Obsessions: #4 "The Hunger Games"

Year In Review Staff
"The Hunger Games," a film version of the 2008 young adult novel by Suzanne Collins starring Jennifer Lawrence, became an obsession for plenty of American moviegoers in 2012, grossing more than $400 million at the U.S. box office. (Murray Close/Lionsgate)

"The Hunger Games," the first novel in the best-selling young-adult trilogy of the same name, became must-see viewing for American moviegoers. Starring Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the film version of Suzanne Collins's 2008 novel grossed more than $400 million at the box office domestically and more than $680 million worldwide since its March release.

Hard-core fans of the book were initially wary about the casting of Lawrence, because they thought the 20-year-old—who was fresh off an Oscar-nominated performance in "Winter's Bone"—was too old to play Katniss, the book's 16-year-old protagonist.

But Lawrence proved them wrong, receiving rave reviews for her portrayal of the teenage heroine.