The Hunger Games By the time the film adaptation of "The Hunger Games" was released in 2012, the publisher had reported over 26 million "Hunger Games" trilogy books in print, including movie tie-in books. "The Hunger Games" universe is a dystopia set in Panem, a country consisting of the wealthy Capitol and 12 districts in varying states of poverty. Every year, children from the districts are selected to participate in a compulsory televised battle royale death match called The Hunger Games. The novels were all well received. In August 2012, the series ranked second, exceeded only by the "Harry Potter" series in NPR's
The Hunger Games (film) was just ahead of "Alice in Wonderland"'s previous record ($210.1 million). In North America, "The Hunger Games" is the 22nd-highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing film released outside the summer or holiday period, and the highest-grossing film distributed by Lionsgate. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold more than 50 million tickets in the US. The film set a midnight-gross record for a non-sequel ($19.7 million), which is also the tenth-highest midnight gross overall. On its opening day, it topped the box office at $67.3 million (including midnight showings), setting opening-day and single-day records for a non-sequel. The film also achieved