tonighta "nightline," gas masters. want to find the cheapest gas in town, there's an app for that. meet the gas buddies who say their obsession is safg you $1.5 billion a year. hunger games, the mania is only days away and millions of die-hard fans want a piece of the action. tonight liam hems worth spills about the frenzy surrounding the most anticipated movie of the year and duck dynasty, a muddy band starring in their very own reality show. meet the self--described red necks who made it big.

this is "nightline," march 20, 2012. good evening, i'm terry moran. today more bad news at the pump. one expert told abc news he expected gas will top $4 a gallon in most states by next month. with high prices draining americans' wallets, some drivers are fighting back. introducing gas buddies, a smart phone app that's part of a grassroots effort to help you save cash filling up your tank. we rode along with some eagle-eyed pump watchers to find out how it all works. >> for kathy nestor, it's become an obsession. >> oh, my god, $4.25 on the corner. >> reporter: finding the

cheapest gas prices she can. >> the marathon down where my daughter goes to school is still $3.98. >> reporter: and then sharing it. she's a gas spotter, a mother of three from illinois and one of an army of volunteer who prowl the country and then post their real time finds on a website called gas buddies. >> reporter: is this almost a border line addiction? do you feel compelled to put the prices into your app? >> yeah, if you're going to define addiction like that, it's an addiction. it's a good thing. now it's $4.29 almost up a buck in a week. >> kathy said she saved her family around $400 last year at the pump. >> it doesn't sound like that, but it's a month worth of gas in the winter time. >> reporter: she's been doing this for four years, entering

prices with an app on her phone. i have to admit, once you start, it's kind of hard to put down. >> i hit the price and that shows me what it was four hours ago. see, somebody just updated it. $4.25. >> reporter: i beat you to it. part of the allure, is it's like a game. you move on to higher levels the more times you enter prices on your route. mat is another one whose reports drive the site. >> that one used to be $4.29. the price dropped. now it's back to $4.09. matt is ranked the 13th top spotter in the country, with almost four million skpoints counting. like kathy, he believes in the

power of gas buddies. >> i'll make sure the prices are accurate, make sure to get the most accurate readings for the viewers on the site. >> reporter: we did a lot of driving for this story. look at this, the price 4.35, and around the corner, it's $4.23 at that gas station. this is jason taz who founded the gas buddy website in twend. >> you just take the right exit and you can save quite a bit of money on gas. >> reporter: the company started in minneapolis before blossoming nationally. the map lights up every time a volunteer reports a gas price. gas buddy estimates it's saved drivers 1.5 poinds a year with over 13 million unique users a month. it's not hard to imagine. >> reporter: what's in it for you guys? are you turning a profit? >> we're not on facebook or

anything like that that makes billions of dollars. we're just trying to help people save mono gas. >> reporter: these days, prices fluctuate so wildly, there are times gas buddy can't keep up. >> look it's actually $4.36. >> reporter: sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not. >> i can find this gas station for ten or 15 miles because it was the cheapest. we've driven this way to discover it's gone up 11 cents, practically the same as the ones right off the interstate. >> that's why it's important to look at the time of day. some stations will have a higher margin than other stations. so the one with the cheaper price is probably not making that much money. >> patrick dehan spends his day analyzing gas prices.

>> i think gas prices will begin dropping as we get into may, after memorial day weekend and into june. >> reporter: for now, rest assured your gas buddies are out there driving around to help you find cheaper gas. >> reporter: i don't care who is the one making the money, it's a racquet. anything i can do to beat them at their own game is what i'm up for. so if it means posting the best prices in my local stations, i'm going to do it. i'm going to help everybody else beat the stations at their own games. >> sounds good. up next, all about hunger games, the story of a deadly teen reality show stot sell out your town this weekend. abc news "nightline," brought to you by staples.

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it's got to be the most anticipated movie ever made about a bloody battle royally between teenagers, not to mention the hottest picks since "twilight." "the hunger games" is project the to earn more than $100 million in ticket sales this weekend. we're going to meet some of the film's most dedicated fans. >> reporter: when people say the most hotly anticipated movie of the year, that's usually an exaggeration. >> oh, my god! >> reporter: not this time. the movie stars themselves are surprised. >> we didn't really know how big it was going to become. >> reporter: by the loud enthusiasm of "hunger games"

fans. >> it's incredible. it's a lot louder than when i first got the role. >> to see the passion for the story and the movie, it means a lot to me. >> reporter: the movie is part one of a hugely successful teen tr trilology. set in america post apockal -- the centerpiece of the plot a deadly reality show, teenage glatiators are forced to fight to the death, while frivolous rich people from the capital bet on the outcome and the tribute's family watch in horror. jennifer lawrence from winter's bone plays katniss everydean a brave woman to volunteers to compete in the "hunger games" so her sister won't have to go, leaving one love interest behind back home, and forming another

