The Hunger Games - New Still and Sequel News

By Uncle Creepy
January 17th, 2012

Even though Lionsgate's The Hunger Games hasn't played on a single screen as of yet, that doesn't mean that the sequel news cannot begin to start flowing. Official confirmation has come in terms of who the writer will be for Book Two in the franchise, Catching Fire.

According to The Wrap, Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) is writing the script for the second film in the budding franchise. Gary Ross, who directed The Hunger Games, will also direct the sequel and is supervising the writing of the script.

Stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson and Liam Hemsworth are expected to return for Catching Fire, which will hit theaters November 22, 2013. The release date was announced while the first film was still shooting.

Speaking of the first film, a new still has hit the interwebs, and you can dig on it below.

The Hunger Games, directed by Gary Ross, stars Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson, Wes Bentley, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Liam Hemsworth, Paula Malcolmson, Willow Shields, Latarsha Rose, Lenny Kravitz, Brooke Bundy, Leven Rambin & Jack Quaid (#1), Alexander Ludwig & Isabelle Fuhrman (#2), Ian Nelson & Kalia Prescott (#3), Ethan Jamieson & Tara Macken (#4), Chris Mark & Jackie Emerson (#5), Ashton Moio & Kara Petersen (#6), Sam Ly & Leigha Hancock (#7), Samuel Tan & Mackenzie Lintz (#8), Imanol Yepez-Frias & Annie Thurman (#9), Jeremy Marinas & Dakota Hood (#10), Amandla Stenberg & Dayo Okeniyi (#11), and Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) & Josh Hutcherson (Peeta) (#12).

Set in post-apocalyptic America, the movie will introduce heroine Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence), a self-sufficient 16-year-old who lives in District 12, one of the poorer districts in the nation of Panem, what used to be known as North America before its utter destruction several years earlier. Katniss becomes a participant in the Hunger Games, an annual televised tournament where one boy and one girl from each of the nation's twelve districts must fight to the death until only one competitor, or "tribute," is left standing.

Be sure to keep your eyes on the official The Hunger Games Facebook page and the official The Hunger Games Twitter feed for updates leading up to the film's March 23, 2012, release date.