“Hunger Games” Sequel Set to Begin Filming in Atlanta Soon

Good news “Hunger Games” fans - the much-anticipated sequel to the box office behemoth is scheduled to begin filming in Atlanta this month!

 According to the AJC, an insider source for the project confirmed back in June that filming of some key scenes would begin in the area in July and finish in December. Because the exact location of the set has yet to be confirmed, I’m wondering what sorts of scenes filmmakers will choose to shoot here.

 For those who haven’t read the books, the “Hunger Games” is a trilogy is a set of young adult science fiction novels set in a dystopian future North America. In the novels, teenagers selected in a lottery must take part in an annual event called the Hunger Games, where they are placed in an arena with limited supplies and forced to fight to the death.

 The first film in the franchise, starring relative Hollywood newcomer Jennifer Lawrence and released by Lionsgate, earned $678 million, making it one of the top 50 highest-grossing films worldwide according to Box Office Mojo.

 Of course, with any film franchise, that means new director Francis Lawrence, director of Will Smith’s zombie-vampire thriller “I Am Legend”, has a lot to live up to.

 But the good news is that these books already have a lot going for them - an engaging story, great costume descriptions that can be made into fantastic concepts, and a wide variety of settings and rich landscapes throughout.

 While it has also been confirmed that filming will take place in Hawaii for “Catching Fire” as well (which I suspect will be the location for the tropical arena setting described in the book), I wonder if Atlanta will serve as the metropolitan backdrop of the Capitol, or perhaps some surrounding suburbs or rural areas will double as various industrial or agricultural Districts.

 Either way, it will be a lot of fun keeping our eyes peeled for the cast members as they reside in our neck of the woods for the latter half of the year!

“Catching Fire” is slated for release November 22, 2013.