Lionsgate recently confirmed that MockingJay – the upcoming conclusion to its wildly popular franchise – will be split into two films.
The studio is apparently emulating several other wildly popular genre films, such as The Hobbit, Twilight and Harry Potter.
Like Twilight, it seems as if each of the three books will have a different director, as the director of Hunger Games: Catching Fire, will not be available to helm the conclusion.
As you may recall, Francis Lawrence took over the franchise from Gary Ross, who directed the first film, and walked out of negotiations to direct the second, with Lionsgate unwilling to meet his salary demands.
No details have been released, but Lawrence is surely not commanding as much as Ross was expecting to get bumped up to.
Yes, Lawrence directed the sci-fi adaptation I am Legend a few years back, but clearly lacks the resume of Ross.
Now, Lionsgate wants the third and fourth installments of the franchise to film simultaneously, and to start production immediately following the wrap-up for Catching Fire.
If it goes the way they wish, they’ll end up with a film per year, which is fast, but has shown to be good for franchises.
Of ocurse the studio will have to wait for their star, Jennifer Lawrence (no relation to Francis) to finish filming the sequel to X-Men: First Class, which will be kicking off as soon as Catching Fire is done. They will not be waiting for their new director, however. He’s not available to jump back in that quickly, so they’ll be finding someone else for the job. No announcement has been made yet as to who that may be, and Lionsgate probably won’t even start looking until after the second film hits theaters.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire is slated to hit theaters on November 22, 2013, while the two installments of Hunger Games: Mockingjay are planned for November 21st, 2014 and November 20th, 2015, respectively.
