The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Will Start Shooting This Fall
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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is set for release this November, but meanwhile the production and creative team are hard at work on its sequel, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. While both Part 1 and 2 will be made at the same time, the production for the first half of the final installment of the extremely popular The Hunger Games series will start shooting this September in a new shooting location.
SPOILERS FOR CATCHING FIRE AND MOCKINGJAY AHEAD!
Production Weekly recently Tweeted that The Hunger Games: Mockingjay will start principal photography on September 16th in Atlanta, Georgia and Boston, Massachusetts. The previous Hunger Games movies also began production in September, but shot in North Carolina (while parts of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire shot in Hawaii for the Third Quarter Quell). It’s believed that Atlanta and Boston were chosen to portray the mysterious District 13, which is the home district of the emerging rebellion against the Capitol and President Snow.
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 1 is scheduled to begin production September 16th with locations in Atlanta and Boston.
— Production Weekly (@prodweek) April 7, 2013
Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Danny Strong was recently tapped to pen both parts of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. His previous works include Recount and Game Change for HBO. (Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans will also remember him as would-be über nerd Jonathan Levinson.) Lionsgate hired Strong because of his talent for mixing compelling, politically driven drama — The Hunger Games: Mockingjay is more focused on such matters than its predecessors — with strong character moments. Director Francis Lawrence will continue to helm The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2 for Lionsgate, so the transition from Catching Fire to Mockingjay should be seamless.
After being disqualified in the Third Quarter Quell, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) agrees to be the face of the newly materialized revolution against the Capitol. Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) rises to a leadership role, while Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) continues to be a victim of President Snow’s (Donald Sutherland) brainwashing. Although it’s unclear where the movies will be split, it is believed that Part 1 will end before the revolutionaries invade the Capitol.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will hit theaters on November 22nd. Mockingjay – Part 1 will open on November 21, 2014, and Part 2 on November 20, 2015. All three films will be presented in IMAX.
