Things are moving quickly for the film adaptations of Suzanne Collins‘ Hunger Games books. In addition to casting for the next film, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Lionsgate also scheduled the release dates for the last two films in the series, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2.
That’s fast, and apparently too fast for Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence to helm those final films. According to Anne Thompson of Indiewire, Lionsgate heads (formerly of Summit Entertainment) Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger are planning to take the same approach as they did with the Twilight series, and with producer Nina Jacobson and Collins herself, hire a new director for the Mockingjay films.
Every Twilight film saw a new director, with Bill Condon helming the two-part finale, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. It seems most likely that one director alone would handle both Mockingjay parts and shoot them together, but Thompson doesn’t leave out the possibility of two when she says they “are currently vetting the right directors.”
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 is due November 21st, 2014 and Part 2 follows on November 20th, 2015.