Now that The Hunger Games starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth is wrapping up its box office run and setting a few records in the process, Lionsgate must now turn its attention toward the film’s upcoming Blu-ray and DVD release.
The Hunger Games Blu-ray and DVD is likely to shoot right to the top of Amazon.com’s Blu-ray bestsellers list when it goes up for pre-order in the near future. How quickly fans can get their hands on the hot discs isn’t being determined by the usual 3-4 month window between theatrical and home video releases.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Lionsgate is likely to wait a full five months to release The Hunger Games on Blu-ray and DVD. That time frame would put the release date in late August or early September.
The reason for this delay is twofold. First, The Hunger Games stellar box office performance has forced theater owners to keep it around longer than a typical film. It would make little sense to rush the movie to home video so quickly after slowly exiting cinemas.
Francis Lawrence has closed his deal to direct Lionsgate’s “Catching Fire,” two weeks after the studio offered him the gig.
Lionsgate is planning to shoot the movie starting in the fall for a Nov. 22, 2013 release date. “The Hunger Games” director Gary Ross ankled the sequel on April 10, citing a “fixed and tight production schedule” as his key reason for exiting.
Fox is planning to start its “X-Men: First Class” sequel in January with “Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence — no relation to Francis Lawrence — committed to the superhero pic.
Suzanne Collins’ “Catching Fire” story features a special edition of the Hunger Games every quarter-century in which tributes are “reaped” from the victors of past games. Among the key new characters is Finnick, a combatant in the second book who leads a revolt against the Capitol, and the head Gamemaker in the second book who turns out to be working stealthily for the uprising.
“Slumdog Millionaire” screenwriter Simon Beaufoy is crafting the “Fire” script.
“It is truly an honor and a privilege to bring ‘Catching Fire,’ the second chapter of Suzanne’s beloved trilogy, to the big screen,” Lawrence said in a statement. “I fell in love with the characters, the themes and the world she created and this chapter opens all of these elements up in such a thrilling, emotional and surprising way.”
Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones, and Woody Harrelson will return in their roles. The film will be produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force with producer Jon Kilik.
Lionsgate has snapped up the rights to Jeanette Walls’ “Glass Castle: A Memoir” as a vehicle for their “The Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawerence. And it’s some pretty powerful material. The book — which stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for over 250 weeks — tells the true tale of Walls’ childhood, which found her raised by abusive, dysfuctional parents. Her mother Rose Mary was creative, but also eccentric and immature, owning land in Texas worth millions (something they found out later) while they lived in deep poverty. At one point after Jeanette had grown up, Rose Mary choose to be homeless for the “adventure.” Meanwhile, her father Rex had trouble keeping a job, drank and smoked heavily, and had a dream of striking it rich and building the family the titular “glass castle”.
So yes, it’s some very powerful stuff and should be solid stuff with Lawrence in the lead. Marti Noxon (“Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Fright Night”) will pen the script, which bring an interesting voice to this. No word yet on who will direct. But this isn’t the only non-Panem movie Lawrence has on the way. The horror flick “The House At The End Of The Street” and David O. Russell’s “The Silver Linings Playbook” arrive later this year, and she’s currently filming the Depression era drama “Serena” with Susanne Bier.
“The Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence has both a great sense of humor — and a very good sense of self.
A source close to the actress told me Sunday that the Oscar nominee had a sarcastic reaction to some of the critics of her mega-hit movie who basically claimed she was too chubby-looking to convincingly play Katniss Everdeen in the blockbuster, based on Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novel.
“Jennifer told me, ‘This is hilarious. First, people say how so many actresses in Hollywood look anorexic, and now they are criticizing me for looking normal,’ ” the source recalled. The actress reportedly added that overly thin body images “are too often adopted by young girls and women — thanks to what they are constantly being shown as being attractive.”
Another point supposedly made by Lawrence was that nothing was written about her two main co-stars — Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth — who both also play residents of the film’s fictional District 12, where people are constantly facing starving conditions.
There appears to be a resolution to the question of whether 20th Century Fox and Lionsgate will fight over the services of in-demand actress Jennifer Lawrence.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Fox was informing talent agencies Thursday that the studio plans to begin shooting its in-development sequel to X-Men: First Class in January. That means Lionsgate could move forward with an August-September start date for the Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire without a conflict for Lawrence, who is set to star in both.
As THR previously reported, tensions between the studios were running high last month as Fox was considering filming the Matthew Vaughn-directed X-Men follow-up in the fall, potentially conflicting with Lionsgate’s plans for Hunger Games. Fox, which cast Lawrence as the shape-shifting Mystique in summer 2010, months before Lionsgate chose her to play Katniss Everdeen in March 2011, has the right to exercise the option on her contract if it conflicts with another Hunger. That’s true even though Lawrence is part of a large ensemble in X-Men but is the clear star of the Hunger franchise.
Winter's Bone (2010)
Like Crazy (2011)
The Beaver (2011)
X-Men: First Class (2011)
The Hunger Games (2012)
House at the End of the ... (2012)
The Silver Linings Playbook (2012)





