“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” is taking advantage of the IMAX big-screen format in one of the upcoming film’s most important moments: Katniss’ entrance into the massive arena where the Quarter Quell — the 75th Hunger Games — is held.
“We decided to use the IMAX thematically for the arena,” director Francis Lawrence says in a new “IMAX Behind the Frame” featurette. “We decided, ‘You know what? We’re going to stay scope all the way up to the moment she goes into the arena.’ And then as she’s going up that elevator, that screen will open up.”
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Jennifer Lawrence, who plays Katniss in the Nov. 22 Lionsgate release, could not be more thrilled by the directorial choice.
“That is such an incredible moment to choose to go into IMAX,” Lawrence says in the video. “Because she’s kind of seeing this new world.”
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The sequel to the 2012 blockbuster, adapted from Suzanne Collins’ young adult novel series, follows Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) embarking upon a Hunger Games victor tour as talk of revolution spreads across the 12 districts of Panem. Meanwhile, President Snow (Donald Sutherland) plots to destroy everything Katniss stands for, as the young woman prepares for the biggest fight of her life inside the Quarter Quell, where she’ll fight previous Hunger Games winners to the death.
Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci and Woody Harrelson reprise their roles, while Jena Malone, Sam Claflin, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jeffrey Wright join the franchise for the first time.