Andrew Pulver 

Hunger Games sequel: directors compete to oversee Catching Fire

Water for Elephants director Francis Lawrence tipped to succeed Gary Ross
  
  

Hunger Games
The Hunger Games has so far taken $533.6mworldwide, but who will direct Catching Fire, the next film in the trilogy? Photograph: Murray Close Photograph: Murray Close/PR

Ever since Gary Ross bowed out of Catching Fire, the follow-up to The Hunger Games, competition has been intense to score what is currently Hollywood's hottest directing gig. According to a report in Deadline, producers Lionsgate have narrowed the field to two leading contenders: Moneyball director Bennett Miller, and Water for Elephants' Francis Lawrence.

Ross dropped out citing the pressures of Catching Fire's accelerated schedule – Lionsgate want the film in cinemas by November 2013 – and it looks as if that may be the determining factor again. Miller is looking to complete another film, Foxcatcher, first, so that may rule him out, leaving the field clear for Lawrence, who proved his post-apocalyptic sci-fi blockbuster cred on 2007's I Am Legend.

Other names in the frame, according to Deadline, include Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, who made the acclaimed creepfest The Orphanage and is currently completing The Impossible, set against the backdrop of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Joe Cornish, whose directorial debut Attack the Block was a cult hit in the US, is considered very much an outsider.

The Hunger Games' worldwide box office take currently stands at $533.6m, having grabbed the third-best opening weekend of all time in the US.

 

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