FILM · 2012 · USA
The Hunger Games
- Directed by
- Gary Ross
- Runtime
- 142 min
- Studio
- Lionsgate, Color Force
153 archived facts 8 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Sep 2026
In a dystopian society where the Capitol forces each district to send two young tributes to fight to the death in a televised spectacle, a girl volunteers to take her sister’s place, setting the stage for a struggle of survival and defiance.
Summary: TMDB
13 Facts From the Making of The Hunger Games
- #016
In the extras of the two DVD editions, co-writer and director Gary Ross explains: "We were under enormous financial pressure on this film. It was under $80 million and it was a big film. Other blockbusters cost two or three times as much."
- #055
Gary Ross noticed that his twin children were fans of the books and learned from his manager that producer Nina Jacobson had acquired the rights after Suzanne Collins's novels were discovered by Jacobson's co-producer Bryan Unkeless and then recommended to her. After reading the book in one sitting, Ross successfully campaigned to direct the adaptation (another candidate, Francis Lawrence, would go on to direct the sequels). Collins herself wrote a first screenplay that was a faithful adaptation of her novel, entirely in first-person narration and voice-over from Katniss Everdeen's point of view. In rewrites with Ross and co-writer Billy Ray, Katniss's point of view was preserved, but her internal monologues were removed and their narration was used in the expanded perspectives of Seneca Crane and the Gamemakers, President Snow and Caesar Flickerman. The overall violence in the book was also reduced to keep a PG-13 rating.
- #116
In March 2009, Lionsgate entered a co-production agreement for The Hunger Games with Nina Jacobson's production company Color Force.
- #117
Color Force had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the novel a few weeks before the agreement, reportedly for $200,000.
- #118
Lionsgate's president of motion picture production Alli Shearmur and senior vice president Jim Miller oversaw production of The Hunger Games.
- #119
Shearmur and Miller described The Hunger Games as "an incredible property ... a thrill to bring home to Lionsgate".
- #120
Lionsgate secured the $88,000,000 budget for The Hunger Games by raiding the budgets of other productions and selling assets, as the studio had not made a profit for five years.
- #121
Lionsgate later obtained $8 million in tax breaks for shooting The Hunger Games in North Carolina.
- #138
Fireman's Fund Insurance Company insured the production of The Hunger Games, and as part of underwriting it required a thorough risk analysis covering hazards such as wayward arrows, poison ivy, bears, bugs and a chase across fast-running water.
- #143
Principal photography on The Hunger Games began in May 2011 near Brevard in Transylvania County, Western North Carolina, and wrapped on September 15, 2011.
- #144
The Hunger Games started with a $75 million budget, which was reported at between $90 and $100 million by the end and reduced to $78 million after subsidies.
- #147
The Hunger Games was shot almost entirely in North Carolina, a choice that brought Lionsgate roughly $8 million in tax credits from the state government.
- #152
Director Gary Ross and production designer Phil Messina based the Capitol's architecture on the 1939 New York World's Fair and political power symbols such as Tiananmen Square and Red Square, aiming for a future setting that still carried a sense of its own past, described as festive, alluring, indulgent and decadent yet backed by might and power.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb
- Wikipedia The Hunger Games (film) — Wikipedia
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