in the arena with a fellow competitor. that love triangle is part of the draw, but there are other ingredients too. this is a "hunger games" party in l.a. bloggers and tweeters from around the country. >> i'm from new york city. >> reporter: invited to the capital city of the movie business. >> welcome, welcome. >> reporter: to thank them for promoting the film. >> except that tomorrow you have to kill each other, right? >> reporter: they had to pay their own way, but their reward is a ticket to the premiere. they make their own costumes. >> i made some blankets. >> reporter: shila has a master's degree and a husband. they dressed up as pitta and katniss for halloween. >> you're here to help me look pretty. >> i'm here to help you make an impression. >> reporter: now shila is

getting dolled up for the premiere. >> oh, my gosh, this is fabulous. she says her mom doesn't get it at all. >> she's like, are you sure you want to come with people you met on the internet? i'm like, mom, it's fine. then she asked, are there going to be boys there? i said, it's going to be okay. >> i just wish i could think of a way to show them they don't own me. >> how katniss and the others don't blindly accept the problems of the world. >> reporter: others simply love all the grizzly detail. >> what's this? >> it's beaver that came overnight. >> reporter: emily is the author of the "hunger games" cook book. are you good with a bow and arrow? >> no. if i aim that way, it's gng that way. >> katniss is an avid hunter, providing for her family with

beefrs and squirrels she kills in the woods. >> reporter: so how would you describe the cuisine in the book? >> it's evenly split between decadent and amazing and full of sugar and bare bones salt, if you even have that. >> literally bare bones, freshly killed? >> exactly. >> reporter: emily cooked up a deficiency rez pea for beaver stew. along with some district 12 bread and chocolate cakes from the capital, a few of the ingredients in her book, she had to improvise. it's tough to find squirrel meat if you don't hunt. tough, but not impossible. >> i had a guy on who sold me squirrel, and he went to jail. >> your squirrel guy went to jail. >> sadly. >> i'm not too sad about that as we get set to dig into the beaver. red wine with beaver?

>> you got to have the wine. >> lots of red wine, i hope. >> nice. >> it's a lot of flavor there. >> i know. >> a bit stringier than beef. >> stringier. >> not bad. best beaver i've ever had. >> it's not every day that a billion-dollar franchise is born. move over harry potter. "the hunger games" seems to be well on its way to becoming the next best thing. >> i'll probably cry more than a scream. >> and the fans of this story can't wait. i'm david wright for "nightline." >> david wright, plunging into the beaver stew. thanks for that. just ahead, we'll turn the page a little. can this squawk really be the sound of success? snapshot from progressive, but don't just listen to me.

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the robertsons of louisiana may not be the first family upon back woods millionaires to star in their own tv show, but they're probably the only one who is can say they made their riches imitating duck calls. the family that gets paid together, stays together. >> reporter: he's an outdoor symphony with a most unusual

maestro. for phil roberts and that ear-splitting call, it's the sweet sound of success. as he wanders the bayou, does he remind you of anybody? maybe he didn't strike black gold like the beverly hill billies. but he's made millions, which seemed unlikely when the former college quarterback gave up a coaching career for his true love, duck hunting. >> this is kind of -- i like at our roots where we started. >> reporter: in this shed, he discovered he could make a better duck call than anything he could buy. so for 25 years, day after sweaty day, he stood her, hand-crafting them out of cedar trees native to the swamps. >> i drove up to the walmarts. they run me out of there. you think they're going to buy duck calls offer the street?

colonel sanders started somewhere with one chicken. >> reporter: that first year, she old $8,000 worth. today his company has sales in the millions. >> about 35,000 square feet. >> reporter: for the last decade, their third son has been the ceo. he was the obvious choice. >> he called us from school and set up his own business, selling candy and gum and had shut down the school snack shop. >> he's a ceo. >> reporter: this rags to riches story of a down-home family business was too good to pass up. so here we are. maybe they don't really drive a rolls or own a helicopter, but these self--described red necks have come a long way.

>> a new breed of mean there, my family. >> pretty scary, huh? >> reporter: the show stars willy, and his beautiful wife corey. >> we send them a thousand. >> reporter: as they try to keep the business growing without blowing it. >> we went to a thing with a bunch of reality stars not too long ago. tfs kind of like a modern-day circus. it's like all these people that are freaks. and i'm like, are we that? >> reporter: this isn't their first time on tv. in the '80s, they produced duck commander videos, that featured his best hunts. >> we had a reality show, but it was red necks shooting ducks. >> reporter: those videos, and especially those beards -- >> i have not seen his face for 30 years. >> reporter: have made them minor celebrities in the hunting

world. >> who do they mistake you for? >> zz top. >> when i married him, he was the preppy one, clean-cut, clean-shaven, cute dimples. as the years go by, he turns more and more to his dad. >> reporter: they insist, hiding behind those beards is a message worth watching. >> it would be good to see a family that sits down, eats together. >> you'll see that in the end, it's about love and being together and putting family first, really. >> reporter: a family, that despite their looks may not be so different from your own. i'm ryan owens for "nightline" in monroe, louisiana. >> good for them. tonight a political note, mitt romney emerged as the winner of the republican primary, bringing him one step closer to the nomination. check in with "good morning america" tomorrow for