The Hunger Games, based on the novel with the same-name, is now on DVD. Blu-Ray and online! The film received excellent reviews, and has been subject to huge hype in the entertainment world.

On it’s opening day it pulled in $67.3 million which set records in the worldwide box office. It’s opening weekend had a gross of $152.5 million.In North America it pulled in $407 million, and outside of North America it pulled in only $277 million. Here in North America, it was publicized like crazy, with ads and billboards around just about every corner. In places outside of N.A. the film was promoted poorly, many people saying that they might not have known about THG if they weren’t a big fan. Some people argue (perhaps correctly) that had Lionsgate done a better job of promoting the film in Europe, Asia, Australia etc, they may have reached the top 50 highest grossing films list.

The film did very well at pulling in people who hadn’t read the book.  It was also subject to huge controversy. All though it was widely praised for its use of feminism, it was still criticised heavily for the film’s use of killing (which is also present in the book), and unrealistic body image. At one point, movie-goers criticised the film for using an African-American actress (the character Rue, who was actually African-American  in the book as well as the film, unlike what critics suggest), which caused anger among fans for the racism of these people.

Lionsgate was criticised for casting Jennifer Lawrence as the lead actress “she did not appear to have the weight of a person suffering from starvation”.

Target, the popular American store will be selling this version of The Hunger Games on DVD/Blu-Ray.

Yes, this film has had it’s far share of criticism. But the story of the book (and film) is remarkable, and was done incredibly well by Suzanne Collins and Lionsgate respectively. And this has been recognized with many award nominations, and wins as well. Including from the MTV Movie Awards, Teen Choice Awards, Kids’ Choice Awards, and many more.

In 2013 a sequel to the controversial film will be released, called The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which will be based on the book named Catching Fire. Josh Hutcherson (Peeta) has a copy of the script for the film, which will be filming in Hawaii soon, and he had this to say.

“I do have a script in hand and it’s awesome. I love it so much,” Hutcherson confirmed, revealing that he met with newly installed director Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend,” 2007, “Water for Elephants,” 2011) to discuss the film’s vision. “We talked about how important it was to really make the movie version of the book and that was Francis’s goal from day one — and the script definitely portrays that. It’s a very true-to-the-book rendition of the movie.”

-Josh Hutcherson via Yahoo! Movies

The sequel will be directed by Francis Lawrence (mentioned above), instead of Gary Ross who directed The Hunger Games. This is because Catching Fire will have an incredibly tight schedule, as Jennifer Lawrence will be working on X-Men in January 2013, allowing less than 5 months for shooting. Yes, this is going to be one rushed movie. However, it will have plenty of time for Post-Production, as it will not be in theatres until November 22, 2013.

The only question left for this film, is how successful will the sales be for DVD/Blu-Ray? The film will also be available on a wide variety of online platforms as well, including iTunes.

What did you think of the film? Do you think this film will be successful on DVD/Blu-Ray? Leave a comment below.