THE MOST ANTICIPATED FILM OF THE “The Hunger Games” debuts March 23 and suffering from Twilight withdrawal, I cannot wait. 

And I've got lots of company.

"The film has sold out over 1,000 showtimes," Harry Medved of Fandango, the online box-office service, tells The Philadelphia Inquirer. "It's among the top-selling titles on Fandango -- ever."

Set in a future postapocalyptic America, I wonder if a flick about humans instead of vampires and werewolves can live up to the hype over Suzanne Collins's young adult trilogy. But the movie's theme -- rich against poor -- captures the current zeitgeist of the culture and its "Occupy" movements. Advance ticket sales smashed records belonging to the Twilight series'Eclipse for the most tickets sold in one day. BoxOffice.com predicts the movie will gross $115 million this coming opening weekend.

Thousands of fans turned out last weekend to see stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth kick off an eight-city tour. Tweens and "56-year -old women with posters of Edward Cullen on their walls" are now declaring their loyalty to either "Team Hunger Games" or "Team Twilight."

Elizabeth Banks' fashion styles in The Hunger Games' trailers already promises better eye candy than the flowing dresses and golden eyes in Twilight. Jennifer Lawrence, who portrays character Katniss Everdeen, has a little more acting street cred than Kirstin Stewart, as she scored a Oscar nomination for her performance in Winter's Bone. 

Stephenie Meyer, author of Twilight, has also recommended The Hunger Games, helping sway popularity to the books and movie. The Games, which cost $100 million to make, will also be shown at 270 Imax theaters, expecting to boost higher-end ticket sales.

Movie production is already set to begin for the second book in the series, Catching Fire; and talk is undergoing about telling the third book, Mockingjay in two separate movies. 

People can argue all they want about which movie is better but both these films have made kids devour books. Collins, Meyer and let's even include Harry Potter's J.K. Rowling, will all go down in literary history.

Personally, I refuse to join any team except maybe "Team Jacob," but I know I'll love The Hunger Games just like the Twilight series. My ticket has already been 'Fandango-ed.” 

Linda Seccaspina

http://crabbygolightly.com/mt/2012/03/book_fans_ravenous_for_the_hun.html#more

PLEASE NOTE: I had no idea about the 'seeding' link rule and apologize and have not done it since Newsvine alerted me to the fact. I apologize to my complete ignorance but was told it was okay in my blog.