So my 11 year old wants to see The Hunger Games movie. I’m led to believe that the book has taken over the world, post-Harry Potter and so forth.
What do you find people think? Is it suitable? Would a movie of the first book be any worse for kids that the last couple of Harry Potter films?
The book is quite violent. I am letting my almost 12-yo read it with the disclaimer that it is really violent, and if she has bad dreams it’s not my fault. But I think I’d like to see the movie before she does.
The first movie should be fine. It’s violent, but not excessively so. If he/she has read the book, I wouldn’t worry about it.
The final two get progressively more violent (much like Harry Potter). If I were you, I would read them. Then you’ll better know what you’re dealing with. Personally, I loved the books and enjoyed them a lot, but even if you don’t, they are a quick read just for parenting purposes. I plan on allowing my 11 year old son to see the first movie if he wants, but he didn’t ever finish the book and I’m not sure he even wants to. So, I think you’re lucky! 
I read the first one (I’m 45 with a ten-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son who are reading them). It’s pretty grim subject matter and there is a lot of violence. I am seriously wondering how they are going to portray this stuff in the movie without getting an R rating. They must really have to sanitize it a bit.
In a recent Entertainment Weekly article, the director said something along the lines of “you don’t have to be gratuitous with the violence to get the point across.” Wish I could find my copy to quote it exactly. Anyway, the impression I got was that they’re going to focus more on the emotional impact of the whole situation rather than the blood and gore aspect.