We heard last week that Lionsgate had a shortlist of directors that they were pursuing to direct ‘Catching Fire’, the sequel to ‘The Hunger Games’.
The list is rumoured to have seven or eight directors listed with David Cronenberg, Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu allegedly shortlisted.
Today two more names were revealed.
Hit the jump to find out who they are.
Lionsgate hasn’t wasted any time trying to look for a director for the sequel for ‘The Hunger Games’ after Gary Ross announced he wouldn’t return to direct ‘Catching Fire’.
The reason why Lionsgate are moving quickly is because they’re running out of time with shooting on the film planned to begin in August so they can have access to Jennifer Lawrence before she reports to Fox for the ‘X-Men: First Class’ sequel in January 2013.
Lionsgate have drawn up a shortlist of directors they will pursue.
Hit the jump to see who they are.
According to The Playlist Gary Ross will not return to direct the sequel to ‘The Hunger Games’, ‘Catching Fire’.
Hit the jump for details on why Ross will not return.
US Box Office actuals for weekend 23-25 March 2012
With ‘The Hunger Games’ hitting cinemas lots have people have been talking about the origins of the idea for a teen death match with many citing the influences of a cult Japanese film ‘Battle Royale’.
Enough chatter about ‘Battle Royale’ it’s time to check it out for yourself because thanks to Madman Entertainment The Popcorn Junkie has five copies of ‘Battle Royale: the director’s cut’ on DVD to giveaway.
Click here to enter.
| # | Movie title | Studio | Weeks in release | 3 Day Weekend $ | Total $ |
| 1 NEW | The Hunger Games | Lionsgate | NEW | $155 million | $155 million |
| 2 \/ | 21 Jump Street | Sony | 2 | $21 million | $71 million |
| 3 \/ | The Lorax | Universal | 4 | $13 million | $177.3 million |
| 4 \/ | John Carter | Disney/Buena Vista | 3 | $5 million | $62 million |
| 5 - | Act of Valour | Relativity | 5 | $2 million | $65.9 million |
| 6 \/ | Project X | Warner Brothers | 4 | $1.9 million | $51.7 million |
| 7 \/ | A Thousand Words | Paramount | 3 | $1.9 million | $15.4 million |
| 8 NEW | October Baby | SG | NEW | $1.7 million | $1.9 million |
| 9 \/ | Safe House | Universal | 7 | $1.4 million | $122 million |
| 10 \/ | Journey 2 | Warner Brothers | 7 | $1.4 million | $97 million |
‘The Hunger Games’ opened to an estimated $155 million and walked into the history books in the process. ‘The Hunger Games’ now has the third highest opening of all time behind ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two’ ($169 million) and ‘The Dark Knight’ ($158 million).
It’s also the second fastest film to make $100 million and the third fastest film to make $150 million. To cap it all off ‘The Hunger Games’ has become Lionsgate studio’s highest grossing film on its opening alone.
‘The Hunger Games’ had an alleged budget of $80 million plus the addition of marketing costs. $155 million should put the film firmly in the black and no doubt Lionsgate executives will be swimming around in the profits Scrooge McDuck style.
’21 Jump Street’ continued its strong run with $21 million, inching it closer to the $100 million mark and ‘The Lorax’ continued its push to $200 million by adding $13 million to its gross.
We’ll update the results once the offical numbers are reported.
Stats via Box Office Mojo.
“All in all you’re just another brick in the wall” – Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd may be the stoner’s music of choice, but the biting social commentary of their double album ‘The Wall’ released in 1979 said a lot about oppression, isolation and the rebellion. Themes very similar to the plot of ‘The Hunger Games’, and throughout the film it was hard not to shake ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ playing on loop in my brain. It’s a credit to a clever film that manages to combine Orwellian themes with light adolescent drama and stabby teenagers.
‘The Hunger Games’ is less than two weeks away from release and marketing has ramped up.
The YouTube channel for the film is quite impressive and fans will geek-out over the attention to detail and references to the book series on the page. For example, most of the clips being released for the film come from ‘Captiol TV’ that is the oppressive government in the books responsible for The Hunger Games event.
The channel is full of all different goodies and it worth checking out.
Hit the jump to check out a new clip from the film and a teaser trailer that features a bunch of new footage.
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