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 (novel) Games" had a first printing of 50,000 copies, which was bumped up twice to 200,000 copies. By February 2010, the book had sold 800,000 copies, and rights to the novel had been sold in 38 territories worldwide. A few months later, in July, the book was released in paperback. "The Hunger Games" entered the "New York Times" Best Seller list in November 2008, where it would feature for over 100 consecutive weeks. By the time the film adaptation of "The Hunger Games" was released in March 2012, the book had been on "USA Today"s best-sellers list for 135 consecutive weeks