Box office The Hunger Games earned $408 million in the United States and Canada, and $286.4 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $695.2 million. and the highest-grossing film distributed by Lionsgate.
Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold more than 50 million tickets in the US. At the time of its release, the film set a midnight-gross record for a non-sequel ($19.7 million), 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 the sixteenth-highest opening-day and nineteenth-highest single-day grosses of all time. For its opening weekend, the film earned the No. 1 spot and grossed $152.5 million, breaking
Alice in Wonderlands opening-weekend records for a film released in March, for any spring release, and for a non-sequel at the time of its release. On its second day of release, the film had surpassed
Fahrenheit 9/11 to become
Lionsgates highest-grossing film worldwide, a record that would later be surpassed by its sequel
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire a year later. Its opening weekend gross was the third highest of 2012 behind
The Avengers ($207.4 million) and
The Dark Knight Rises ($160.8 million) as well as the largest for any film released outside the summer season and the eighth-largest overall. The film held the March and spring opening weekend records for four years until they were broken by
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It remained in first place at the North American box office for four consecutive weekends, becoming the first film since
Avatar to achieve this. On June 10, 2012 (its 80th day in theaters), it became the 14th movie to pass the $400-million-mark. On April 20, 2012, Lionsgate and
IMAX Corporation announced that due to "overwhelming demand",
The Hunger Games would return to North American IMAX cinemas on April 27 for a further one-week engagement. Outside North America, the film was released in most countries during March and April 2012, with the exception of China, where it was released in June 2012. On its first weekend (March 23–25, 2012), the film topped the box office outside North America with $59.25 million from 67 markets, finishing at first place in most of them. The largest opening weekends were recorded in China ($9.6 million), In total earnings, its highest-grossing markets after North America are the UK ($37.3 million), Australia ($31.1 million) and China ($27.0 million). According to first tracking, unaided awareness for
The Hunger Games was 11%, definite interest was 54%, first choice was 23% and total awareness was 74%. In the week leading up to its release, the film sold-out over 4,300 showings via Fandango and MovieTickets.com On Fandango alone, it ranks as the third-highest advance ticket seller ever, behind
The Twilight Saga: New Moon and
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. According to Fandango, it broke the site's single-day sales record (March 23), the mobile sales record for a weekend ( March 23–25, 2012) and the site's highest share of a film's opening weekend (Fandango sold 22% of the film's opening weekend tickets).
Critical response The
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of with an average score of , based on reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Thrilling and superbly acted,
The Hunger Games captures the dramatic violence, raw emotion, and ambitious scope of its source novel."
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100 based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Several critics have reviewed the film favorably and compared it with other
young adult fiction adaptations such as
Harry Potter and
Twilight, while praising Jennifer Lawrence for her portrayal as Katniss Everdeen, as well as most of the main cast. According to
The Hollywood Reporter, Lawrence embodies Katniss, "just as one might imagine her from the novel". 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 '
Harry Potter,' more sophisticated than
Twilight." David Sexton of
The Evening Standard stated that
The Hunger Games "is well cast and pretty well acted, certainly when compared with
Harry Potter juvenile leads". Simon Reynolds of
Digital Spy gave the film four out of five, calling it "enthralling from beginning to end, science fiction that has depth and intelligence to match its pulse-racing entertainment value". Reynolds also spoke highly of Lawrence's performance and director Gary Ross, whose "rough and ready handheld camerawork" meant that viewers were "with Katniss for every blood-flecked moment of her ordeal in the combat arena". However, film critic David Thomson of the magazine
The New Republic called it a "terrible movie", criticizing it for a lack of character development and unclear presentation of the violence, describing the latter as "un-American". Eric Goldman of
IGN awarded the film four out of five, stating that director Gary Ross "gets the tone of The Hunger Games right. This is a grounded, thoughtful and sometimes quite emotional film, with its dark scenario given due weight. Ross doesn't give the film a glossy, romanticized 'Hollywood' feel, but rather plays everything very realistically and stark, as Katniss must endure these outrageous and horrible scenarios." The film received some criticism for its
shaky camera style, but it was said to "add to the film in certain ways". while critic Théoden Janes of
The Charlotte Observer found that "[...] the violence is so bland it dilutes the message". Also writing in
Time, psychologist Christopher J. Ferguson argued that parents' fears of the effect of the film's violent content on their children were unnecessary, and that children are capable of viewing violent content without being psychologically harmed.
