Even if you’re not much of a reader or moviegoer, you’ve heard of The Hunger Games. It’s up there with Harry Potter and Twilight as one of the most successful books of the past decade. The movie has been a hit as well, having earned–at a staggering $67.3 million–the highest single day gross for a non-sequel film ever.

That’s $67.3 million in one day, folks. Better than most films do in a year. The film’s opening weekend gross, domestically, was $152.5 million, the third-largest opening weekend of all time after The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part II. Not to mention the book has sold millions of copies and was translated into 26 languages.

Here are what I consider to be the five main reasons for the story’s success. (more…)