Everyone's hungry for the worldwide sensation, "The Hunger Games". Filmed right here in the AdvantageWest region and bringing significant economic benefits that could last for years, the Lionsgate production debuted with a record-breaking $155 million at the box office this past weekend, amassing a world-wide total of $214.3 million in just a few days. In Asheville alone, at the Regal Biltmore Grande, midnight screenings were sold out in all 15 of their 300-seat auditoriums, leading to a 2:30am traffic jam when the movie was over.

It's hard to imagine that the biggest movie ever made in North Carolina to-date started with one simple phone call. In October 2010 representatives from Lionsgate Productions in Hollywood called AdvantageWest's WNC Film Commission interested in possible locations to shoot a film code-named "Artemis." WNC Film Commission staff immediately went into action to identify the necessary talent and locations for this highly confidential project. The team, led by former AdvantageWest senior executive Pam Lewis, worked through weekends, holidays, and extreme weather conditions to find just the right locations for the film. Countless other individuals, organizations and governmental entities partnered on the recruitment of this extremely competitive project. (Additional locations that were under consideration include Georgia, New Mexico, Canada, British Columbia and Australia.) Once Lionsgate made its decision to come to the region, "Project Artemis" set up shop in Asheville. Filming took place at various locations in Western North Carolina, Charlotte and points in between. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Until recently, we at AdvantageWest were bound by confidentiality agreements that prohibited us from acknowledging that "The Hunger Games" was filming in our region -- a common practice with many economic development projects, the most recent being the decision by Sierra Nevada to locate their East Coast manufacturing and distribution center in WNC. Now that the movie has been released, we can speak more freely and are delighted to share these comments from film director Gary Ross: "Spending time in Asheville was one of the most special times in my life and I loved being there. I can't wait to come back and ride my bicycle on the Blue Ridge Parkway and float down the French Broad River. The movie would not have been possible without all of the support from the local community and Film Commission. The crew was incredible and Asheville is indeed a very special place."

(Image provided by Flickr user KendraKaptures.)

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