Edward. Bella. Peeta. Gale. Katniss.
If you’re under 16 and these names aren’t familiar, you’ve been living under a rock for the last five years. (Actually, that applies even if you’re over 16.) The beloved characters from Twilight and The Hunger Games, the book series that have helped keep ‘tweens’ noses lodged in books since a certain boy wizard was given his own happy ending, are now entrancing Hollywood play-makers—to the tune of eye-popping box office receipts and cushy merchandise tie-in deals. (C’mon, admit it: you have your own pair of Edward Cullen underwear, don’t you?)
Need more proof? Two out of the last three issues of Entertainment Weekly have been devoted to images of Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, the brooding and beautiful stars of The Hunger Games series (first installment slated for a March 2012 release), as well as Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, the universe-famous pair who have brought Edward Cullen and Bella Swan to life in the Twilight movies. It doesn’t take an industry “expert” to predict the Games movies, which bring to life a dystopian world in which teens are “reaped” from their families to fight to fight each other to death for media entertainment, will scoop in as much, if not more, box-office returns than the vampire-mortal romance, which have grossed nearly $800 million in the U.S. alone!
That’s a pretty daunting act to follow…but Stephenie Meyer and Suzanne Collins, the authors responsible creating these worlds to begin with, are faced with doing exactly that. Wherego the imaginations of these two women as they sit with their Jacob blankets and their Peeta coffee mugs, now that the Kindles of the world are waiting for some fresh tales of teen angst and adventure?
Meyer has been purposefully quiet, choosing to pick her projects carefully. A vocal Mormon, she is known for her generous give-back to charities, especially in her homeland of Phoenix. Even a novella released in tandem with the Twilight: Eclipse film, titled The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, had all its profits donated to the American Red Cross. Recently, Open Road films formally announced they’ve purchased the film rights for Meyers’ “grown-up” sci-fi novel, The Host, and have cast Saiorse Ronan to play the lead of Melanie Stryder, a woman struggling with the invasion of her body by an alien in a “perfect” New Earth. The announcement cited a release date of March 2013 for the movie, which will be directed by Andrew Niccol.
Meanwhile, over in District 12: Suzanne Collins has wrapped up the Hunger Games trilogy, and the notoriously shy author is hesitant to comment on plans for future works. Eschewing any interview that involves a camera, she has given a few print interviews that hint at research for another YA novel, likely involving the subject of war as education once again. Raised as an Air Force brat, with multiple family members who were killed or maimed in the two World Wars, the subject of bloodshed as life lesson is never far from her mind. She has written prolifically for children’s television before (Clifford the Puppy, Little Bear, Oswald), so the concept of her assisting with the screenplay for one of the Hunger books wouldn’t be out of the question, either.
What do you think? If you could customize a new “project” for Stephenie Meyer or Suzanne Collins, what would it be?