Community Corner

Hunger Games: Let The Lines Begin

Fans of the much anticipated movie started arriving early this morning at the Hacienda Crossings theaters for tonight's midnight premieres

You'd think with 11 theaters showing "The Hunger Games" at midnight tonight at the cineplex, you wouldn't need to show up early to get a good seat.

You'd be wrong.

Kendall Long, 17, arrived at 2 a.m. and earned the honor of first in line.

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Brianna Camacho, 16, and Annie Wayne, 15, actually got to the theaters at 11 p.m. last night. But they fell asleep in their car and didn't wake up until 5:45 a.m. They settled for being second in line behind Long.

All three braved the cold outside the theater until mid-morning when cineplex managers let them set up camp in the much warmer confines inside.

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At 2 p.m., there were eight people in line on one side of the cineplex. One person sat outside the IMAX theater. And a young couple was camped outside the theaters on the other side of the facility.

What they are waiting for is the premiere of "The Hunger Games," a new film based on a 2008 book by Suzanne Collins about a 16-year-old girl who competes in a fight to the death televised show in a violent future world. It's the first of three novels in a trilogy by Collins.

Long, a senior at read all three books a couple years ago. She re-read them last month so she would be revved up for the movie premiere.

"I love the books," she said. "They're so different than the rest of all the books."

Long, who was also saving a spot for a friend, is a veteran of movie lines. She camped out for the last few Harry Potter films as well as all three Twilight movies.

Why sit with your blankets, pillows and packaged food when you can show up at midnight and still get a seat?

Long said camping out allows you to get the best seats. Plus, it's bragging rights.

"I love being the first in line," she said. "It makes it so much more meaningful for me."

Long said she had her mom's permission to skip school on Thursday. She'd done all her homework and was caught up on all her assignments.

Camacho and Wayne, both sophomores at Amador Valley High, also had parental permission.

They were decked out in matching, homemade shirts with "Hunger Games" slogans as well as black shorts and gray "Hunger Games" socks. They even had special "Hunger Games" nail polish. Behind them were posters from the movie as well as two of the actors.

Next to them was a Pleasanton mother who was holding seats for five teens and three other moms. She said the parents agreed to attend the midnight showing with their children, so they didn't have to wake up to pick them up afterward.

"No way am I getting up at 3:30 to come get them," she said.

This mother has read the first two books in the series and has started the third.

"They have sort of weird scenarios, but they have good characters," she said.

Chrissie Schwanhausser, 19, was the only person camped in the line outside the IMAX theater.

She said a lot of people won't attend the IMAX showing because it's more expensive and the seats on the sides of such a theater don't provide a good view of the action.

Schwanhausser, an Amador Valley grad who is on spring break from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, arrived just before 2 p.m. She said waiting 10 hours assures her of the best seat in the house.

Schwanhausser, who was also saving a spot for her younger sister, has read all three books and loves them.

"I'm so excited for this movie," she said.

Come midnight, she won't be the only one.


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