 In March 2009 , Lions Gate Entertainment entered into a co @-@ production agreement for The Hunger Games with Nina Jacobson 's production company Color Force , which had acquired worldwide distribution rights to the novel a few weeks earlier . The studio , which had not made a profit for five years , raided the budgets of other productions and sold assets to secure a budget of $ 88 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 – one of its largest ever – for the film . Collins ' agent Jason Dravis remarked that " they [ Lionsgate ] had everyone but the valet call us " to help secure the franchise . Intending the film to have a PG @-@ 13 rating , Collins adapted the novel for film herself , in collaboration with screenwriter Billy Ray and director Gary Ross . The screenplay remains extremely faithful to the original novel , with Ross saying he " felt the only way to make the film really successful was to be totally subjective " in its presentation of events , echoing Collins ' use of first person present in the novel . 
