Studio Readies Next ‘Hunger Games’

The people are starved for more adaptations of the popular young-adult series of Hunger Games novels, but Lionsgate faces a few challenges in cashing in. The studio has three more installments based on the books planned, and the second film, Catching Fire, will be directed by I Am Legend’s Francis Lawrence, after Gary Ross backed out. The Hunger Games has done so well, however, that such blips may not matter much to Lionsgate, with some industry insiders going so far as to say that the franchise may be enough to boost the studio into the Hollywood big leagues, to the level of the six most-powerful studios in Tinseltown.