OUT OF THE ARENA

‘Hunger Games’ Director Quits

Switches to a personal project.

Despite the enormous box-office success of The Hunger Games, director Gary Ross won’t be returning to work on the sequel. The Hunger Games has made $263 million at the box office to date. While Ross received a relatively low $3 million salary for the film, his reasons for departing before Catching Fire, the next installment, aren’t over money. According to the blog The Playlist, the director, known for his ever-changing tastes, will instead be directing a project he wrote himself that is reported to be bringing him a bigger paycheck than the first Hunger Games installment. Catching Fire is slated to shoot this fall and open in November 2013.