Giant Freakin Robot

The Hunger Games was one of the top grossing films of 2012. It took in $683.8 million worldwide and the box office predictions for the sequel Catching Fire are even higher. This is good news for its star Jennifer Lawrence, who will play the lead, Katniss Everdeen, in all four of the upcoming films in the franchise. For her work, the Academy Award Nominee will have a pretty considerable pay raise for the film’s sequel.

According to THR, Lawrence is in negotiations with Lionsgate for a $10 million pay raise for the sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. For the first film, The Hunger Games, Lawrence received a $500,000 salary plus bonuses to play the plucky tribute from District 12. Lionsgate would also position Lawrence as the main attraction for the remaining films in the franchise.

The cast of The Hunger Games sequel is quickly taking shape. Last week’s, reports of Jena Malone signing on to Catching Fire to play the cunning Johanna Mason have been confirmed. Now Academy Award Winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman will be joining the cast of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Hoffman will sign on to play the role of Plutarch Heavensbee, who will succeed Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley) as the new Head Gamemaker. According to reports, Lionsgate made a deal before the fourth of July holiday but offered Hoffman the role more than a month ago on June 11th.

As the new head Gamemaker, the character of Plutarch Heavensbee tries to befriend Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), while trying to remain loyal to President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Plutarch Heavensbee plays a bigger role in the overall anti-rebellion aspects of the Catching Fire and Mockingjay (the third installment) storyline.

The Hunger Games is one of the hottest movie franchise at the moment. After coming off of an impressive $661 million box office and the announcement of a new director in Francis Lawrence for the sequel Catching Fire, a new casting rumor has popped up. It is reported by EW that Jena Malone is in the running to play the strong-willed tribute Johanna Mason for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

The character of Johanna Mason has “a wicked ability to murder,” as described in Suzanne Collins’ best selling novel. She hails from District 7 and won her Hunger Games by pretending to be a weaker tribute then methodically picking off the other tributes one by one. She is something fierce and Jena Malone would be a good contrast to Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen. Upon their first meeting, Johanna Mason strips down naked and acts like a stake between Katniss and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Will this scene play out with a PG-13 rating? Well, The Hunger Games featured the brutal killing of children, but when it comes to a little skin action the MPAA is historically far more uptight.

Lionsgate announced the sequel to The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will get the full IMAX treatment this go around. Director Francis Lawrence will be shooting key scenes of the tournament with IMAX cameras, following the box office success of Brad Bird’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

The Hunger Games was one of this year’s surprise hits taking in a $678 million box office worldwide. A sizable amount of that gross came from IMAX screenings, so it would make sense for Lionsgate to insure a larger box office take by actually shooting in IMAX rather than blowing up the image.

We’ve seen in the past many films going the IMAX route rather than the 3D route to gain more of the box office. The fifth installment in the Fast & Furious series, Fast Five and the second film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, The Dark Knight, both received the IMAX treatment and then benefited from the additional movie ticket cost.