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) "Empire" magazine said "Lawrence is perfect as Katniss, there's very little softness about her, more a melancholy determination that good must be done even if that requires bad things." Several critics have reviewed the film favorably and compared it with other young adult fiction adaptations such as "Harry Potter" and "Twilight". Justin Craig of Fox News rated the film as "[e]xcellent" and stated: "Move over Harry Potter. A darker, more mature franchise has come to claim your throne." Rafer Guzman of "Newsday" referred to "The Hunger Games" as being "darker than <nowiki>'</nowiki>"Harry Potter",' more sophisticated than <nowiki>'</nowiki>"Twilight"<nowiki>'</nowiki>." David Sexton of