Watch The Full HUNGER GAMES Trailer Now

Lionsgate are counting on Gary Ross to turn The Hunger Games into a major franchise for the financially troubled studio and today we get our first significant look at whether or not he may succeed in doing that. After an interminable string of cast announcements and a minute long tease the first full trailer has just arrived.

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which "Tributes" must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she's ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

After the twentieth or so of those casting announcements I went out and picked up the first novel to see if they were worth all the noise and found that they are essentially Battle Royale rewritten for the Twilight set. Which means bland for me but in the eyes of The Boy - who is ten - they're one of the greatest things ever. How many parents will allow their tweenage kids to watch a movie about teenagers killing each other remains to be seen, however. Take a look at the trailer below.