Giant Freakin Robot

The first film in the proposed series based on the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins was every bit the smash fans (and Lionsgate) hoped it would be. It’s grossed more than $500 million so far, so it’s no surprise Lionsgate is chomping at the bit to start production on the sequel. Jennifer Lawrence’s shooting schedule for the X-Men: First Class sequel and the tentative Catching Fire release date of November 2013 make the time for doing so pretty tight, though. Last week, The Hunger Games writer/director Gary Ross announced that this condensed production period wouldn’t allow him to “write and prep the movie [he] would have wanted to make” and dropped out of the project. Now, it looks like Francis Lawrence will be stepping in to fill the void.

According to The Wrap, Lionsgate is getting ready to offer Lawrence the position of director for Catching Fire.  Francis Lawrence’s credits are something of a mixed bag, including directing gigs on Constantine, Water for Elephants, and Will Smith’s I Am Legend.  However, he has also served as executive producer on this season’s Touch and the short-lived, sadly overlooked series Kings (2009) and directed the pilots of both shows.  Lawrence is currently working on a drama pilot for ABC called Gotham, which seems to essentially be Grimm with a female cop.

The Hunger Games was originally written for teens, but apparently it’s also really big with parents. Hopefully those parents aren’t also teens. Probably not. We know it’s big with parents because they’re naming their kids after Hunger Games characters.

Nameberry reports that while in the past Twilight was the biggest modern cultural influence on what parents might name their kids The Hunger Games has taken its place. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean everyone’s naming their daughter Katniss. While the names Katniss, Primrose, Posy, and Clove have seen a big jump in popularity one of the biggest names of 2012 is going to end up being Rue.

Rue is the brave little girl Katniss protects while playing the Hunger Games. She’s murdered by another, particularly vicious player, and her district responds by revolting against the government in her honor. Now she’s being honored in the real world too, as Rue is now suddenly one of the hottest baby names of the moment.

The Hunger Games is a huge box office success, so you’d think that Lionsgate might want him back to direct the sequel. Maybe they do, but he doesn’t want to be involved. Gary Ross announced today that he’s out of the Hunger Games business and moving on to something else.

Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. I really liked The Hunger Games as a movie but it wasn’t really because of anything Ross did as a director. At best his direction was capable. He didn’t mess it up, but it’s not like he really lifted the story beyond its source material either. Gary Ross is no Peter Jackson. Actually what they really need is Alfonso Cuaron.

Whenever something gets popular, people who had nothing to do with it attempt to cash in on its popularity to suit their own ends. The Hunger Games is well on its way to becoming one of the biggest movies of all time, so of course special interest groups have decided to use author Suzanne Collins’ franchise as a way to make a high-profile stand. One of the ways they’re doing that is by trying to get the book banned.

It’s amazing to think that there are still people out there who think book banning of any kind is an acceptable practice. It sounds like a leftover relic from some long, bygone era. Shouldn’t we be more evolved than this? Hasn’t everyone read Fahrenheit 451? Apparently not.

Complaints leading to the banning are of a wide variety, and what’s being targeted as the problem with Suzanne Collins’ books will probably vary depending on which special interest group you’re talking to.