You know why Hollywood makes movies out of books like The Hunger Games?

Because books like The Hunger Games come with their own built-in fan base.

Suzanne Collins first sold her books to Scholastic, and even then, they knew they had a winner: six figures to the divine Ms. C for three books, which sold more than 36 million copies by the time the movie finally got made (source). That's 36 million eager readers who would happily pony up ten bucks a ticket to watch a movie version— maybe more if said movie delivered any kind of quality at all.

It's a pretty slick business plan and we can't say that the fans were disappointed. At the same time, the movie doesn't get much of the credit for the fans, since the book had so many of them to begin with. There's certainly no shortage of fansites out there on the web, such as The Hunger Games Tribute page and jabberjays.net. It's delivered its share of fan fiction, both tame and naughty. (We've got the tame set-up here. You're on your own with the naughty stuff (source). If you need fan art, the Internet's full to the bursting with it. You can see the influence the film has had on people's images, like President Snow starting to look a lot like Donald Sutherland.

Plus, as befits a cultural icon like this one, there's always a smattering of Katniss cosplayers at the big conventions, along with some of her friends here and there. And even if you're not quite so bold as to dress up like Katniss, you can still sport her stylish haircut in just a few easy steps (source).

Yeah, she ain't as flashy as that Star Wars princess, but her fans aren't any less dedicated. We're just glad they smile more than she does.