Two siblings stood side-by-side for hours as they waited for 142 minutes of cinematic action.
Sarah Flanagan, 18-year-old exploratory freshman, and her sister, Rachel Flanagan, 18-year-old architecture freshman, sat in the Regal Butler Plaza Cinemas 14 theater until about 3 a.m. Friday to see one of the first showings of “The Hunger Games,” the tale of a 16-year-old girl, played by Jennifer Lawrence, and her battle in a youth deathmatch in a post-apocalyptic world.
About 2,000 people turned out to see the film’s premiere. Some wore “mockingjay” pins and others donned District 12 T-shirts, showing off their fandom with tokens from the series.
The film was based on the first novel in Suzanne Collins’ bestselling trilogy.
According to a Regal Entertainment Group manager, about 2,250 tickets were sold and 13 of the 14 showings sold out that night.
The last show played at 3:10 a.m., which didn’t sell out, but it came close with ticket sales at about 90 percent.
“This is the first premiere I’ve ever been to,” said Phillip Heilman, a 20-year-old journalism sophomore who attended the last showing of the night. “These were the only tickets left.”
Lines formed about two hours before showtimes. Moviegoers waited outside in lines that snaked around the front of the building.
For some people, the excitement of the movie didn’t start or end at the theaters.
“It’s great to see people get excited about reading,” said Sarah Hensley, assistant manager of the Barnes & Noble in Butler Plaza. “I wish I saw that more often.”
She said “The Hunger Games” has probably been one of the top-selling books at Barnes & Noble for months because it appeals to many people.
“It’s really great to see a wide audience get into the same thing,” Hensley said.
She said the best part is she’s seen children and parents sit down and read the series together.
“Whatever it is that spurs you to read, it works for me,” she said.
Some people only read a book because it is assigned to them by a teacher, she said, and they don’t experience the joy of reading for fun.
“I have a feeling some people have never read for pleasure,” Hensley said. “And they don’t know how fun it can be.”
Excited people have been buying the book for weeks, she said. She said she is interested to see if people will continue to buy the books after the hype dies down.
Sara Moseley, bookseller at Books-A-Million, said the series got people who don’t normally read for fun interested in reading.
“We had pretty much everyone buying this book,” she said.
She said the store sold 350 copies of the books in the series over the past two months.
Some fans have been excited for more than two months.
“We read the books when they first came out about two years ago,” Sarah Flanagan said. “At the time, they weren’t even talking about a movie.”
Chelsea Rence, a 24-year-old animal biology senior, sat down to play a game of cards with her friend to pass the time.
“We’ve been waiting in line for an hour,” Rence said at about 3 a.m. “But it’s so worth it.”
Contact Ben Brasch at bbrasch@alligator.org.
UF alumna Anh-Thu Nguyen, 23, plays cards with animal biology senior Chelsea Rence, 24, while waiting in line for the 3:10 a.m. showing of “The Hunger Games.”
