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Posted in: Movies | Tagged: film, gary ross, the hunger games, young adult
The Hunger Games Director References Sequel Departure
The Hunger Games may have started out as a young-adult skewing book series, but over time, it became a worldwide phenomenon and a widely successful film franchise.
Now celebrating the first installment's monumental tenth anniversary, the (almost $700 million) profitable film is becoming a topic of conversation with director Gary Ross. Ross, who eventually stepped away from the franchise after the 2012 release, seemed like an obvious to return choice due to its success – but the sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, would go into production immediately with a release set for 2013. The fan-favorite Catching Fire film was directed by Francis Lawrence, who brought another incredible addition to the cinematic adaptations and surpassed the first film's box office total of $900 million.
In a new conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Ross reflected on his absence from the franchise after his introductory chapter of The Hunger Games, explaining his reasoning for not returning. Ross tells the publication, "I think what people didn't realize is that I had two jobs." He then goes on to add, "I wrote, and I directed, and you do one of those things before you do the other. There was honestly no time to do both well in the three-and-a-half months between movies, so I moved on. I got to make Free State of Jones, which not many people saw, but remains one of my favorite pieces of work, so – all good."
Free State of Jones is an American historical war film starring Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, and Kerri Russell, which was written and directed by Ross, making it an understandably personal project. The film's synopsis describes the title as "a disillusioned Confederate army deserter returns to Mississippi and leads a militia of fellow deserters and women in an uprising against the corrupt local Confederate government."
With The Hunger Games turning 10, which installment is your preferred chapter of the franchise?
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