The Hunger Games is a 2012 American dystopian action film directed by Gary Ross, who co-wrote the screenplay with Suzanne Collins and Billy Ray, based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Collins. It is the first installment in The Hunger Games film series. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland. The film is set in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future in the nation of Panem, where a boy and a girl from each of the nation's 12 Districts are chosen annually as "tributes" and forced to compete in the Hunger Games, an elaborate televised fight to the death. Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) volunteers to take her younger sister's place when her sister was initially selected as tribute. With her district's male tribute, Peeta Mellark (Hutcherson), Katniss travels to the Capitol to train and compete in the Hunger Games. Development of The Hunger Games began in March 2009 when Lionsgate entered into a co-production agreement with Color Force, which had acquired the rights a few weeks earlier. Because the novel was written in first-person from Katniss' point of view, the writers chose to expand the character of Seneca Crane to allow various plot developments for which Katniss is not present to be shown directly to the audience; Ross also added several scenes between Crane and Coriolanus Snow. The main characters were cast between March and May 2011. Principal photography began in May 2011 and ended that September, with filming taking place in North Carolina. The film was released on March 21, 2012 in some European countries, and in the United States and United Kingdom on March 23. When the film was released, it set records for opening day ($67.3 million) and opening weekend for a non-sequel. At the time of its release, the film's opening weekend gross ($152.5 million) was the third-largest of any film in North America. It is the first film since Avatar to remain in first place at the North American box office for four consecutive weekends. The film was a massive box-office success by grossing over $694 million worldwide against its budget of $78 million, making it the third-highest-grossing film in the United States and ninth-highest-grossing film of 2012. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on August 18, 2012. The Hunger Games received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its