The Real Influences as provided by Suzanne Collins
The influences for Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" all makes sense to me now. I got tired of the revolving messages where people are throwing rocks over the fence and found a couple of good interviews.
She read "Lord of the Flies" (1954 novel) as a teenager. It is one of her favorite books. In this dystopian novel a group of boys are stranded on an island because of a plane crash. The island essentially becomes like an arena where they turn against each other because of multiple reasons. Paranoia sets in because part of them think there is a monster on the isle. Some refuse to do chores for the common good. Essentially tribes are formed where they scheme against each other.
She enjoyed and was influenced by "1984" (1949 dystopian novel) and "Brave New World" (1931 utopian novel).
She loves "The Lottery" (published 1948) which is a story where a village of about 300 people have a yearly lottery event. Each family removes a piece of paper from a black box. If a family gets a slip with a black dot a second drawing occurs for individual family members. Whoever removes a slip with a black dot gets stoned to death by children who have gathered rocks.
She was also a Greek mythology fanatic as a child and influenced heavily by Theseus and the Minotaur. In this story King Minos of Crete won a war against the Athenians. He then demanded that seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls were to be sent to Crete every nine years to be devoured by the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster that lived in the Labyrinth.
She grew up in a military family where her father served in the Vietnam War. Her father also grew up in the depression where hunting was important to survive. He would go into the woods and bring back all kinds of mushrooms (to be cooked for eating) during her childhood. Her mother would not let family members eat them but her father never got harmed by them. This inspired her to also read a lot of wilderness survival guidebooks.
I could not find where she mentions "The Running Man" in any interview but perhaps I missed it.
EDIT* Corrected a grammar issue. The only missing element from all of her influences is the television glamorization of the event. It would make sense that "The Running Man" provided it.