The final poster for Lionsgate’s

The final poster for Lionsgate’s highly anticipated film based on the novels by Suzanne Collins focuses on Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), who is giving the viewer a deadly glare as she pulls back her bow to shoot.

PHOTOS: New 'Hunger Games' Images Released

The Hunger Games follows Katniss and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), two tributes from District 12 living in the futuristic world of Panem who are forced to enter the annual Hunger Games, a fight-to-the-death competition between young representatives of each of the 12 districts.
Katniss’ advantage in the Games is her skill with a bow and arrow (as emphasized in the poster), which she honed while illegally hunting for food for survival with her friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth).

PHOTOS: 'The Hunger Games' Official Character Posters

The Lionsgate marketing campaign has been giving fans a new teaser for the film every few weeks. The first full-length trailer was released in November, and fans also were sent on an online scavenger hunt to assemble 100 images from 100 websites to piece together the puzzle of the forthcoming film's poster art.

Among the other goodies that have been released: character posters, songs from the film and photos of Katniss, Gale, Peeta and the supporting characters, who are played by everyone from Elizabeth Banks to Woody Harrelson and Lenny

Hunger Games' Trailer Premieres, Reveals the Dark World of Panem http://amzn.to/zqUgkg
The wait is over for Hunger Games fans. The film may not come out for another four months, but fans got their first real look at the highly anticipated film on Monday with the full-length trailer premiering on Good Morning America. (Now available on Apple.) Watch Instantly http://amzn.to/zqUgkg



PHOTOS: The Hunger Games Official Character Posters

Josh Hutcherson – who plays Peeta Mellark in the film -- introduced the trailer to a horde of screaming fans on the show on Monday.

The film follows Katniss, a 16-year-old girl living in a futuristic world called Panem. The trailer starts with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth) in the woods, hunting illegally to survive. It then moved to the reaping, when two tributes are chosen to fight in the yearly deathly competition. Katniss volunteers when her sister's name is chosen in the lottery. By taking her sister’s place in the deathly event, she and her fellow District 12 tribute Peeta must find a way to survive.

STORY: 'The Hunger Games' Director Gary Ross Promises 'Hugely Epic' Things to Come

The trailer shows the two tributes training for the Games, and ends with Katniss and the other tributes entering the arena. This trailer provides the first glimpse of many of the main characters in action, including Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Donald Sutherland as President Snow, Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, and Woody Harrelson as the boozed up mentor for the tributes, Haymitch.

Lionsgate has been dropping breadcrumbs for the film at a consistent pace. Recently, posters were released showing the eight main characters in costume.

STORY: Jennifer Lawrence: 'Hunger Games Is Not Twilight'

The highly anticipates Lionsgate film, based on the books by Suzanne Collins, is helmed by Gary Ross and set for a March 2012 release.

Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive first photos of Jennifer Lawrence in the highly anticipated 'The Hunger Games'

Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive first photos of Jennifer Lawrence in the highly anticipated 'The Hunger Games', where the Oscar-nominated 20-year-old will be playing the beloved heroine Katniss Everdeen, the main character in the best-selling trilogy the movie is adapted from.

In the first photo to be released, Lawrence's naturally blond locks are now brunette and fastened into a long side braid, Katniss's signature hairstyle in the novels. She is also featured with a bow and arrow, her weapon of choice in The Hunger Games where she is forced to fight for her life in a televised death match devised by a brutal government. The extremely dark dystopian trilogy is widely popular with fans, who are showing the same extreme dedication that Twilight fans had when it was announced that the series was being adapted to the big screen.

Though some fans expressed their initial outrage at her casting because of her blond, conventionally pretty looks, it is clear that Lawrence successfully makes the transformation from California girl to the fierce Katniss Everdeen. Preparing for the role includes a grueling training program consisting of archery, track work, stunt drills and yoga since she not only has to portray a 16-year-old desperate for food, but a survivor at that who is able to not only hunt for her own food in a torturous terrain, but defend herself against ruthless competitors all trying to kill each other in what's deemed "The Hunger Games."

