Dear Francis Lawrence, here’s who you should cast as Finnick Odair in “The Hunger Games” sequel “Catching Fire”

April 20, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Features 89 Comments

Now that the circus of deciding who will be directing “The Hunger Games” sequel “Catching Fire” is finally over (in case you haven’t heard: “Hunger Games” director Gary Ross is out, and “Water for Elephants” director Francis Lawrence landed the coveted job), we can move on to more fun speculation about who might play some of the fan-favorite characters that begin showing up in the sequel.

We could begin nowhere else but with Finnick Odair, the 24 year old former Hunger Games victor from District 4 who becomes one of Katniss’s most important allies and closest friends. He’s also incredibly charming and attractive, so that helps too. Finnick won the games when he was 14 through his expert use of a trident. With District 4 being by the sea, Finnick is also a great swimmer, with bronzed skin and tousled copper hair, but don’t be mistaken that he’s just a pretty face. Finnick has a dark past and uncertain future, just like every citizen of Panem, and his value to Katniss as they grow closer is indispensable.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of five young actors who have demonstrated all the strength and charm and swagger and heartbreaking sadness that would make them more than suited to join Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth and step into Finnick’s shoes. See our choices below and do leave us your suggestions in the comments!

Watch: Katniss meets Cinna in new clip from “The Hunger Games”

March 6, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 1 Comment

One thing that’s been really great about the marketing for “The Hunger Games”, is that each trailer and clip released thus far have fittingly and wisely focused on the more universal, action/political themes and less on the girly love triangle aspects of the story. We’ve seen Katniss and her archery, and now we get a glimpse at the beginning of one of the most crucial relationships in the saga, between two people who will never make out. Jennifer Lawrence sits in a bare but still futuristic feeling room in a hospital gown, greeted by Lenny Kravitz, who introduces himself as Cinna, who will be designing all of Katniss’s costumes in the pageantry that precede the Hunger Games. Immediately, she realizes there’s something more than just being pretty and fashionable going on.

Kravitz plays Cinna as a bit more serious than the character in the book, though it’s not an unwelcome change, and the chemistry between the two also seems pitch perfect. All in all, it’s an enticing new tease of a movie that seems to be trying to strike a weird balance between wanting to be taken seriously for its serious subject matter, while simultaneously cashing in on some “Twilight” business with tween-friendly mall tours featuring its pretty young cast, merchandising that includes nail polish and more. We’ll see which side it falls on when “The Hunger Games” is released on March 23rd.

Gary Ross directed the film that also stars Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson and more. See the new clip via Yahoo! Movies below.

Watch: Jennifer Lawrence shows off Katniss’ archery skills in first clip from “The Hunger Games”

March 1, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 1 Comment

We are just about three weeks away from the release of the highly anticipated Gary Ross teen bestseller adaptation “The Hunger Games” and today the first scene clip from the film has been unveiled. It features, what else, Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, forcibly impressing a room with her perfect archery skills. Taking place in the training center where all 24 ~~children~~ Tributes get a chance to practice their various survival skills before heading into the arena to fight each other to the death, Katniss is given an opportunity to impress the gamemakers in charge of the event. So she does what she does best but when they totally miss it in all their self-absorbed gluttony, she takes it to another level.

Tipped to be “the next Twilight” and gearing up to make international superstars out of Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, “The Hunger Games” is currently on track to make as much as $100 million on its opening weekend of March 23rd. So maybe Lionsgate weren’t jumping the gun when they set a release date for the sequel, “Catching Fire”, as early as last August. This franchise seems unstoppable at this point, and we are just as eager as the millions of you to see it for ourselves.

Watch the first clip below.

Watch: Tons of new footage of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in second trailer for “The Hunger Games”

February 2, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos Leave a comment

A new trailer has arrived for “The Hunger Games”, the Gary Ross film based on the best-selling teen novels that’s increasingly being marketed as The Next Twilight. Just like in the first trailer, the focus is put squarely on the shoulders of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, the unwitting Games participant who sparks something bigger than anyone realizes when she volunteers to go into the arena to fight other kids to the death in the place of her sister. Thankfully, Lawrence seems more than up to the task in the new footage shown here.

Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Lenny Kravitz, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks and more co-star, but “The Hunger Games” is clearly Lawrence’s show.

It was also announced today that the film will get a limited one week run on IMAX starting on March 23.

Jennifer Lawrence prepares to ignite as the Girl on Fire in new still from “The Hunger Games”

January 19, 2012 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

It’s one of the most striking and talked-about scenes from “The Hunger Games” and today Entertainment Weekly has our first look at Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss garbed and ready to ignite to become the Girl on Fire (that’s Lenny Kravitz as costume designer Cinna’s hand holding that flame to her outfit) during the opening ceremony of the Games. Hey, you want to look good before you’re sent into the jungle to fight 23 other kids to the death.

Director Gary Ross tells EW, “What Cinna was trying to do was create something that came out of District 12, out of a coal mining world, with a fresh, bold look to it. So Judianna went to this wonderful black reflective material that glistened like coal or graphite and would obviously work well in the Tribute parade where Katniss becomes the Girl on Fire.” Fire, of course, has great significance to the world that Katniss inhabits. In an obvious nod to her Girl on Fire persona, “Catching Fire” is the title of the second book and movie, already set for a November 23, 2013, and details the uprising that begins to take hold of the lower class citizens of Panem in the wake of the Games.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) will get their shot at winning “The Hunger Games” when it’s released on March 23, 2012. The full image of the District 12 duo in their Tribute parade costumes can be seen below.

