Though the Twilight franchise recently came to a close with the release of Breaking Dawn - Part 2, another wildly popular YA franchise is only just getting started. Production is currently underway in Atlanta on the second installment in the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire, and fans are eager to see what director Francis Lawrence will bring to the adaptation after taking over the director’s chair from Hunger Games helmer Gary Ross. Star Josh Hutcherson recently spoke a bit about how the shoot is going, teasing some impressive set designs and revealing which scenes from the pic will be filmed with IMAX cameras.Hit the jump to see what he had to say, but beware of spoilers for those that haven’t read the book. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens on November 22, 2013.
We’ve known for quite a while that production would be moving from Atlanta to Hawaii to film some of the Catching Fire scenes set in the arena, but Hutcherson revealed in an interview with MTV that they’ve already filmed some arena-set sequences in Georgia:
"They actually built a cornucopia in Atlanta that we shot at, and it looks amazing, and the way that the spokes got out, and the way everyone comes up on the pedestals and the water — it looks incredible. I've seen some of the CG renderings that Francis [Lawrence] has worked on, and they look really, really great."
More interesting, though, is the fact that Lawrence will apparently be filming most of the arena scenes with IMAX cameras:
"They're shooting, I think, all the stuff in the arena is going to be IMAX. So when you go see it in IMAX, you'll see the regular movie when we're in the Districts and in the Capitol. When you see us go up in the pod in the games, it will open up into IMAX. It will be amazing. It's very cool."
These are only minor updates since Catching Fire is still in production, but it should be great to see the tropical arena in glorious IMAX once the film hits theaters. Lawrence has already signed on to direct the final two installments of the series as well, Mockingjay Part 1 and 2, so hopefully he brings the goods with Catching Fire.
Watch the video interview with Hutcherson below.