Interpretation Interpretations of the film's themes and messages have been widely discussed among critics and general commentators. In his review for
The Washington Times, Peter Suderman expressed that "[m]aybe it's a liberal story about inequality and the class divide. Maybe it's a libertarian epic about the evils of authoritarian government. Maybe it's a
feminist revision on the sci-fi action blockbuster. Maybe it's a bloody satire of reality television", but concludes the film only proposes these theories and brings none of them to a reasonable conclusion. Reviewers and critics have differing views on whether the film represents feminist issues. Historically, among the "top 200 worldwide box-office hits ever ($350 million and up), not one has been built around a female action star".
Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times sees Katniss Everdeen as a female hero following in the lineage of "archetypal figures in the literature of the American West" such as
Natty Bumppo, as well as characters portrayed by American actors such as
John Wayne and
Clint Eastwood. Katniss is also seen as defying normative gender roles: she exhibits both "masculine" and "feminine" traits equally. Mahvesh Murad of
The Express Tribune said that the film's triumph is "a young female protagonist with agency", comparing her with
Joss Whedon's
Buffy Summers. The film has drawn varying interpretations for its political overtones, including arguments in favor of
left-wing,
right-wing, and
libertarian viewpoints. Bob Burnett of
The Huffington Post observed the film displays a general distrust of government, regardless of the audience's political party affiliation. Steven Zeitchik and Emily Rome, in the
Dallas Morning News, also stated that some viewers formed an opinion about
The Hunger Games as a
parable of the
Occupy Wall Street activity.
The Huffington Post reported that
Penn Badgley, a supporter of Occupy Wall Street, saw the film as a social commentary on the movement. Burnett also states that "Collins doesn't use the terms 1 percent and 99 percent, but it's clear that those in the Capitol are members of the 1 percent and everyone in the Panem districts is part of the 99 percent".
Battle Royale and other precedents Several critics compared
The Hunger Games unfavorably to
Kinji Fukasaku's
Japanese film Battle Royale, just as the novel had for its similarities to the
novel it was based on by
Koushun Takami. Jonathan Looms of
The Oxford Student argues that it is "unfair that the film is only drawing comparisons with
Battle Royale" but that it "is a veritable pastiche of other movies" as well, comparing it to
The Truman Show,
Death Race, the
Bourne films, and
Zoolander, and that it is common for artists to borrow from and "improve on many sources.
Quentin Tarantino has built his career on this principle."
The Hunger Games is considered to be part of a wider
battle royale genre, which had earlier been defined by
Battle Royale. Prior to
The Hunger Games, the battle royale genre was largely limited to Japan, where
Battle Royale had inspired a wave of
manga,
anime and
visual novel works, such as
Gantz (2000),
Higurashi: When They Cry (2002),
Future Diary (2006),
Btooom! (2009),
Zero Escape (2009) and
Danganronpa (2010).
Wheeler Winston Dixon, a film professor at the
University of Nebraska–Lincoln, listed several precedents:
Battle Royale, Jackson's "The Lottery",
William Golding's
Lord of the Flies,
Metropolis,
Blade Runner,
Death Race 2000, and
George Orwell's
Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Manohla Dargis in
The New York Times compares it to
Battle Royale, ''
Ender's Game, and Twilight
, but contrasts The Hunger Games
in terms of how its "exciting" female protagonist Katniss "rescues herself with resourcefulness, guts and true aim". Steve Rose of The Guardian refers to the film as "think Battle Royale
meets The Running Man meets Survivor''. Charles McGrath, writing for
The New York Times, said that the film will remind viewers of the television series
Survivor, a little of
The Bachelorette, and of the short story "
The Lottery" by
Shirley Jackson, published in 1948 by
The New Yorker. It reminded an author at
Salon of the 1932 film
The Most Dangerous Game.
The Hunger Games has also been conceptually compared to
Robert Sheckley's 1953 short story "
Seventh Victim" and its 1965
Italian film adaptation by
Elio Petri,
The 10th Victim, as the story and film feature a government-endorsed, televised (in the film's case) "Big Hunt", featuring contestants from around the world acting as "hunters" and "victims". Writing in
The Atlantic, Govindini Murty made a list of touchstones the film alludes to, from the
ancient Greek,
Roman and
Egyptian civilizations to modern references such as the
Great Depression,
the Vietnam and
Iraq Wars, and reality television. For her part, author Collins cites the myth of
Theseus, the modern
Olympic Games, reality television, and
coverage of the Iraq War as her inspiration.
