With that, Lionsgate’s problem of a director for the Hunger Games sequel is seemingly gone.
Little over two weeks ago, Gary Ross pulled a power move and took off from directing duties for The Hunger Game sequel, Catching Fire. The Internet erupted with rage over his departure and then started putting up their wish list for who should direct the sequel. Of course the usual names that will never happen, like Matthew Vaughn, Steven Spielberg, oh hell, lets throw Chris Nolan in there cause he’s not busy doing anything right now.
Well, Lionsgate was a bit more realistic with choices like Alfonso Cuarón, David Cronenberg, and Alejandro González Iñárritu, Tomas Alfedson, Cary Fukunaga, and Duncan Jones. All great choices in their own right. But, Lionsgate feels that Constantine and I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence is the best choice to continue the wacky misadventure of Katniss Everdeen and her band of buddies in the future dystopia where everyone is dressed like they came out of a Boy George video. Lawrence is set to finalize his deal soon, and will begin production by summer so that star Jennifer Lawrence can get filming out of the way so that she can go to work on X-Men First Class 2. Lionsgate also set a release date of November 2013, so.. do the math.
As a guy who legit like’s Lawrence’s work, even like the style he brought to the disappointing I Am Legend, I think he’s a great choice. Lawrence is one of those guys who kinda needed a box office boost to really get some bigger projects going that I think he has in him. Plus, with the Hunger Games world already set up, there’s not a hell of a lot of design work to be done. He’s more or less at the helm of a ship that’s already set sail.
