The Hunger Games is two months away from introducing the futuristic dystopia of Panem to movie screens everywhere, but the idea all along has been to adapt all three novels in Suzanne Collins’ crazy-popular young adult novel series. The obvious influence here is Twilight, the franchise that has proven so profitable for Summit Entertainment, which was recently purchased by The Hunger Games studio Lionsgate. As was the case with that vampire-loving series, Lionsgate is hitting the ground running with The Hunger Games, having already set a release date for the first sequel. Now, writer-director Gary Ross and star Jennifer Lawrence are talking about the sequel, Catching Fire.

We learned two weeks ago that Lionsgate had hired Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours screenwriter Simon Beaufoy to write the sequel. He’s currently working under the supervision of Ross, who is in the midst of post-production on The Hunger Games (Ross himself is a four-time Oscar nominee).

Lawrence, who starred in 2010′s The Hunger Games (for her first Oscar nomination) and appeared as Mystique in last year’s X-Men: First Class, plays Katniss Everdeen, the indomitable heroine who volunteers for the titular survival competition in order to save her younger sister. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Lawrence revealed that she beings training for the sequel this summer, saying,

If you haven’t read “The Hunger Games” yet, this interview with Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson about the next few films in the series might contain a SPOILER or two…and that’s your own darn fault for being slow and recalcitrant. Because now that the two stars are happily chatting about the moments they’re most looking forward to filming from books number two and three, we kinda can’t keep pretending that it’s a big mystery whether or not Peeta survives the first book, and whether or not Josh will be returning for “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay.” Because he does, and he is. Okay? Okay. Sorry we’re not sorry. (Don’t worry, there are still plenty of big reveals to come when the full trilogy hits the big screen.)

For our fellow “Hunger Games” fans who obsess over Suzanne Collins’ brilliant books and their upcoming film adaptations as much as we do, there are so many things to love about the story that it’s difficult to pick just one or two (or five) things we’re looking forward to seeing when the movie opens March 23. But two of the most intriguing elements involved in the book-to-movie translation are what the Capitol will look like and how star Jennifer Lawrence will sound singing Rue’s Lullaby.

MTV News was lucky enough to get a few hints about those specific topics during our recent chat with Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, both of whom can’t wait to see the Capitol in the finished film but disagree about their excitement for Lawrence’s singing skills.

“[I'm excited to see] everything in the Capitol,” Lawrence said. “Every time we showed up at a Capitol scene, I was so blown away. Everything was more than you could have even imagined.”

“What was cool about the stuff in the Capitol, so much was practical,” Hutcherson added. “The whole apartment scene was all a set they built that was super, incredibly futuristic and amazing, and to see how that is integrated with the whole green-screen world as well is going to be really, really cool.”

Lawrence was not quite as enthusiastic about hearing her voice in the film, however. When we brought up the subject, she seemed to immediately get nervous about it.

“Oh God, oh God. Yeah, I did [sing],” she said when asked about recording “Rue’s Lullaby.” “I’m a terrible singer.”

IMAX Corporation and Lionsgate today announced that Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games, the first installment of the trilogy based on Suzanne Collins’ bestselling novels, will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive IMAX® format and released in IMAX® digital theatres in North America day-and-date on Friday, March 23, 2012. The film will have a limited one week engagement in IMAX theatres.

Written and directed by Gary Ross and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik, “The Hunger Games: The IMAX Experience” stars Academy-award® nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novels have already developed a massive global following, with more than 23.5 million print copies in the United States alone.

“With this news, the release of ‘The Hunger Games’ has truly become an epic event,” said Lionsgate’s Joe Drake. “‘The Hunger Games’ and IMAX are a match made in heaven – fans love this book because its world is so vividly imagined and seeing the film in IMAX will make them feel as if they have landed right in the middle of the action. It is the ideal way for fans to experience this film for the first time.”