Film adaptations
Jennifer Lawrence played Katniss in the film adaptations.Lionsgate Entertainment acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of The Hunger Games, produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force production company.[40] Collins adapted the novel for film herself,[40] along with director Gary Ross.[41] The cast included Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, and Liam Hemsworth as Gale.[42][43][44] The first film began production in Spring 2011,[45] and was released in March 2012.[46][47] For Catching Fire, Ross was replaced as director by Francis Lawrence;[48][49][50] the film was released in November 2013. Lawrence then directed Mockingjay, Part 1 and Part 2,[51] released in November 2014 and November 2015 respectively.
The prequel was adapted for film, with Francis Lawrence as the director.[52] The film was produced by Lawrence himself alongside Nina Jacobson, and Brad Simpson with Suzanne Collins as one of the executive producers.[53] The cast includes Tom Blyth as Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, and Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow.[54][55][56] It was released on November 17, 2023.[57][58]
In culture
The Hunger Games, alongside Brave, has been credited with increasing female interest in archery. Immediately following the release of the first Hunger Games film, many archery vendors experienced a significant upsurge in business, with their lessons fully booked and recurve bows on long periods of back-order.[59] In a 2016 report, approximately half of the girl archers surveyed were influenced by The Hunger Games to take up the sport.[60]
The three-finger gesture used in the books to express unity with the rebellion has been used in real-life protests in Thailand (2014, 2020) and Myanmar (2021).[61][62][63]
American University in Washington D.C. offered a class 2014-2016 that examined the themes in The Hunger Games world titled "The Hunger Games: Class, Politics, and Marketing". The class was offered for the school's American Studies Program and covered topics of oppression, feminism, food deserts, rebellion, the publishing industry, and social media marketing. The course's professor, Stef Woods, believes that using the fictional world of Panem to discuss real word problems helps students better understand sociopolitical issues in American society.[64][65]
