Young Adult franchises experienced a significant peak in the 2010s that even the 2020s hasn’t been able to replicate. Driven by the massive success of The Twilight Saga and Harry Potter franchises that began in the 2000s, YA movies, particularly book-to-film adaptations, dominated the box office and the cultural zeitgeist, leading to some massive franchise successes. As some of those franchises are seeing a resurgence in recent years, one of the best YA franchises of the 2010s is dominating Peacock’s streaming chart ahead of its sequel later this year.
All five The Hunger Games movies arrived on Peacock on January 14th, and it didn’t take them long to crash onto the streaming charts. The first four films in the franchise currently take up four spots on Peacock’s Top 10 in the U.S., with The Hunger Games ranking highest at No. 5, followed by Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 1 at No. 6 and No. 7, and Mockingjay Part 2 at No. 9. The only film that hasn’t yet cracked the Top 10 is The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the most recent franchise installment focused on a young Coriolanus Snow and the 10th annual Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games’ Peacock Dominance Continues a Trend of Success
The Hunger Games’ Peacock streaming success really isn’t all that surprising. The film series has remained immensely popular ever since it sparked the major YA dystopian franchise trend in the 2010s that saw other series like Divergent and The Maze Runner follow it. The films really had everything necessary to be a hit – a built-in fanbase from Collins’ already bestseller books, a relatable and compelling protagonist who broke the mold of stereotypical YA female leads, and a perfect dystopian backdrop that allowed for deep world-building and relevant social commentary. All of that combined with a perfect storm timing that allowed them to fill the void left by other major YA franchises like Harry Potter and Twilight allowed The Hunger Games to become a mega-hit franchise.
In the years since their release, the films have proven to be major streaming hits, and the franchise’s current success comes as The Hunger Games has been pushed back to the forefront of pop culture. Nearly a decade after the original story of Katniss and Peeta wrapped, the franchise crashed back onto screens in 2023 with the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, based on Collins’ book of the same name. The movie resparked massive interest in the franchise and was another hit with $349 million worldwide gross. The hype surrounding the franchise hasn’t died, either, with Collins releasing the novel Sunrise on the Reaping in 2025, which is being adapted into a sixth Hunger Games movie set to release in theaters on November 20th.
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