But aside from the intense physical training to play one of the most coveted roles in Hollywood (the film is widely being called the next 'Twilight'), Lawrence also has to mentally prepare for the level of fame and hype that she will undoubtedly now contend with by accepting the high profile role.

"I knew that as soon as I said yes, my life would change. And I walked around thinking, 'It's not too late, I could still go back and do indies. I haven't said yes yet, it's not too late,'" she recalls.

But it was her mother who convinced her that the role of a lifetime was something she had to take on.

"She told me I was being a hypocrite," says Lawrence. "All of the times that I was doing indies and passing on studio films, people would ask me why, and I always said, 'I don't care about the budget of the movie or the size of it. I care about the story.' And my mom said, 'This is a story that you love, and you're thinking about saying no to it because of the size of it. Hypocrite!' And she was right. I love this story, and if I had said no I would regret it every day."

And it is clear from her interview that she is indeed every bit as dedicated to the trilogy as the books' millions of diehard fans.

"Listen, I know from the bottom of my heart that I love Katniss. I love her," she tells Entertainment Weekly. "It's kind of like when you have a huge crush on somebody, and it's almost scary because you don't want to mess it up and have it not be everything you hope it will be. That's exactly what I feel about this. I'm terrified. Is it going to be good enough? Am I going to be good enough?"

The fact that she cares enough is probably a good sign. Entertainment Weekly's first look at Jennifer Lawrence in 'The Hunger Games' hits newsstands May 20th.

The Hunger Games trilogy

Suzanne Collins is an American television writer and novelist, best known for writing The Hunger Games series.
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Early life

Suzanne Collins is the daughter of an Air Force officer.[2] She graduated from the Alabama School of Fine Arts and earned her M.F.A. from New York University in Dramatic Writing.
Career

Collins' career began in 1991 as a writer for children's television shows. She worked on several television shows for Nickelodeon, including Clarissa Explains It All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear , and Oswald. She was also the head writer for Scholastic Entertainment's Clifford's Puppy Days. She received a Writers Guild of America nomination in animation for co-writing the critically acclaimed Christmas special, Santa, Baby!

After meeting children's author James Proimos while working on the Kids' WB show Generation O!, Collins was inspired to write children's books herself. Her inspiration for Gregor the Overlander , the first book of The New York Times best selling series The Underland Chronicles , came from Alice in Wonderland, when she was thinking about how one was more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole, and would find something other than a tea party. Between 2003 and 2007 she wrote the five books of the Underland Chronicles : Gregor the Overlander , Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane , Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods , Gregor and the Marks of Secret , and Gregor and the Code of Claw . During that time, Collins also wrote a rhyming picture book, When Charlie McButton Lost Power (2005), illustrated by Mike Lester.

In September 2008 Scholastic Press released the The Hunger Games , the first book of a trilogy by Collins. The Hunger Games was partly inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Another inspiration was her father's career in the Air Force, which allowed her to better understand poverty, starvation, and the effects of war. The trilogy's second book, Catching Fire , was released in September 2009, and its third book Mockingjay , was released on August 24, 2010. Within 14 months, 1.5 million copies of the first two Hunger Games books were printed in North America alone. The Hunger Games has been on The New York Times Best Seller list for more than 60 weeks in a row. Lions Gate Entertainment acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of The Hunger Games, produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force production company. Collins adapted the novel for film herself.[10] Directed by Gary Ross, filming began in late spring 2011, with Jennifer Lawrence portraying main character Katniss Everdeen. Josh Hutcherson plays Peeta Mellark and Liam Hemsworth plays Gale Hawthorne.

As a result of the significant popularity of The Hunger Games books, Collins was named one of Time magazine's most influential people of 2010.
Personal life

Collins resides in Connecticut with her husband and their two children.

