Lionsgate has released the first trailer for director Francis Lawrence‘s (Water for Elephants) sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  The darkness and melancholy of the first film has only intensified, but this trailer only tells half the story.  We’re shown the victors’ tour, and how President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is trying to tear down the hope-inspiring image of Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) before killing her.  Only at the end of the trailer, do we hear about the second part of the story, which is the “Quarter Quell”, a special Hunger Games where past winners will be forced to fight to the death.  I assume they left this out because it’s the more effects-heavy part of the story, and that footage is moving through post-production.

The film also stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens on November 22nd in IMAX and traditional theaters.

Though the first trailer for the highly anticipated sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is set to debut later tonight, Lionsgate has unveiled a couple of new images from the Francis Lawrence-directed adaptation to tide fans over these next few hours.  These new images give us a look at a few returning characters like Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss, Elizabeth Banks’ Effie, and Donald Sutherland’s President Snow, but we also get a new look at Philip Seymour Hoffman as new Head Gamesmaker Plutarch Heavensbee (the names don’t exactly get better as the series moves along).

Hit the jump to take a look at the new images, and check back here on Collider later tonight to watch the first trailer.  The film also stars Josh Hutcherson, Sam Claflin, Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright and Amanda Plummer, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens on November 22nd in IMAX and traditional theaters.

The first trailer for director Francis Lawrence’s (I Am Legend) highly anticipated sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is set to debut during the MTV Movie Awards later this month, and now a promo for the event has been released online that gives us our first look at footage from the film.  The video teases a look at the “Victory Tour” that Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss and Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta embark on at the beginning of Catching Fire as part of their duties as Hunger Games victors.  Liam Hemsworth will introduce the two-and-a-half minutes of footage during the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, April 14th at 9pm ET/PT, so check back here on Collider at that time to watch the full trailer.

Hit the jump to watch the promo.  The film also stars Sam Claflin, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, and Amanda Plummer.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens on November 22nd in IMAX and traditional theaters.

MoAr The Hunger Games: Catching Fire posters!  Today’s installment includes Donald Sutherland as President Snow and Sam Claflin (Snow White and the Huntsman) as Finnick Odair.  Here’s a look at the posters released so far:

• Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen here
• Josh Hutcherson as Peeta and Liam Hemsworth as Gale here
• Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket and Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman here
• Jeffrey Wright as Beetee and Jena Malone as Johanna here
• Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy and Lenny Kravitz as Cinna here

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens November 22nd.  Hit the jump to check out the new posters.

New photos have emerged from the sets of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Angriest Man in Brooklyn.  The set photos from Catching Fire show off Donald Sutherland as the nefarious President Snow.  I would like to think that Snow plays a larger role in the new film, but I doubt it since Sutherland is never in a movie for more than ten minutes total (go ahead and look back at his work from the last decade; it’s always a small but significant role).  As for Angriest Man, the film centers on a stand-in doctor who mistakenly tells an obnoxious patient that he has an hour-and-a-half left to live.  While the patient goes on a tirade in New York City, attempting to right all the wrongs in his life, the doctor tries in vain to track him down.  The film stars Mila Kunis, Robin Williams, and Peter Dinklage.

Hit the jump to check out the set photos.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is due out November 22, 2013.

Rejoice, The Hunger Games fans!  Production has officially started on the Francis Lawrence-directed follow-up, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  According to their press release, the film “will shoot primarily in existing locations in and near Atlanta, Georgia.  The film will subsequently be shot on location in the beaches and jungles of Hawaii before wrapping in late December, 2012.”  Perhaps more importantly, the director has recorded a video message for fans, announcing a worldwide sweepstakes that will win some lucky fans a chance to visit the set and participate in a cast and crew Q&A!

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire stars Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, in addition to Sam Claflin, Jeffrey Wright, Tony Shalhoub, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer, Lynn Cohen, Bruno Gunn, Alan Ritchson, E. Roger Mitchell, Meta Golding, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland and Woody Harrelson.  Hit the jump for the video from Francis Lawrence and details on the fan set visit contest. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opens November 22, 2013.

Recently, Robert Pattinson (Twilight) put rumors to rest and confirmed he would not be jumping franchises to join The Hunger Games sequel, Catching Fire.  The role in question was that of Finnick Odair, a fellow contestant in the games of the second book from Suzanne Collins’ bestselling trilogy.  It’s now looking like the frontrunners for the role may be Taylor Kitsch (Battleship), Garrett Hedlund (TRON: Legacy) and Armie Hammer (Mirror Mirror).  While the casting might seem a bit premature at the moment, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is on a bit of a short schedule owing to star Jennifer Lawrence’s prior commitments and a screen debut of November 22nd, 2013.  Presumably returning for the sequel to Lionsgate’s newest moneymaker are Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz and Donald Sutherland with director Francis Lawrence.  Hit the jump for more on the casting of Catching Fire.

In a somewhat unsurprising move, Summit Entertainment announced today that the Hunger Games follow-up has now officially been titled The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  The pic is based on author Suzanne Collins’ second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire.  Brand recognition is everything when it comes to tentpoles, and audiences are consistently treated as though they’re unable to put two-and-two together when the exact same cast returns in a new movie with a different title.  Nevertheless, Summit added The Twilight Saga moniker to all the Twilight films, so the move was almost inevitable.  Hit the jump for more.

