Lionsgate just informed us they have nabbed the first book in the young adult dystopian book series from Scholastic, Hunger Games, by author, Suzanne Collins.  The announcement was made by Joe Drake, Lionsgate President, Motion Picture Group, and Co-Chief Operating Officer.  Collins will adapt the screenplay from her novel, the first in a trilogy. Nina Jacobson is producing through her Color Force shingle.

Collins’ novel was praised by the likes of Stephenie Meyer [Twilight] and Steven King giving it a massive boost on the best seller list.

Lionsgate President of Motion Picture Production, Alli Shearmur, will oversee the production for the studio, along with Lionsgate Senior Vice President of Motion Picture Production, Jim Miller.

Shearmur spoke about the aquisition of the film rights saying,

“The Hunger Games is an incredible property and it is a thrill to bring it home to Lionsgate. This is the exactly the kind of movie I came to Lionsgate to make: youthful, exciting, smart and edgy. We are looking forward to working with Nina and Suzanne to create a movie that satisfies audiences’ hunger for high-quality entertainment.”

The story in the book revolves around a dystopic Capitol that requires its 12 districts to pay tribute in the form of a teenage boy and girl, who are then forced to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. When the main character, Katniss Everdeen’s, little sister is chosen in the lottery, Katniss volunteers to take her place. Although persevering through hardship is commonplace for Katniss, she must start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love in order to win the games and return home.

Since its publication in September 2008, Suzanne Collins’s award-winning novel “The Hunger Games” has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for 25 consecutive weeks to date, and rights for 32 foreign-language editions have been licensed. “The Hunger Games” won the 2008-9 Cybils Award for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction. It was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2008; a 2008 Horn Book Fanfare Book; a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2008; a School Library Journal Best Book of 2008; a 2008 Booklist Editors’ Choice; a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice; and a Kirkus Best Book of 2008.

As a fan of post-apocolyptic, dystopian type films this one that I want to see as well as read. I am heading to Barnes and Noble later to grab this one. Lionsgate has proven they can grab some quality work and with Summit doing very well with the Twilight series I am sure the next generation studio is trying to catch the lighting in the bottle by developing a serious young adult novel into a viable box office franchise.

Source: Lionsgate