Four-time Oscar-nominee Gary Ross' (Pleasantville) The Hunger Games will hit theaters on March 23rd, 2012.  Lionsgate announced that it plans to roll out the film adaptation of Suzanne Collins' best-selling novel (the first in a trilogy) on a weekend that, at present time, contains no competition for the high-profile project.  The film will most likely begin shooting later this year, either towards the end of spring or beginning of summer.For those unfamiliar with the source material, Collins' The Hunger Games is set in a post-apocalyptic America and follows the trials of 16-year-old protagonist Katniss Everdeen.  Per Heat Vision, Katniss "must participate in a fight-to-the-death annual event called the Hunger Games."  While I haven't read the book trilogy, Ross' Pleasantville is one of my all-time favorite films and, as a result, each of his projects from here-on-out gets complimentary box-office dollars on my behalf.  For more on the project, hit the jump for a synopsis of the original novel.Here's the synopsis for Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games [via Amazon]:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games.” The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat’s sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.