It's not some revolutionary story concept that needed cherished and protected. It's not that god damn unique of an idea, anyone could have come up with it at any time, so OBVIOUSLY there's gonna be other stories that use it. And if Battle Royale were worthy enough, then it WOULD HAVE been more popular than the Hunger Games. Survival of the fittest, film edition
shareThere are two aspects that explain the difference in popularity between the two.
First "Battle Royale" featured exploitative graphic violence which consigned it to
cult movie status. "Hunger Games" treated it's violence in a non exploitative way.
Second in "Battle Royale" although some characters had more screen time there were
none that were developed enough as characters to engender audience identification.
Katniss on the other hand is a marvelously well developed character who has instant
audience identification.