She also lives with her two adopted cats.

Plot
See also: The Hunger Games universe

The Hunger Games takes place in the future after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem. Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol and twelve surrounding, poorer districts. District 12, where the book begins, is located in the coal-rich region that was formerly Appalachia.[7]

As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol, in which a 13th district was destroyed, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district are selected by annual lottery to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised event in which the participants, or "tributes," must fight to the death in a dangerous, outdoor arena, controlled by the Capitol, until only one remains. The story follows 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a girl from District 12, who volunteers for the 74th annual Hunger Games in place of her younger sister, Primrose. Also selected from District 12 is Peeta Mellark, a baker's son whom Katniss knows from school and who once gave her bread when her family was starving.

Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where their drunken mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, victor of the 50th Hunger Games, instructs them to watch and learn the talents of the other tributes. They are then publicly displayed to the Capitol audience in a televised session with interviewer Caesar Flickerman. During this time, Peeta reveals on-air his long-time unrequited love for Katniss. Katniss believes this to be a ploy to gain audience support for the Games, which can be crucial for survival, as audience members are encouraged to send gifts like food, medicine, and tools to favored tributes during the Games. The Games begin with eleven of the 24 tributes dying in the first day, while Katniss relies on her well-practiced hunting and outdoor skills to survive. As the games continue, the tribute death toll increases. A few days later, Katniss develops an alliance with a twelve year-old girl from the agricultural District 11, Rue, who reminds Katniss of her sister Prim. The alliance is short-lived when Rue is killed by another tribute, whom Katniss shoots through the neck with an arrow before comforting the dying Rue. At Rue's request, Katniss sings to her, and then spreads flowers over her body as a sign of disgust towards the Capitol.

Supposedly due to Katniss and Peeta's beloved image in the minds of the audience as "star-crossed lovers," a rule change is announced midway through the games, stating that two tributes from the same district can win the Hunger Games as a pair. Upon hearing this, Katniss searches for Peeta and eventually finds him wounded. As she nurses him back to health, she acts the part of a young girl falling in love to gain more favor with the audience and, consequently, gifts from her sponsors. When the couple are finally the last two tributes, the Gamemakers reverse the rule change in an attempt to force them into a dramatic finale, where one must kill the other to win. Katniss, in the hopes that the Gamemakers would rather have two victors than none, retrieves highly poisonous berries known as “nightlock” from her pouch and offers some to Peeta. Upon realizing that Katniss and Peeta mean to commit suicide, the Gamemakers announce that both will be the victors of the 74th Hunger Games.

Though she survives the ordeal in the arena and is treated to a hero's welcome in the Capitol, Katniss is warned by Haymitch that she has now become a political target after defying her society's authoritarian leaders so publicly. Afterwards, Peeta is heartbroken to learn that their relationship was mostly a calculated ploy to earn sympathy from the audience, although Katniss remains unsure of her own feelings.
Publications

The Underland Chronicles

Gregor the Overlander (2003)
Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (2004)
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods (2005)
Gregor and the Marks of Secret (2006)
Gregor and the Code of Claw (2007)

The Hunger Games trilogy

The Hunger Games (2008)
Catching Fire (2009)
Mockingjay (2010)

Other books

Fire Proof: Shelby Woo #11 (1999)
When Charlie McButton Lost Power (2005)
When Charlie McButton Gained Power (2009)

Awards

2011 - California Young Reader Medal
2010 - Georgia Peach Book Awards for Teen Readers
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year: Children's Fiction
An American Library Association Top 10 Best Books For Young Adult Selection
An ALA Notable Children's Book
2008 CYBIL Award--Fantasy and Science Fiction
KIRKUS Best Young Adult Book of 2008
A Horn Book Fanfare
School Library Journal Best Books of 2008
A Book List Editor's Choice, 2008
NY Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing
2004 NAIBA Children's Novel Award
2006 ALSC Notable Children's Recording (audio version)