The sound of cash registers across Hollywood will ka-ching in chorus today as Lionsgate announces that The Hunger Games: Mockingbird, the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy, will be split into two films.
Following the successful pattern of milking a cash-cow for all its worth set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, the studio knows when they are onto a good thing and will stretch it out accordingly. That said, Mockingjay is a good 200 pages shorter than J.K. Rowling’s final Potter chapter, making this a more obvious grab for the tween dollar.
Francis Lawrence has been confirmed to direct the second chapter, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, but there is no word on who will direct the final two parts. It is set for a 22 November 2013 release, and will star Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones and Woody Harrelson with the addition of Jena Malone and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
