As fans of The Hunger Games know, the next film in the series, Catching Fire, is currently slated to hit theaters next Thanksgiving, November 22, 2012, which means the movie will start shooting very soon.
The series has a new director, Francis Lawrence, who helmed I Am Legend, but there’s still apparently casting that needs to be finalized.
TG recentlyreported that Phillip Seymor Hoffman has been offered the role of Plutarch Heavensbee, and he’s also playing an L Ron Hubbard style figure in the next Paul Thomas Anderson film, The Master. No word yet whether he’s going to do the role or not, but there were reports on Total Film that Mia Wasikowska from Alice in Wonderland, and Zoe Aggeliki were in the running to play Johanna Mason, a former contestant of the games who returns for the 75th edition of the games.
Now Collider tells us Wasikowska was not actually “in talks” as they say in the biz, but that Jena Malone, who was in Into the Wild, Sucker Punch, and was recently seen in the hit mini-series Hatfileds & McCoys, is also up for the role as well. While casting still has to be finalized, The Wrap listed a number of potential franchises that could be “the next Hunger Games.”
Ender’s Game is included on the list, and the story has such a big following, it should be a great franchise for sure, but I’m not sure if there’s really a Hunger Games connection there. I guess what The Wrap is trying to say is that Seventh Son, The Maze Runner, Maximum Ride, Tiger’s Curse, and Ender’s Game all have the potential to be the next young adult book franchise for the big screen.
With the success of Games, and of course the Harry Potter series, the young adult market looks like a good bet for a lot of studios right now. As Erik Feig, the president of production of Lionsgate, home of Hunger Games, told The Wrap, “Young adult movies with strong protagonists in unique situations worked in Hunger Games, Twilight and Harry Potter, and they worked in E.T. and The Wizard of Oz. That period of life is all about testing yourself, overcoming seemingly impossibly odds, and feeling emotions that feel larger than life. We will always want to see someone we care about in a unique setting play out those struggles.”
For those who can’t wait for Catching Fire, the DVD / Blu-Ray / VOD release date for The Hunger Games is August 18. To paraphrase the movie’s tagline, the entire world won’t be watching, but it’ll be pretty damn close.
