A Haymitch prequel trilogy? A theater show? Katniss as a guy?!
You think Lionsgate is going to let go of that Hunger Games money?!
Though the final film in The Hunger Games series, Mockingjay — Part 2, is in theaters now, we think the odds are ever in our favor that it won’t be the last we’ll see of Panem, the Games, and the billion dollar movie franchise. We already know there is going to be a theme park -- whether that’s a good idea or not remains TBD -- but here are nine other ways the franchise could live on.
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1. A Complete Reboot: Only five years passed between the release of Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man. Once a few years pass, and with an all-new cast, what’s to stop the studio from remaking Hunger Games? Jennifer Lawrence could play Effie this time. Or make them James Bond-style and tell different Katniss stories starring different actresses until the end of time.
2. More Sequels: We all thought the Pirates of the Caribbean quadrilogy would end after 2011’s On Stranger Tides, yet here we are, with another sequel looming on the horizon. Fast and the Furious has also managed to crank out trilogy after trilogy. We’re not sure what another Hunger Games movie would actually be about, but there were 20 years between the events of Mockingjay and the epilogue.
3. Prequels: The obvious choice is to do a trilogy about Haymitch, how he became the first ever victor from District 12 when he was sixteen, and what led him to become Woody Harrelson’s version of the character. Star Wars is doing a similar thing with a young Han Solo film.
A less obvious -- but equally enticing -- choice? President Snow (Donald Sutherland). Again, Star Wars centered their prequel trilogy around their villain, Anakin Skywalker (who obviously, became Darth Vader).
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4. Shared Universe: The best example of this is what Warner Bros. is doing with the wizarding world of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. But it could also work with anthology films, like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Perhaps one-off installments about various Games throughout history? Or a film about the ride of the 13 Districts, "The Dark Days,” and the first Hunger Games?
5. TV Series: This seems to be the trend these days, with established movie properties getting the small screen adaptation. The Mortal Instruments actually failed as a movie franchise, but is finding new life on ABC Family. As for what the story would be, it could be a reboot where weekly installments let us really dig into the characters, or it could be a spin-off. We would watch a TV show about young Effie Trinket.
6. Short Films: Two years after Breaking Dawn – Part 2 concluded The Twilight Saga, Lionsgate hosted a contest allowing female filmmakers the chance to create short films about various supporting characters from the franchise. Maybe you have a truly compelling origin story for Flavius and Octavia?
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7. Animation: This could go one of two ways: On the big screen, with a Lego Movie-Hunger Games team-up -- like the former is doing with Batman -- or on television, like Guardians of the Galaxy did with their animated series on Disney XD. Though, children murdering each other may not be suited for the Saturday morning cartoon crowd.
8. A Stage Show: Harry Potter makes its theater debut on London's West End next year, with The Cursed Child, a continuation of the same story 19 years later. We’re positive a playwright could flesh out the Mockingjay epilogue and turn it into a more adult production featuring themes of marriage, parenting, and PTSD.
9. Gender Swap It: For Twilight’s 10th anniversary, author Stephenie Meyer rewrote her YA hit, making Bella Swan a boy named Beaufort and Edward Cullen a girl named Edythe. The Hunger Games novel will not turn 10 until 2018, but perhaps Suzanne Collins will tell us the story of Karterness, Peffie, and, well, Gale. That’s already a girl’s name too.
(Disclaimer: We don’t really want to see Katniss as a boy. That is basically every other tween dystopian action franchise out there and honestly, we’re good.)
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