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) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, having sold 175,000 copies in its first week. It is one of just 16 soundtracks to grace the top slot in the history of the Top 200 and the first since "Michael Jackson's This Is It" to debut at #1. Lionsgate originally announced that Danny Elfman and T-Bone Burnett would score "The Hunger Games", with Burnett also acting as the film's executive music producer to produce songs for the soundtrack. Due to scheduling conflicts, Elfman was replaced by James Newton Howard. The score album was released on March 26, 2012.