Hunger Games: Catching Fire’s New International Trailer Arrives

By Rudie Obias | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Although the film doesn’t come out for another three months, Lionsgate is ramping up audience awareness for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The Hunger Games sequel film will take the young adult film series in a new direction with a new director in Francis Lawrence and new members of the cast. Returning to Panem is the start of a new beginning for Katniss Everdeen as she’s starting to learn more about the budding rebellion against The Capitol and President Snow. Lionsgate released a new international trailer that promises heavy action and deep satire from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

You can tell that Lionsgate poured more money into the sequel film’s budget because it really looks like Francis Lawrence opened up the world of Panem with a slick futuristic take on the Capitol. Everything in this trailer looks more expensive than anything in the original Hunger Games movie, which is a big knock on the film’s overall quality. The international trailer ends with a taste of the 75th Hunger Games with a new underwater arena.

Lionsgate also released a new image from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which features Katniss Everdeen in combat gear strapped in a chair on a hovercraft on her way to the 75th Hunger Games. Check it out…
Katniss Everdeen
President Snow forces Katniss back into competition to undermine her growing popularity in Panem. This image also showcases one of the many futuristic leanings the sequel film will take, when compared to the original film.

Meanwhile, British rock band Coldplay was announced as being part of the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire too. Coldplay will release the first single from the soundtrack, an original song titled “Atlas.” The single will be available on iTunes and other digital retailers on August 23rd. Although Lionsgate had not announced the complete Catching Fire soundtrack, Coldplay seems like a more mature choice than Taylor Swift’s (featuring The Civil Wars) “Safe & Sound” from “The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond” last year. Nothing says connecting with today’s youth like releasing a single from Coldplay.

Next month is the MTV Video Music Awards, so it feels like Lionsgate will have more promotional materials (most likely a new theatrical trailer) to release during the award’s ceremony. During this year’s MTV Movie Awards, Lionsgate released the first teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, so it seems fitting that they would do the same for the VMAs.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire follows the events after the first Hunger Games film. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) return to District 12 as newly crowned champions of the 74th Hunger Games. The pair’s homecoming is short-lived when they go back on the road for the annual Victory Tour of Panem. While on tour, Katniss learns more about the emerging rebellion against the Capitol and President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Katniss and Peeta later participate in the Third Quarter Quell, or 75th Hunger Games, which is made up of the past winners of the last 25 years.

Francis Lawrence stepped in to direct The Hunger Games: Catching Fire when the previous director, Gary Ross, left the film to pursue other projects. Francis Lawrence will continue on with the series to direct The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and Part 2. The sequel film also features actors Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Jena Malone, Lynn Cohen, Amanda Plummer, Alan Ritchson, Willow Shields, and Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will hit theaters everywhere on November 22nd, in IMAX.