Top 5 ‘Hunger Games’ Controversies

The odds have clearly been in the Hunger Games films’ favor, as the series has pulled in oodles of cash throughout its run and landed Jennifer Lawrence a spot on the A-list.

However, there have nonetheless been some bumps along the road. Here are five controversies that the franchise has dealt with in the past few years.

Rue’s casting

The casting of a black actress, Amandla Stenberg, in the role of Rue in the first film led to racially charged responses on social media. There were also complaints when black actor Jeffrey Wright was cast as Beetee, a white character.

Jennifer Lawrence and her hair

It may now be hard to believe that anyone could have possibly questioned the casting of Lawrence as Katniss. Still, there were numerous naysayers when Lawrence was initially selected, and much of the criticism focused on her light-colored hair. Evidently, Hunger Games fans weren’t familiar with the concept of hair dye.

Peeta goes passive

Josh Hutcherson has made it clear he wishes Peeta could have had a little more to do in the first film. His character spends most of his time pretending to be a rock, a plot twist that Hutcherson referred to as “laughable” in an Entertainment Weekly interview.

Director switcheroo

Claiming that the studio wanted him to finish the second film faster than he would be able to, Gary Ross, who directed the first Hunger Games film, left the franchise in April 2012 and was replaced by Francis Lawrence.

Splitting up the final installment

After the strategy helped extend profits for the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises, it was no big surprise when Lionsgate opted to turn the final Hunger Games book into two movies. However, dividing up the book may have contributed to some less-than-stellar reviews for the first Mockingjay film this weekend, along with the opening-weekend gross coming in below that for Catching Fire.

Email: Ryan.Gajewski@pgmedia.org
Twitter: @_RyanGajewski