The Hunger Games, one of the most anticipated movie releases of the spring is upon us, and Nina Jacobson is the producer in charge of the industry’s next $1 billion mega-franchise.
Jacobson has been a fixture in Hollywood for years. She started her illustrious career at Universal, spent some time at Dreamworks and worked her way up the corporate ladder to President of the Walt Disney Picture Group.
During her tenure at Disney, she was responsible for some of the studio’s most successful movies and franchises, including The Sixth Sense, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Princess Diaries, to name only a few.
And if that wasn’t enough, for her efforts in helping expand the role of women in the entertainment industry, Women in Film awarded Jacobson the Crystal Award in 2003. And in 2005, Forbes Magazine named her as one of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.”
In a recent interview with The Daily Beast, Jacobson candidly discusses the franchise, how her eight year reign at Disney came to a screeching halt in 2006, and her optimism for the future.
The on-going theme of the interview seems to be one of redemption. So much so that Jacobson offered up one quote that seems to encompass all that she has gone through in the last six years. “If you’re a bullfighter, you expect to get gored periodically,” Jacobson said. “You just hope that you can get up and do it again. I don’t feel sorry for myself.”
Her unexpected departure from Disney forced her to start writing a new chapter in her life as head of her own production company, Color Force Productions. Color Force is responsible for the widely popular teen franchise, Diary of a Wimpy Kid. And now, the bar has been raised with their latest offering, The Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games is based on the young adult novel of the same title by Suzanne Collins, and has gone on to sell over 24 million copies worldwide. The story is set in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, and it revolves around 16 year-old Katniss Everdeen, who must compete in a televised annual event for survival. In this fictional world, only one teen can survive the game. It is the first book (and movie) of the trilogy, with the subsequent titles including the equally successful, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.
The film adaptation stars Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone and X-Men: First Class) as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson (The Kids are All Right) and Liam Hemsworth (Knowing), and opens nationwide on March 23rd.
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