LAST EDITED ON 03-28-12 AT 08:37 PM (EST)About 6 months ago, my younger daughter started reading The Hunger Games, One day I asked her about the story, and she told me the concept. I told her where I'd read a similar story before:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Walk
And, of course, the government-sponsored reality TV show:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Running_Man
Suzanne Collins added the overlay of the Roman gladiators to the battle scenes and the teen-girl-friendly Twilight-reminiscent triangle of Katniss-Gale-Peeta (what teen girl doesn't want two guys chasing her?), but the general concepts were Richard Bachman's.
So what did "Bachman" think of The Hunger Games? He liked it:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20419951_20223443,00.html
But I haven't read the book or seen the movie, so I'll defer on those questions. I'll just say that both of my daughters loved the book, but they're split on the movie.