Image Credit: Aby Baker/Getty Images
Lionsgate announced on Thursday that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence will remain with the franchise and direct parts 1 and 2 of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.
The announcement means Lawrence, who’s been shooting Catching Fire since September, will have helmed three out of the four feature adaptations of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling YA novel series. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
From the (figurative) cutthroat world of American politics to the (literal) cutthroat world of Panem: EW has confirmed that Danny Strong — who won an Emmy last month for writing the HBO movie Game Change about the 2008 G.O.P. presidential campaign — is in talks to adapt Suzanne Collins’ Mockingjay for the two-part finale of The Hunger Games saga. Part one of Mockingjay is already set for theaters on Nov. 21, 2014; part two on Nov. 20, 2015.
Though Strong began his career as an actor on shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls, and Mad Men, the Hunger Games gig cements him as one of the most sought-after working writers in Hollywood. His first writing credit was for the HBO movie Recount, about the 2000 presidential recount battle, and his upcoming projects include co-writer-director Lee Daniels’ life-in-the-White-House biopic The Butler, and the adaptation of Dan Brown’s bestseller The Lost Symbol.
Between Strong’s ability to refashion complicated narratives into a feature film timeframe and his clear affinity for stories with a robust political bent, he makes for a strong choice to handle Mockingjay‘s thorny tale of uprising and betrayal.
Variety first broke the news. Lionsgate had no comment.
Read more:
‘Catching Fire’: Lionsgate reveals rest of cast for ‘Hunger Games’ sequel
Where could ‘Mockingjay’ be split into two parts?
‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’: Meet the Cast!
Lionsgate has just let loose a veritable Cornucopia of release details. Only shortly after confirming the addition of Philip Seymour Hoffman to the cast of Catching Fire, the studio has announced that they plan to split Mockingjay—the final novel in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy—into two separate films: the ingeniously titled The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2. The plan is to make this a yearly event through 2015, with Catching Fire hitting theaters on November 22, 2013, Mockingjay, Part 1 on November 21, 2014, and Mockingjay, Part 2 on Nov. 20, 2015. That way, each Thanksgiving, Americans can give thanks that they’re not being forced to fight to the death as a spectator sport, even if holidays with the family can make it feel that way.
This is just the latest example of Hollywood taking the ax to a golden goose in an effort to double their success rates and extend the film series. And based on the take of other meiotic franchises like Harry Potter and Twilight, it’s highly possible that splitting Mockingjay will result in two golden geese. At least, that’s what Lionsgate is hoping.
Read more:
Where could ‘Mockingjay’ be split into two parts?
Philip Seymour Hoffman will play Plutarch Heavensbee in ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’
‘Hunger Games’ behind-the-scenes extras preview — EXCLUSIVE VIDEO
Where the Harry Potter series started off in a brightly lit world of wonder and whimsy before descending into a world of warfare and washed-out color, The Hunger Games starts off gritty and violent and goes from there. As written, Suzanne Collins’ two sequels — Mockingjay in particular, with its many scenes of all-out combat — don’t shy away from building upon the brutality established in the first book.
Understandably, many fans are wondering whether this could mean that the inevitable movie adaptations might garner an R rating from the MPAA. But according to producer Nina Jacobson, it’s pretty much out of the question that any subsequent films would receive anything harsher than the PG-13 given to The Hunger Games. READ FULL STORY »
