Sometimes people forget the target audiences of feature films and the novels that inspired them. Suzanne Collins’ acclaimed and best selling trilogy of novels are marketed and sold toward the Young Adult demographic, but older fans have been clamoring for an R-rated adaptation. However, that all changed today when director Gary Ross made it abundantly clear that Hunger Games would not forget the children that have fueled the series. Hit the jump for the full quotes and why this is a win for fans of the books.

Ross talked with Entertainment Weekly about the rating and made it clear the film would be PG-13:

It’s not going to be an R-rated movie because I want the 12- and 13- and 14-year-old-fans to be able to go see it. This book means too much to too many teenagers for it not to be PG-13. It’s their story and they deserve to be able to access it completely.

Ross clearly understands that the core audience of the film are teenagers and won’t create a violent film that forgets that.

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Of course, the reason so many people have likely rooted for an R-rating is because adults have devoured the books just as much as the younger audiences it was aimed at. Then again, the film does deal with difficult material. Ross said that Suzanne hasn’t “written in any way an overly graphic book. Even things like the Tracker Jacker sequence, while horrific, it’s the ideas that Suzanne has created that are so harrowing.”

For more on the film and how producer Nina Jacobson reacts to the Twilight comparison, check out the full EW article. What do you think? Are Suzanne Collins’ books ripe for an R-rating or does a PG-13 film fit as well? Let us know in the comments below.