* BannedInChina:
** The film was banned in Vietnam. Officially, the ban was for showing youth violence, though it has more to do with Vietnam not being happy with a film that shows youngsters fighting back against a totalitarian state.
** Strangely enough, the film was ''not'' banned in China itself, despite it being more authoritarian than Vietnam. This is possibly due to it being possible to interpret the film as a parable about "Western decadence".
* DawsonCasting:
** At first, the film's creators considered casting an actual teen in the lead role (among others, SaoirseRonan, ChloeMoretz, and HaileeSteinfeld were considered for Katniss' part). They finally settled with 21-year old JenniferLawrence to play 16-year old Katniss. Liam Hemsworth (Gale, 18) was 21 during filming, while Josh Hutcherson (Peeta, 16) was 19. Leven Rambin (Glimmer, 18) was 21 at the time.
** IsabelleFuhrman, who plays Career Tribute Clove, was 14 when they filmed. Peeta mentions that Careers are always 18 when they volunteer. That means that although Isabelle is six years younger than JenniferLawrence, she was playing someone two years older. Also averted by Jacqueline Emerson (Foxface) and Amandla Stenberg (Rue), aged 16 and 12 during production.
* DuelingMovies: ''Film/JohnCarter'' premiered two weeks earlier aimed at the same audience. ''The Hunger Games'' was more successful.
* DyeingForYourArt:
** Katniss and Gale are brunettes played by blondes while Peeta is a blond played by a brunet.
** Many of the Capitol extras actually allowed their hair to be dyed those crazy colors for the movies. ''That'' is dedication.
* HeyItsThatGuy:
** [[JenniferLawrence Katniss]] [[WintersBone has a lot of experience hunting squirrels and raising her younger siblings in the backwoods]]. She was also [[Film/XMenFirstClass a shapeshifting mutant]].
** [[{{Orphan}} Est]][[IsabelleFuhrman her]] survived and learned how to fight with knives.
** [[{{Zathura}} Walter]] gets trapped in a game again.
** [[AmericanBeauty Ricky Fitts]][=/=][[Film/GhostRider Blackheart]] [[spoiler:poisons himself]] and has a cool beard to show for it.
** [[TheDevilWearsPrada Nigel]] and [[Film/TheAdventuresofTintin Silk]] are announcers.[[hottip:*: Interestingly, both played German scientists on opposing sides in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''.]]
** [[TinkerTailorSoldierSpy Percy Alleline]] is now the (rather less vocal) commentating partner of Caesar Flickerman, Claudius Templesmith.
** [[{{Caprica}} Amanda Greystone]] gained two new daughters, but lost her husband in a mining accident.
*** It's not the [[Series/ColdCase first time]] she's had her husband die, leaving her with two daughters (with Katniss playing one of them).
** Cato is back from [[RaceToWitchMountain outer space]].
** Glimmer certainly is not [[WizardsOfWaverlyPlace an angel]], though she did [[TheSarahConnorChronicles go to school with John Connor]].
** Haymitch used to be a [[{{Zombieland}} Twinkie-seeking zombie hunter]].
*** Oh, the irony of a [[{{Cheers}} bartender]] playing a drunk.
*** Guess he survived [[{{TwentyTwelve}} the Yellowstone eruption]].
** President Snow trained Film/{{Buffy|TheVampireSlayer}} herself.
** Effie was [[Film/{{Spider-Man Trilogy}} J. Jonah Jameson's secretary]] at one point.
** [[PrideAndPrejudice Mr. Bennet]] is the BigBad, and with [[Film/{{Zombieland}} Tallahassee's]] coaching, [[BridgeToTerabithia Jesse Aarons]] gets to save his lady friend this time round.
** Rue is [[{{Colombiana}} Young!Cataleya]].
* HeyItsThatVoice: This concerns the European French dub:
** Katniss is [[HeyArnold Helga]], [[OnePiece Nami]] and [[PhineasAndFerb Isabella]].
** Gale is [[StarWarsTheCloneWars Anakin Skywalker]] and [[LiloAndStitch Stitch]].
** Peeta is also [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Anakin]].
** Effie is [[TheFairlyOddParents Vicky]].
** President Snow is [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Bender]].
*** Spain: Katniss was at some point SailorMoon, Effie is [[TotalDramaIsland Gwen]], and Peeta is Film/SpeedRacer.
*** How about Brazil: [[TotalDramaIsland Izzy]] has to fight for her life after entering a fight to the death.
*** In the Japanese dub, Katniss [[NanaMizuki is]] [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Fate Testarossa]] and [[{{Naruto}} Hinata Hyuga]]. Also overlaps a bit with CastingGag, since she also voiced other roles when she has to fight to the death in a deadly contest, sometimes against the people she loves, more especifically [[Manga/{{Basilisk}} Oboro]], [[Anime/DogDays Ricotta Elmar and Nanami Takatsuki]]. Peeta Mellak [[HiroshiKamiya is]] [[SayonaraZetsubouSensei Nozomu Itoshiki]] and [[MobileSuitGundam00 Tieria Erde]], Primrose [[RieKugimiya is]] [[ShakuganNoShana Shana]], Gale Hawthorne [[YuuichiNakamura is]] [[MobileSuitGundam00 Graham Aker]] and [[VideoGame/BlazBlue Hazama/Yuuki Terumi]], Cinna [[KentaMiyake is]] [[StreetFighterIV Zangief]] and Haymitch Abernathy [[KoichiYamadera is]] [[CowboyBebop Spike Spiegel]]. Rue is voiced by Erika Ikuta from the teen Idol band ''Nogizaka46'' and Seneca by Japanese artist Hidetomo "Bakarythm" Masuno, [[TheOtherDarrin but only in the theatrical release]].
* TheOtherDarrin: In the Japanese dub, possibly [[CelebrityVoiceActor due to licensing]], Rue and Seneca's roles will be recasted in the DVD/BD release of the movie in Japan, but the rest of the cast will keep their original dub voices from the theatrical version.
* [[LetsPlay Let's Read]]: A highly critical one can be found [[http://dragon-quill.blogspot.com/search/label/Hunger%20Games here]] (and is continued [[http://dragon-quill.blogspot.com/search/label/Catching%20Fire here]] and [[http://dragon-quill.blogspot.com/search/label/Mockingjay here]]).
* RelationshipVoiceActor: In the Japanese dub, HiroshiKamiya (Peeta), YuuichiNakamura (Gale) and RieKugimiya (Prim) worked together before as [[MobileSuitGundam00 Tieria Erde, Graham Aker and Nena Trinity respectively]].
** And NanaMizuki (Katniss) and RieKugimiya (Prim) [[NinjaNonsense were also sisters before.]] [[MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha Or classmates]].
** YuuichiNakamura (Gale) and KentaMiyake (Cinna) were members of the [[MacrossFrontier S.M.S.]], [[StreetFighterIV rivals]], or [[Film/TheAvengers members of the Avengers]].