Lionsgate may have finally settled on a director for the sequel Catching Fire, but The Hunger Games is still busy doing gangbusters at the box office.  It was the number one film for the fourth weekend in a row (the first movie to do that since Avatar and The Dark Knight), and now fans will get another opportunity to see Gary Ross’ adaptation on the big, big screen.  Starting April 27th, the film will open again for a one-week limited run in select IMAX theaters.  Only about 100 IMAX theaters are participating in the engagement, but if your town is one of the lucky ones and you missed the film in the large-screen format the first time around, now’s your chance to catch it before the pic out of theaters.  Moreover, Lionsgate has released a new poster specifically designed to mark the occasion.  Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group Co-Chair Rob Friedman had this to say about the re-release:

“It’s wonderful that so many fans have expressed interest in seeing The Hunger Games in the immersive IMAX format, and many of these are repeat viewers. We’re delighted that IMAX has been able to accommodate them through this special one week re-engagement.”

Hopefully those checking out the IMAX version of The Hunger Games are going to actual IMAX theaters instead of reformatted regular theaters (it really does make a difference).  Hit the jump to check out the poster.

In The Hunger Games, adapted for the big screen from the best-selling novel by Suzanne Collins, actor Donald Sutherland plays Coriolanus Snow, the president of Panem who rules over the twelve districts with his own brand of brutality. He is the architect of the nation’s oppressive rule and the man who senses the danger in 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) becoming a heroic underdog in the Games.

At the film’s press day, Donald Sutherland talked about what he looks for in roles now, the parallels he sees between this film and Occupy Wall Street, how he views President Snow, what he thinks of Jennifer Lawrence as an actress, and how he plans to do a father-son cowboy film with his son, Kiefer Sutherland. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

A slew of new images from the highly anticipated adaptation of The Hunger Games have gone online. I’ve been extremely pleased with all the trailers thus far, and I can’t wait to see how director Gary Ross takes on the material. I think he’s assembled a terrific cast and the book should make for quite an entertaining moviegoing experience. For the uninitiated, The Hunger Games takes place in the post-apocalyptic country of Panem. As a means of reminding Panem’s 12 districts that the country’s government holds all the power, one teenage boy and one teenage girl are randomly selected from each district to participate in a televised fight to the death called “The Hunger Games.” If you’re wary of spoilers, these new images only seem to be from the first half of the movie. Most of them are from the scenes that take place in the Capitol (complete with the kooky-lookin’ futuristic costumes and Josh Hutcherson‘s Peeta practicing his camouflage), with a few looks at Katniss’s life in District 12.

Hit the jump to check out the images. The film also stars Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, and Donald Sutherland. The Hunger Games opens on March 23rd. [Update: We've added three more images after the jump.]

New images from The Hunger Games and Byzantium have gone online along with a new set photo from Riddick.  The image from The Hunger Games gives us another look at Donald Sutherland as the villainous President Snow.  Reading the books, I thought Sutherland was a fine choice because A) he can convey the heartlessness of the character; and B) the role will probably keep to the unofficial rule that after the year 2000, Donald Sutherland can’t be in a movie for longer than 15 minutes.

Hit the jump to check out the image along with more on Byzantium and Riddick.  The Hunger Games is due out on March 23rd; no release date has been announce for Byzantium and Riddick.

I hope you’ve got your tickets for The Hunger Games because they’re disappearing quickly. Making the tickets available a month in advance seems like a great move on the part of Lionsgate, considering The Hunger Games pre-sale just beat the previous Fandango record holder for the first day of sales, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The buzz around the project is really starting to rev up and we’ve got some new TV spots and images to show you after the jump.

The Hunger Games, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth and directed by Gary Ross opens March 23rd. Hit the jump to check out the new looks.

Calling all Hunger Games fans: we’ve got a good deal of Panem-related material to wade through today. A batch of new images and an IMAX banner from the film have been released, and Lionsgate announced that advanced tickets for the film go on sale tomorrow. Additionally, the studio is planning a national mall tour to give fans a chance to meet the actors from the film at their local shopping mecca. Director Gary Ross, stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and more will be popping up at malls across the country to participate in fan Q&A’s. I’m not exactly sure The Hunger Games needs a mall tour in order to drum up awareness (it feels very 80s pop star), but I guess it gives superfans a chance to interact with the cast.

Hit the jump to check out the images and banner, as well as the full list of participating mall tour cities which includes information on which actors will be at which events. The Hunger Games opens March 23rd.

As The Dark Knight Rises revved up their viral campaign earlier this week , it overshadowed other movies in the midst of their own marketing. The Dark Knight Rises’ “Operation Early Bird” granted early access to the prologue for people close to specified IMAX theaters and a new trailer is expected to drop on Monday. However, there are other properties that are vying for your attention and your dollars, such as Men in Black 3, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Darkest Hour and The Hunger Games. Hit the jump for an update on each of these unique campaigns.