In the years leading up to and following the conclusion of the massively successful The Hunger Games movie franchise, Hollywood scrambled to find a replacement that would maximize on the popularity of the dystopian genre. In the literary world, a slew of young adult dystopian novels filled up bookstores, all utilizing some of the same fundamental world-building tropes as The Hunger Games. A few of these series were adapted for the big screen in the hopes of replicating The Hunger Games’ box office success. However, at this point, the phenomenon was largely a thing of the past.

Some of these movies, released during the Hunger Games heyday, failed simply due to a lack of quality. Others may be considered successful, but perhaps differently than those with the mindset of being the next Hunger Games expected. Rather than becoming a hit franchise, they became a one-off smash hit or a strange cult favorite. However, most of the would-be Hunger Games replacements bombed because of the decrease in interest in the genre. It is generally recognized that Allegiant’s box office failure marked the end of the YA dystopia sci-fi craze.

8

Ready Player One

Ready Player Two does not provide strong source material.

The novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline seemed to be exactly what Hollywood was hoping for in the post-Hunger Games days. However, the story’s themes are not as strong because escapist video game reality has a lot more to offer both the audience and the characters than the real world. The book makes a bigger point about needing to experience real life than in the movie. Despite this, the Ready Player One movie adaptation performed well with critics and at the box office. This and the upcoming second novel made a movie sequel seem inevitable.

However, Ready Player Two has languished in development for years. Hollywood has been hesitant to produce it, likely because of the novel’s overwhelmingly negative reviews. Steven Spielberg has confirmed his involvement in the Ready Player One sequel, making it seem like it is still a possibility. There was once a time when Ready Player One stood to be a funner version of the Hunger Games franchise with its setting primed for endless pop culture references. Drastic changes to the plot of the second book might have made a movie series viable. Now, the pop culture train has certainly moved on.

7

Ender’s Game

Ender’s Game’s poor box office reception ended the franchise early.

When the profits from the first movie started coming in, filmmakers scavenged classic sci-fi literature for another Hunger Games. With several novels of material to adapt and a title that softly invokes The Hunger Games, Ender’s Game was promising. The movie’s production follows a formula that proved to be successful for The Hunger Games, with no expenses spared on production design, a cast of promising but not unheard-of actors in the younger roles, and iconic A-listers playing their superiors. However, the Ender’s Game movie was destined for failure.

As Collier Jennings highlights (via collider.com), the already sub-par Ender’s Game movie’s chances were ruined by the controversy surrounding the series. The movie couldn’t escape the shadow of author Orson Scott Card’s homophobic views, especially when Card was invited to cameo in the movie. On the other hand, Ender’s Game fails to use its veteran cast well, while the younger cast is also not at their best. With the rushed world-building, Ender’s Game gambled everything on a sci-fi dystopia premise, some famous names, and no depth at all. Unsurprisingly, the movie destroyed any hopes of it being the next big franchise.

6

Red Sparrow

Jennifer Lawrence’s next would-be franchise did not measure up to The Hunger Games.

Following The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2, Jennifer Lawrence reunited with Hunger Games director Francis Lawrence for the espionage thriller Red Sparrow. Based on the Red Sparrow trilogy by Jason Matthews, it seemed possible that it would become a more mature series for the Hunger Games audience that had aged out of the YA genre. Director Lawrence revealed via TheWrap that he was eager to make the sequel, saying: “We had another idea already teed up. Because there’s other books […] and we loved making it and so we had another idea lined up, waiting.”

However, any possibility of Red Sparrow 2 disappeared with Red Sparrow’s bad reviews, despite the lead actress’ name bringing in profits. Therefore, Hollywood missed the perfect opportunity to keep things going with Katniss Everdeen in a new, even darker setting. However, Neftlix’s Anna will perhaps prompt a revaluation of Red Sparrow, due to the two movies’ incredibly similar premises. Red Sparrow’s merits were not appreciated at the time, while audiences might have been ready to see some new talent on the big screen. However, if interest came back, the idea for the sequel could always be picked up again.

5

The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner saw its movie trilogy to completion.

The Maze Runner is one of the quintessential examples of a novel series that was born out of The Hunger Games’ popularity, and it is arguably the movie franchise that saw the most success in replacing its predecessor. Its world-building is not as sensical as The Hunger Games, but it prompts relevant questions about survival and showcases complex character dynamics. The Maze Runner also managed to recruit lauded actors, including Giancarlo Esposito and Aidan Gillen, to play some of the adult roles. The Maze Runner’s biggest accomplishment is that it was able to finish its main trilogy, not without a struggle.