Controversies Race and ethnicity During the film's opening weekend, controversial statements about various members of the cast arose, sparking open dialogue about issues of racism, sexism and unrealistic
body image. Comparisons were also made between
The Hunger Games premise of children killing each other, and the child soldiers of the
Lord's Resistance Army led by
Joseph Kony. In a
Jezebel article published March 26, 2012, Dodai Stewart reported that several users on Twitter posted racist tweets, criticizing the portrayals of Rue, Thresh and Cinna by African American actors. Lyneka Little of
The Wall Street Journal states that although it is easy to find bigoted or offensive postings online, "the racist 'Hunger Games' tweets, because they are so shockingly ignorant even by the standards of the fringes of the internet, have kicked up a storm". Fahima Haque of
The Washington Post,
Bim Adewunmi of
The Guardian, and Christopher Rosen of
The Huffington Post all reiterate the fact that Rue and Thresh are described in
The Hunger Games as having dark brown skin, as well as Collins's assertion that they were intended to be depicted as African Americans. Adewunmi remarked that "it comes to this: if the casting of Rue, Thresh and Cinna has left you bewildered and upset, consider two things. One: you may be a racist—congrats! Two: you definitely lack basic reading comprehension. Mazel tov!" Amandla Stenberg responded to the controversy with the following statement: "As a fan of the books, I feel fortunate to be part of The Hunger Games family ... It was an amazing experience; I am proud of the film and my performance. I want to thank all of my fans and the entire Hunger Games community for their support and loyalty." Dayo Okeniyi was quoted saying "I think this is a lesson for people to think before they tweet" and "It's sad ... We could now see where society is today. But I try not to think about stuff like that."
Casting of Lawrence A number of critics expressed disappointment in Lawrence's casting as Katniss because her weight was not representative of a character who has suffered a life of starvation. Manohla Dargis, in her review of the film for
The New York Times, stated "[a] few years ago Ms. Lawrence might have looked hungry enough to play Katniss, but now, at 21, her seductive, womanly figure makes a bad fit for a dystopian fantasy about a people starved into submission". Todd McCarthy of
The Hollywood Reporter said that, in certain scenes, Lawrence displays "lingering baby fat". These remarks have been rebuked by a number of journalists for pushing unrealistic body image expectations for women. L.V. Anderson of
Slate states that, "[j]ust as living in a world with abundant calories does not automatically make everyone fat, living in a dystopian world like Panem with sporadic food access would not automatically make everyone skinny. Some bodies, I daresay, would be even bigger than Lawrence's." Since none of Lawrence's male co-stars have come under the same scrutiny, Anderson concludes that complaints about Lawrence's weight are inherently sexist. One response pointed to Collins's physical description of Katniss in
The Hunger Games novel which reads: "I stand straight, and while I'm thin, I'm strong. The meat and plants from the woods combined with the exertion it took to get them have given me a healthier body than most of those I see around me."
Los Angeles Times writer Alexandra Le Tellier commented that "[T]he sexist commentary along with the racist barbs made by so-called fans are as stomach-churning as the film's cultural commentary, which, in part, shines a light on the court of public opinion and its sometimes destructive power to determine someone else's fate".
Violence The film has been rated 12A by the
British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in the UK for "intense threat, moderate violence and occasional gory moments". The uncut version was ultimately released on Blu-ray in the UK with a 15 certificate. In the United States, the film was granted a
PG-13 rating from the
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for "intense violent thematic material and disturbing images—all involving teens"; as Collins had originally anticipated. Screening of
The Hunger Games was delayed indefinitely in Vietnam. The film was to be released on March 30, 2012, but, according to a member of the Vietnamese National Film Board, the Board considers the film to be too violent and unanimously voted for the indefinite delay. It was later banned.
Accolades The Hunger Games received fifty-one nominations, and won twenty-eight. The song "
Safe & Sound" won a
Grammy Award and was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award for
Best Original Song. For her performance, Lawrence won the
Saturn Award and the
Empire Award for Best Actress, and the
Critics' Choice Awards for Best Actress in an Action Movie. The film itself received twelve nominations, winning the award for Favorite Movie at the
People's Choice Awards and at the
Kids' Choice Awards. Meanwhile, Hutcherson won a
MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance, a
Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor – Sci-Fi/Fantasy and a
Do Something! Awards for Best Male Movie Star, and
Elizabeth Banks won the
MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Transformation. ==Sequels==