the death and the battle in the arena; I thought that was an interesting basis for the story.”

Junior Samantha Davis agrees that much of the hype the book receives is from its transition from a book to a motion picture.

“After reading the books it’s just nice to see it come to life,” Davis said. “It’s like you have this imagery in your head so when you go see the movie you want to see how they would think the movie would turn out.”

Senior Christopher Le enjoys the realistic aspect of the story.

“It’s logical. It could possibly happen in the future,” Le said. “The character development is way better and people die left and right. And when people die like a main character that you developed so well dies, you just get into it.”

Many find the main character, Katniss, different from those in other series.

“The girl [Katniss] isn’t the typical damsel in distress; she has a purpose,” senior Annette Phan said.

From the plot to the writing, students find this series different from other books series.

“I like where it’s all against one and how they kind of like rise to the top,” Fulmer said. “And she’s not even doing it on her own. It’s much more of a different concept and not much of a trio thing where Twilight was more romantic this is more action and it’s got a hint of romance other than the other way around. “

Brown agrees with Fulmer in that she finds the writing in The Hunger Games Trilogy at an advanced level leaving her surprised.

“I can say from my experience reading Twilight that Suzanne Collins [author of The Hunger Games Trilogy] is a much better writer,” Brown said. “Most stories these days like teen fiction are really predictable and you pretty much know what is going to happen just by reading a couple of pages.”

Some students were looking forward to the release of Catching Fire because of the casting.

“There’s a lot of action in it and suspense and tension. It’s just interesting,” freshman Alejandra Garcia said. “I had pre-ordered my ticket [for Catching Fire] for the midnight screening with my sister and some friends because we all love the Hunger Games… for Liam Hemsworth especially.”

Many found the Catching Fire much more intriguing compared to the first Hunger Games.

“Catching fire is better because it has lot more going on,” sophomore Dara Hall said . “The quality was a lot better, not once was there a dull moment. In the Hunger Games it was more like you had to wait for something to happen. Since there are newer characters from different districts you get more attached to them. It really keeps you going, not once was there a time where you’re like “okay what’s happening next?” because it just keeps going.”

Brown agrees that the surprise is yet to come.

“It’s so good, you think it’s over but it’s not,” Brown said.”When they go back to the games, everyone is like, ‘here it goes again,’ but the big twist is the way the games are set up and the surprise ending, oh my gosh. When the first book ends, we know they are at home in safety but the second one ends and they are not in safety and you’re like, ‘what is this world coming to?”

After waiting four days, Brown finally made time to watch the movie.

“I was really excited because I’ve only been waiting a thousand years for it to come out,” Brown said. “As soon as it came out I was like ‘oh I gotta see it’ but I kept working a shift at the movie theater that I couldn’t see it so I had to wait four days after it came out to finally watch it and when I did OMG it was amazing, I didn’t even expect it to be that amazing. It was so good I cried like five times.”