First look: Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and more in trailer for adaptation of “The Hunger Games”

November 14, 2011 | Posted by Rebecca Lewis in Videos 3 Comments

With a release date set for March 23rd 2012, promotional material for Gary Ross’s adaptation of “The Hunger Games” has been slowly trickling out, first with an awesome fiery motion poster and then just last month, the first character posters. The first teaser was underwhelming at best, but now, premiering today on Good Morning America, we have the first full length trailer.

Starring Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, the film, based on the first novel of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling teen trilogy, is set in a post apocalyptic North America where an oppressive Capitol randomly chooses 24 children to enter an arena and battle each other to the death. Katniss volunteers herself to take the place of her little sister (Willow Shields), and inside the arena is in turns pursued and protected by Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), a baker’s son from her neighborhood, as well as 22 other enemies. Surrounded by friends and foes that include Liam Hemsworth as best friend Gale, Woody Harrelson as her drunken mentor, Lenny Kravitz as her costume designer and Elizabeth Banks as her pushy handler, Katniss must use her strength and smarts to ensure she emerges the victor.

Jennifer Lawrence takes aim as Katniss in new “The Hunger Games” still

November 8, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images Leave a comment

I’ve been pretty critical of all the promotional material that has been released by Lionsgate thus far for Gary Ross’s adaptation of “The Hunger Games”, but I must say, this new still of Jennifer Lawrence toting Katniss’s famous bow and arrow left me a bit breathless. She looks great, and it really is a striking thing to see Katniss Everdeen come to life so closely resembling how fans of the books saw her.

The film, based on the first novel of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling teen actioner trilogy, is set in a post apocalyptic North America where an oppressive Capitol randomly chooses 24 children between the ages of 12 – 18 to enter an arena and battle each other to the death until only one victor emerges alive. When Katniss’s little sister Prim (newcomer Willow Shields) is chosen, Katniss volunteers herself to take her place. Inside the arena she is in turns being pursued and protected by Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), a baker’s son from her neighborhood. Inside and outside the arena she’s surrounded by friends and foes that include Liam Hemsworth as her best friend, Woody Harrelson as her drunken mentor, Lenny Kravitz as her costume designer and Elizabeth Banks as her pushy handler.

“The Hunger Games” will be released on March 23, 2012 with its first sequel, “Catching Fire”, already set for a November 23, 2013 release.
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Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and more grace “The Hunger Games” character posters

October 27, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Images 5 Comments

What can we say other than, Holy Photoshop Batman! While “The Hunger Games” remains one of our most highly anticipated upcoming movies, the promotional materials released thus far can justly be described as awful (with the exception of that awesome motion poster). But that first teaser? Underwhelming. And now these characters-in-profile posters that spotlight Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss, Liam Hemsworth’s Gale, Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta and five more strong supporting characters from the film, all airbrushed within an inch of their lives.

Luckily for Lionsgate, the massive success of the Suzanne Collins trilogy of books means the Gary Ross directed film will practically sell itself. And the studio is clearly confident it has the birth of a franchise on its hands, having already set a November 23, 2013 release for the sequel, “Catching Fire.” Let’s just hope the quality of the marketing materials isn’t reflective of the film itself. “The Hunger Games” will be released on March 23, 2012 and you can see all eight character posters below, which also feature Elizabeth Banks as Effie, Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Alexander Ludwig as Cato and Amandla Stenberg as Rue.

First Look: Jennifer Lawrence on the hunt in first “The Hunger Games” teaser

August 28, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in Videos 2 Comments

Jennifer Lawrence fights an unseen foe in the woods in the first brief teaser clip from “The Hunger Games”, unveiled tonight at the MTV Video Music Awards. Liam Hemsworth provides voice-over encouragement as her best friend and hunting partner Gale, reminding her of everything she possesses that she can use to win the titular Hunger Games.

Gary Ross is currently directing the film in North Carolina for a March 23, 2012 release.

“The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Hunger Games” sequels get release dates

August 8, 2011 | Posted by Linda Ge in General News 2 Comments

No, you haven’t missed “The Amazing Spider-Man” or “The Hunger Games” in theaters already. Despite the fact that both movies do not open until 2012, their parent studios – Sony and Lionsgate, respectively – are apparently so confident in their new franchises that both movies are already getting sequels.

“The Hunger Games”, opening on March 23, 2012, tells the story of 16 year old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in post-apocalyptic America and who volunteers herself for the Hunger Games, a nationally televised battle to the death featuring 24 teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18. Will Katniss emerge victorious? Well… she is the main character in a trilogy of books, after all. The first sequel, “Catching Fire”, has been set for release on November 23, 2013. Lawrence and most of her co-stars are set to return, but Gary Ross, currently directing them in “Games” in North Carolina, has not been finalized.

Andrew Garfield will swing into action in origin tale “The Amazing Spider-Man” on July 3, 2012 and then continue the saga of Peter Parker in the sequel, now set for release on May 4, 2014. Director Marc Webb has not been confirmed to return, and while co-star Emma Stone, who plays Peter’s first love Gwen Stacey, is surely contractually obligated to return for sequels, her appearances may hinge on how closely the films follows comics lore. Dare we say it? Let the hunt for Mary Jane Watson begin!

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