Movies
‘Hunger Games’ Takes on Battle Royale, Running Man Feel
All it took were two titles to get me beyond excited. Being pitched as Battle Royale meets Running Man is Suzanne Collins’ futuristic young adult novel Hunger Games, which is being adapted for the big screen by Nina Jacobson and her Color Force shingle. You can read all about it inside.
The Scholastic book, the first of a trilogy, has a “Battle Royale” meets “Running Man” feel to it, tackling contemporary culture by telling the story of an America where the subjugated districts must pay tribute in the form of a boy and a girl who are forced to participate in a televised battle to the death.
The book, which was released last year to solid reviews and even made the lists of top children’s literature, flew past most execs until “Twilight” author Stephanie Meyer raved about it on her blog. Stephen King also praised the book.
That put development execs at Scott Free, Spyglass, Warners and Lionsgate on the case, though Jacobson’s tenacity won out. Her intent is to quickly incubate the project before taking it to studios.
The former studio exec is in preproduction on “Diary of Wimpy Kid,” the adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s popular book series that Thor Freudenthal is directing. Brad Simpson is also producing.
A bedtime lullaby soothes an unsettling newborn in our exclusive clip from Nightborn, from Hatching filmmaker Hanna Bergholm.
The dark fable makes its debut on Shudder on July 31.
Seidi Haarla (Compartment No. 6) and Rupert Grint (Knock at the Cabin, “Servant”) star as new parents in Nightborn, and this exclusive clip highlights mom’s harrowing transition into motherhood.
In Nightborn, “With dreams of starting a perfect family, Saga and her British husband Jon move to the isolated house where she spent much of her childhood, deep in the Finnish forest. But as soon as their baby is born, despite the reassurance of all around her, Saga knows there’s something terribly wrong with her son. As their marriage starts to crack, Jon struggles to support his wife, but only Saga suspects the terrible truth about her newborn.”
Pamela Tola, Pirkko Saisio, Rebecca Lacey and John Thomson also star.
Bergholm teased of her maternal horror movie, “In Nordic countries, there’s a long-standing mythology of trolls living in the forests. In ancient times, people truly believed that trolls inhabited the woods and had a kind of control over nature. And in Nightborn, the forest reflects Saga’s emotions and the animalistic, primitive physical side of humankind.”
“Hanna Bergholm’s audacious sophomore follow up to Hatching delivers tension and shocking moments surrounding parenthood and self discovery — with a touch of humor,” said Emily Gotto, senior vice president of acquisitions and production at Shudder. “We are thrilled to share Nightborn with audiences.”