MUMBAI: Lionsgate has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the film version of Suzanne Collins’ best selling futuristic young adult novel The Hunger Games.

Collins will adapt the screenplay from her novel, the first in a trilogy.

Nina Jacobson is producing through her Color Force shingle.

The Hunger Games was published by Scholastic last year. The trilogy’s second installment, Catching Fire, is due on 1 September, 2009.

Lionsgate president of Motion Picture Production Alli Shearmur will oversee the production for the studio, along with Lionsgate senior vice president of Motion Picture Production Jim Miller.

Said Shearmur, "The Hunger Games is an incredible property and it is a thrill to bring it home to Lionsgate. This is exactly the kind of movie I came to Lionsgate to make: youthful, exciting, smart and edgy. We are looking forward to working with Nina and Suzanne to create a movie that satisfies audiences’ hunger for high-quality entertainment."

Jacobson added, "I am thrilled to have Lionsgate as a partner in The Hunger Games. The suspense of The Hunger Games is heightened by its spirit of moral inquiry, and Suzanne has entrusted Lionsgate and me to bring that moral perspective to the adaptation – a charge we fully intend to honor.”