9. Pacing
5 minutes into Battle Royale, the children have been captured and 10 minutes is spent establishing the rules of the game and the characters. The actual battle in Battle Royale begins less than 15 minutes into the film. By comparison, 15 minutes into The Hunger Games, the children are only just being captured and 45 minutes is spent establishing their characters and the rules of the game.
The actual games (by the way, shouldnt that be game? Its one event) in The Hunger Games take over an hour to begin. This hour lacks any sense of tension because we have not been given enough information about the games, and as such, no reason to anticipate or dread them. For getting to the point, another point to Battle Royale.