Movies
‘Battle Royale’-esque ‘Hunger Games’ Begin March 2012
Lionsgate has chosen a release date for high-profile event picture The Hunger Games: March 23, 2012. Gary Ross is directing the feature adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ bestselling young adult tome. Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy of science fiction novels that have developed a global following. Similar to the classic Japanese political thriller Battle Royale, the pic is set in post-apocalyptic America, Hunger Games introduces 16-year-old heroine Katniss Everdeen, who must participate in a fight-to-the-death annual event called the Hunger Games. The battles are televised, and pit youths from each of the Capitol’s 12 Districts against each other. There are more than 3.3 million copies of Hunger Games in print in the U.S. alone, while foreign rights have been sold in 41 countries, according to publisher Scholastic. Ross (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville) is set to begin shooting the film in late spring or summer, although no cast has been announced, including the coveted role of Kantiss.
In addition to Leigh Whannell’s upcoming Universal Monsters movie Wolf Man, Julia Garner (The Royal Hotel) has also joined the cast of Weapons, THR has announced tonight.
Weapons is the new horror movie from New Line Cinema and director Zach Cregger (Barbarian), with Julia Garner joining the previously announced Josh Brolin (Dune 2).
The upcoming Weapons is from writer/director Zach Cregger, who will also produce alongside his Barbarian producing team: Roy Lee of Vertigo and J.D. Lifshitz and Raphael Margules of BoulderLight Pictures. Vertigo’s Miri Yoon also produces.
The Hollywood Reporter teases, “Plot details for Weapons are being kept holstered but it is described as a multi and inter-related story horror epic that tonally is in the vein of Magnolia, the 1999 actor-crammed showcase from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.”
Cregger was a founding member and writer for the New York comedy troupe “The Whitest Kids U’Know,” which he started while attending The School of Visual Arts. The award-winning group’s self-titled sketch comedy show ran for five seasons on IFC-TV and Fuse. He was also a series regular on Jimmy Fallon’s NBC series “Guys with Kids” and the TBS hit series “Wrecked,” and was featured in a recurring role on the NBC series “About a Boy.”
Weapons will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures.
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