The marketing campaign for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire kicked off in earnest yesterday with the first images from the film, revealing the return of Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth as well as our first look at Sam Claflin as fan-favorite character Finnick.  Another batch of images has landed online today, giving us a peek at Philip Seymour Hoffman as new Head Gamesmaker Plutarch Heavensbee (yes, the names are increasingly ridiculous) and the return of Woody Harrelson as Haymitch.  Moreover, director Francis Lawrence has revealed three characters from the book that didn’t make it into the movie.

Hit the jump for the images and info.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens on November 22nd.

In this age of back-to-back-to-back feature film adaptations of books in a series, it’s nearly impossible to keep the same director onboard throughout the franchise’s run.  Director David Yates was up to that Herculean task on the last 4 (or 3, however you count the last book) installments of the Harry Potter franchise, but that meant that he was having to prep the next film while still in production or post-production on the previous film.

The Twilight series has had a different director for each book adaptation, and now it looks like Lionsgate/Summit is planning on taking the same route with The Hunger Games, as they’re currently looking for a director to helm the final book in the series, Mockingjay.  Hit the jump for more.

Producer Nina Jacobson bought the rights to The Hunger Games novel in 2009, just as it was beginning to find a devoted audience. Now, with over 26 million copies of the trilogy in print in the U.S. alone, it has undeniably become a global phenomenon. And when the big screen adaptation hits theaters on March 23^rd, everyone will become familiar with the nation of Panem and its heroes and villains, and it will send the film’s cast into a whole other level of stardom.

At the film’s press day, Nina Jacobson talked about what originally led her to The Hunger Games, the importance of choosing a director like Gary Ross whose instincts come from character, making sure that the tonal bandwidth for the film stayed consistent throughout all of their choices, the greatest challenges of bringing this material to the big screen, deciding how to approach the violence in the story, and how, even though they just focused on making a movie that earned a sequel, she would feel like a failure, as a producer, if she didn’t get all three books ultimately made into films. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Gary Ross (Seabiscuit) is attached to direct a contemporary version of the legend surrounding Cyrano de Bergerac.  Bergerac was a French dramatist in the 17th century best remembered for the works of fiction loosely based on his life, most notably the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand.  In Rostand’s play, Bergerac is a romantic whose large nose prevents him from expressing his love to Roxane, the woman of his dreams.  Instead, he secretly helps a more handsome suitor woo the Roxane.  According to THR, Ross’ take on the material is set in the present day reimagines the story using “today’s vast and complex social media tools.”  I suppose that’s as good as any modern entry point into the classic tale.  The fictional Bergerac would have been a great tweeter.

John Whittington will write the script.  The project is set up at New Regency with Nina Jacobson (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) and Ross’ producing partner Alison Thomas (The Tale of Desperaux) producing.  Prior to this project, Ross and Jacobson will work together on the adaptation of The Hunger Games, scheduled for release March 23, 2012.  Read a full synopsis for Cyrano de Bergerac after the break.

An Education director Lone Scherfig will be following up her best picture nominee with the romantic comedy One Day, and she’s about to snag Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess as the film’s two main stars. In a conversation with Comingsoon, producer Nina Jacobson spilled the beans. Here’s exactly what she had to say:

“That is supposed to go this summer in London with Lone Scherfig directing and Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess,” she said, adding that the deals aren’t closed but that the two stars are both attached. “Their deals are being negotiated right now.”

The movie itself will be about Dexter and Emma, two friends who meet during their graduation in 1988 and reunite for one day every year for the next 20. I’m usually not much for rom-coms, but if this one has even an ounce of the charm of An Education, I’m in. And just in case you need any further proof this could be really good, it’s based on the novel by David Nicholls, who wrote both the book and screenplay for the rather criminally underrated Starter for Ten, starring James McAvoy and Rebecca Hall.