The first two movies’ release years coincided with the last two Hunger Games movies, as the dystopia craze was starting to die down. The Maze Runner: The Death Cure came out three years later, demonstrating an admirable determination to see the series to a natural conclusion despite falling ratings and hype. There was talk surrounding The Maze Runner 4, which would likely either be based on James Dashner’s prequel novel about the original Maze Runner characters or the sequel, set more than 70 years later. Yet The Maze Runner’s days as the “new Hunger Games” are decidedly over.

4

Guns Akimbo

Guns Akimbo was too bizarre to become a major movie franchise.

Like Ready Player One, Guns Akimbo plays with the premise of a real-life video game and modern humanity’s dedication to a virtual reality. The casting of Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role also indicates hopes of a successful series, with the star of one of the biggest movie franchises ever at the helm. The possibility of Guns Akimbo 2 was discussed as recently as 2022 (via CBR), but there has been no official news about it since the first movie’s release.

Guns Akimbo features some of the hallmarks of a would-be Hunger Games successor — a futuristic setting commenting on reality, corrupt power figures to be overthrown, etc. — however, it was never going to be another Hunger Games. The over-the-top violence mixed with comedy is too ludicrous to be taken seriously. Quentin Tarantino can pull this off in a format always recognized by the Oscars — but there is only one Quentin Tarantino. Regardless of whether the sequel ever comes to be, Guns Akimbo has settled into becoming an obscure and fun Amazon Prime action movie.

3

Mortal Engines

Mortal Engines’ promising but disastrous first movie ruined the chances of a sequel.

Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines novel is also followed by a series of sequels, providing years of source material for an aspiring blockbuster franchise. However, the Mortal Engines movie made it immediately clear that this was not to be. Mortal Engines heavily advertised the involvement of Peter Jackson, with noteworthy casting choices, particularly sci-fi dystopia veteran Hugo Weaving. The trailers alone showcased the stunning production design, while the release was perfectly timed to be The Hunger Games’ follow-up.

Then the movie maligned the original story, and nothing was ever said about a sequel in the aftermath. Mortal Engines’ ending does set up the sequel, illustrating that they were at least hoping for a long-running fantasy sci-fi movie franchise. Despite its disastrous reception, Mortal Engines has recently found a new life on Netflix, with a resurgence in popularity. It is now unburdened by people expecting that it will be truly great, watching it simply for fun entertainment. Suffice it to say, Mortal Engines failed to live up to The Hunger Games, although its legacy is still in flux.

2

Mad Max

The Mad Max legacy sequels are on track to become another successful dystopian series.

Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the few dystopian movies to come out in the 2010s not specifically intended to replace The Hunger Games. George Miller had been working on the legacy sequel idea for many years beforehand. However, given its timing and overlap in themes, some would still have thought of Mad Max as a contender to fill the gap left by The Hunger Games. Betting on Fury Road was especially rewarding when it turned out to be one of the best action movies of all time, earning more praise than The Hunger Games ever could have hoped for.

The reason that Mad Max did not become the penultimate Hunger Games replacement by accident or design is that the team behind it had no interest in doing this. They wanted to produce sequels, certainly, but were dedicated to maintaining the quality of those sequels rather than turning them out within a couple of years while the Hunger Games market was still alive. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga would only arrive almost ten years after Fury Road, while Mad Max 5 is still in production. Ultimately, Mad Max will likely have a much bigger legacy in pop culture.

1

Divergent

Divergent’s popularity rose and fell with the Hunger Games.

Divergent is The Maze Runner’s sister series, both of which were likely written as a response to The Hunger Games and emerged as the two most popular replacement series. Also like The Maze Runner, the Divergent movies initially benefited from the genre popularity at the height of The Hunger Games, at least for a while. However, as this popularity sputtered out, the weaknesses of Divergent’s story became clear and ended the franchise early. Divergent failed where The Hunger Games succeeded for several reasons, but bad timing was a major factor.

While The Maze Runner at least finished the trilogy, Divergent made the mistake of promising another two-part finale after Harry Potter and Twilight did the same. When the entire cast left after the failure of part one, they were never able to deliver on part two. There were discussions of the final Divergent installment being released as a TV movie, but this idea never came to fruition. Therefore, Divergent became one of the final attempts to replace The Hunger Games which truly signaled an end to an era of pop culture.

Source: collider.com, TheWrap, CBR