“The Hunger Games” fought this past weekend in the theater’s box office with a $155 million dollar weekend debut.

What more could “The Hunger Games” be hungry for when the movie took the third spot of having the biggest weekend, opening following Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with 169.2 million and The Dark Knight with 158.4 million?

“The Hunger Games” is a story written by Suzanne Collins about a 16-year-old girl named Katniss Everdeen who takes her sister’s place in the hunger games, which is an annual fight to the death between kids from the 12 districts of Panem. The story takes place in a future period of a ruined North America.

The hype of the series quickly emerged once the first trailer was introduced last year. “The Hunger Games” was written in 2008 and was a New York Time Bestseller for 100 consecutive weeks until September 2010.

All of these facts are great, but why should people go see this? This is not your typical young adult movie or book series that has vampires or wizards. This is a story about humanity and how people in power use death as a form of entertainment. “The Hunger Games” is reality television to the extreme, and nobody can do anything about it unless an untimely death is your next best friend.

“The Hunger Games” director, Gary Ross, did a great job of portraying the emotion and imagery of the book into this movie. I felt myself smiling from the similarity of the movie to the book. Another factor to the movie’s similarity is that Suzanne Collins, the author of the books, was a screenwriter for the movie.

Jennifer Lawrence who plays Katniss Everdeen made me believe that she was Katniss. Lawrence was strong and beautiful like Katniss while being in this ugly situation and had no guarantee of survival in the games.

Not many actresses can make me cry in the first 15 minutes of a movie. I knew I should have brought tissue, so girls beware. There are parts in the film that will make people cry. I even saw my little brother shed a tear so guys beware also. This is not a girly chick flick. The movie attracts men and women ages 13 and up.

The action of the movie is kept at its rating of PG-13. People who like more blood and gore should read the book where the games and fight scenes are explained in more gruesome detail.

“The Hunger Games” was a big success and people are excited for the sequel, “Catching Fire,” that is due to be released November 22, 2013, for the Thanksgiving holidays. Visit hungergamesmovie.org for keeping up with the production of “Catching Fire.”

It may seem like a long wait for the next movie, but there are two more books to the series that can occupy your time until then.

Until next time, may the odds be ever in your favor.