Internets, please explain this to me: The Hunger Games

Dear the Internet,

I've heard some things about a movie called The Hunger Games. Mostly that it's based on a book, that it's pretty similar to Battle Royale, and that it made a figurative ton of money. Apparently it had one of the biggest opening weekends ever, just behind some movie about a Batman and some other movie about a wizard. This was a bit of a surprise to me, as I was previously unaware of the existence of The Hunger Games.

So, I ask of you: How and why did this happen?


Don't get me wrong; I'm actually not trying to sarcastically insult this film here. I really don't know much about it, and the fact that it was this big comes as something of a surprise to me. I'm often quite cynical of typical movie-going audiences, and so I'm not surprised when the latest Twilight film smashes this-or-that box office record, but The Hunger Games seemed to just come out of the blue. It actually doesn't look like a piece of pandering garbage, and it's not a sequel in a well-established and massively-successful franchise.

Having given this issue a tiny bit of thought, I've come up with a few possibilities for how this happened:

1. Movie ticket prices might have skyrocketed for that weekend, inflating the box office figures.
2. This book could be super popular among the hordes of young women who finished reading the Twilight books a few years ago, and those women are now looking for something new to throw their money at. My finger isn't really on the pulse of that particular demographic, so something like The Hunger Games could easily sneak up on me. (Supporting evidence: the presence of Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 on the movie's soundtrack.)
3. Perhaps ompetition for The Hunger Games was especially stale that weekend at the box office. What else was playing? The Lorax (which is bad)?
4. Maybe there was a secret party where people were going to see The Hunger Games and everyone was invited except for me. (T_T)

Clearly, I'm not getting very far thinking about this on my own. I actually think it's great for a new franchise to be doing so well, especially one that features a strong female protagonist. I just don't understand how. So what's the deal? Fill me in, people of the web.