Mockingjay Part 1: Holding Its Own

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 was released November 21, 2014. It had been rated as the year's most anticipated film , beating out even the latest instalments in the Hobbit, X-Men, and Spiderman franchises. And although its box office take for opening weekend were lower than anticipated, the movie has been in the number one slot now for two consecutive weekends.

It has also earned itself 16 th place for worldwide openings , seating this instalment firmly amongst such franchises as the Harry Potter series, Twilight , Pirates of the Caribbean , and even Star Wars . The Hunger Games itself only ranked 29th and Catching Fire was 55th on the list globally.

So despite box office earnings being a tad lower than hoped, this penultimate offering in the Hunger Games series is doing very well for itself! So far, it has grossed over $480 million worldwide . I'm sure there are plenty of us who would be happy to have just a tiny percentage of those earnings!

But what fans are concerned with is if this movie is any good?

So far, ratings are mixed. It seems most are satisfied, as demonstrated by a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 77% (compared to the critics' rating of only 66%.) Of course, a lot of people feel splitting this last book into two movies was done purely for financial reasons. But most seem to have gotten used to this practice, and seem resigned to the fact that this will keep happening with their favourite series towards the end.

Some people felt this instalment was a little light on the action scenes and special effects , which is perfectly fine with me! I enjoy series like the Hunger Games for the character development and the political subtext, and not because of the eye candy. Several critics mention that splitting the final book into two allows for more storytelling, and gives Mockingjay – Part 1 the opportunity to focus on the darkness of times leading up to war. This is a definite plus for me!

I am looking forward to seeing this instalment of The Hunger Games , and I'm actually encouraged by most of what the critics say. Those who are down on the film don't seem to value the same things I do in a movie, while those who speak highly of it do so for reasons I think are important. That bodes well for me!

Have you seen Mockingjay – Part 1 yet? What are your thoughts on this latest instalment in The Hunger Games franchise?

This is my Entertainment entry – and my very last post – in Dawnwriter 's A-W Category Challenge . I made it! Thirty-six posts - one in each and every category listed on Persona Paper, all in the space of a month!

| HungerGames | Dystopian | SciFi | Movies | FOPP | Categories | Category-challenge |

Image credit: Mockingjay by Kajatica/DeviantArt (CC BY-SA 3.0)

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