Sorry, Francis Lawrence, but it looks like you won't be helming the last two "Hunger Games" films. The folks over at Summit are reportedly pushing the movies through production so quickly that he won't be able start pre-production on the first "Mockingjay" movie because he'll still be working on "Catching Fire."
It sounds like "The Hunger Games" series is going the same route as the "Harry Potter" series and "The Twilight Saga" before it by having a different director film each installment. Thompson on Hollywood is reporting that Summit's Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger, producer Nina Jacobson and author Suzanne Collins are looking to find the right person to helm each "Mockingjay" film.
From the sounds of it, each movie will have its own director and they won't be shot back-to-back. The plan is to release the next two movies on November 2014 and 2015, pumping them out much quicker than the first two "Hunger Games" movies were. But it worked for the studio for "Twilight," so why not try the same magic twice.
It's also a good way to make sure that the big-name talent "The Hunger Games" series is courting will be able to sign on for the series. People like Amanda Plummer and Philip Seymour Hoffman have taken roles that will last for the next three movies (including "Catching Fire"), and they likely won't want to be hung up on the same series for half a decade. The faster the "Mockingjay" films are made, seemingly the better for everyone involved, but hopefully the quality of the last two movies won't suffer for it.
Who would you want to direct the "Mockingjay" films? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!