Why 'The Hunger Games' Stands Out Among Dystopian YA

When the first Hunger Games movie came out in 2012, the world of cinema had just recently discovered the power of young adult literature as a source of inspiration. The Harry Potter saga had hit the screens for the first time little more than a decade prior in 2001, kickstarting a wave of fantasy movies based on books aimed at tweens and teens, from The Chronicles of Narnia to the ill-fated His Dark Materials film franchise. A few years later in 2008, Twilight gave rise to the teen paranormal romance craze, and in the 2010s, it was time for the teenage dystopias to take the central stage.