Quentin Tarantino has criticised The Hunger Games franchise, calling it a "rip-off" of Battle Royale.

During a recent interview on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, the Pulp Fiction filmmaker accused The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins of ripping off the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, which was based on author Koushun Takami's 1999 novel of the same name.

Tarantino, who has often cited Battle Royale as one of his favourite films, declared, "I do not understand how the Japanese writer didn't sue Suzanne Collins for every f**king thing she owns. They just ripped off the f**kin' book.

"Stupid book critics are not going to go watch a Japanese movie called Battle Royale so the stupid book critics never called her on it. They talked about how it was the most original f**kin' thing they'd ever read. As soon as the film critics saw the film, they said, 'What the f**k? This is just Battle Royale except PG!'"

Collins released her first Hunger Games novel in 2008, and it was adapted into a movie starring Jennifer Lawrence in 2012.

The similarities between the projects have been widely noted since the film's release.

Battle Royale is set in Japan in a dystopian future and follows a group of school students who are forced by a totalitarian government to compete in a tournament in which they have to fight to the death until only one remains.

The Hunger Games features a similar premise. It is set in the dystopian society of Panem, where a televised competition takes place every year in which 24 children fight to the death until there is one person standing.

Collins previously denied basing her series on Battle Royale in a 2011 interview with The New York Times.

"I had never heard of that book or that author until my book was turned in," she insisted. "At that point, it was mentioned to me, and I asked my editor if I should read it. He said, 'No, I don't want that world in your head. Just continue with what you're doing.'"

Battle Royale spawned a 2003 sequel titled Battle Royale II: Requiem, while The Hunger Games has had three film sequels and one prequel.

Another prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping, will be released in cinemas in November 2026.