Until recently, Henry River Mill Village near Hildebran, N.C., was deserted and mostly forgotten. It was once the company town of the Henry River Manufacturing Co., which made fine cotton yarns, but the mill burned down in 1977 and the village had stood empty for years.

That changed when "The Hunger Games" cast and crew descended upon North Carolina last summer to shoot the movie, an adaptation of the hit dystopian fantasy book series, which opened the weekend of March 23 to record earnings of $155 million.