Mabee Dining Hall was full of students Thursday night for Student Programming Board’s (SPB) 9:09 Movie Series, featuring “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” The film, the second in the 9:09 series, followed “Ender’s Game.” Each 9:09 movie will be played the second Thursday of every month.
Greg Mak, an SPB member, introduced the film and thanked students for attending.
“It is something new that Student Programming Board is trying, and I think it will be successful because we are playing recent movies through a company called Swank, who rents movies to colleges before they are available for rent to the public,” Mak said.
Students commented on the movie selection and said they were glad the movies are current. Senior Hannah Michaelsen said she appreciates the thought SPB put into the choice.
“I think it is cool I can come to see a movie I would have had to pay for in theaters,” Michaelsen said. “They are movies that you actually want to see.”
Michaelsen attended the film with friend and fellow Phi Kappa Delta (PDK) sister Paige Carlson.
“We are also here because this is a standards event for Greek life,” Carlson said. “I normally stay away from the “Hunger Games” franchise because I don’t like the concept of kids killing kids, but I’ll watch part of the movie for my sisters.”
For standards events, Greek life requires 75 percent of the club to be in attendance, unless a member has an excused absence. SPURS sorority was also in attendance.
Before the movie started, students were encouraged by Mak to grab refreshments from a snack bar set up near the pizza station. Popcorn, soda, nachos, guacamole and cookies were available for moviegoers.
Senior Edward Gomez said that he had already seen “Catching Fire” but that he really enjoyed it and wanted to see it a second time.
“I liked it the first time and I enjoy Jennifer Lawrence in the movie,” Gomez said. “She makes me feel the emotion of the movie.”
Gomez also said that he does not mind seeing movies a second time.
“A lot of times you see things that you did not see the first time,” Gomez said.
Accompanying Gomez was junior Nicole Jeskey. Jeskey said that she had seen the first “Hunger Games” movie and had been looking forward to the second.
“I think that the “Hunger Game” series is great,” Jeskey said. “It’s also gotten great reviews. I’ve never been to movies in Mabee before, only at the fountain, but I think this will be a good location.”
Mak said that SPB has discussed several movies for the next 9:09 movie, but no decision had been reached.
“We are open to student opinion,” Mak said. “We ask students to tell SPB what movies they would like to see and we’ll do our best to make that happen.”
