Hollywood Apocalyptica: The Hunger Games

Young men and women of America rejoice-- fear-mongering isn't just for grownups anymore.

Post-apocalyptic-themed filmed entertainment in recent years has run the gamut from bleak (The Road) to camp (2012) to zombified (The Walking Dead). Throw in sci-fi'ers like The Book of Eli and I Am Legend along with freaky cable doc-series like Life After People and Earth 2100 and you have a veritable programming trend.

Now, with the Twilight film franchise all but complete and everyone's appetite for vampire fiction exhausted for at least another decade, Lionsgate has locked up the film rights to YA Fiction's Current Big Thing, Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. Casting begins for the first film right after the holidays and right now, every agent on Wilshire Boulevard is clamoring to get their late-teen clients shortlisted for the lead roles.

It's a real feel-good story. Hundreds of years into the future, America has fallen and more than 90% of the population eradicated. In its place is a new country, Panem, which is divided into twelve districts and governed by a wealthy ruling elite in the Capitol. Bigger than American Idol, Survivor, and The Amazing Race all rolled into one are the Hunger Games, a yearly televised battle-to-the-death between 24 young men and women, two from each district forced by the government to put their lives on the line. Only one person can survive the Games and naturally, this epic has a tragic love story at its center between a poor 16-year old girl and the baker's son who has secretly loved her all her life. Le sigh.

Sitting in the director's chair for the first film? The family-friendly Gary Ross, who helmed Seabiscuit and Pleasantville and wrote the White House fantasy Dave and the classic comedy Big.

So, yeah. Kids have gone from obsessing over bloodthirsty gay vampires to homicidal dystopian teen survivalists. I'd say that's a step in the right direction. A franchise hit could also go a long way toward raising Lionsgate's share price and affirming faith in current studio management, much in the same way that Twilight turned Summit Entertainment into a player.

Read The Hunger Games

More on Lionsgate and Carl Ichan's failed bid to take over the board from Deadline.com.