LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company, today announced the close of principal photography on the highly anticipated film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ runaway bestselling novel The Hunger Games. Lionsgate will release THE HUNGER GAMES on March 23, 2012. The film is the first in a series that Lionsgate is making based on the book trilogy that has become a worldwide phenomenon.
Filmed entirely in North Carolina, the locations spanned from a dense forest in which the arena that hosts the games themselves was created to a town that stood in for Katniss’ home, District 12, to a sound stage that was the platform for the fantastical sights and sounds of The Capitol, the futuristic capital city of the nation of Panem. Principal photography on the 84 day production began on May 23rd.
The film pairs Oscar® nominee Jennifer Lawrence (WINTER’S BONE, X-MEN FIRST CLASS) with Josh Hutcherson (THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT) and Liam Hemsworth (THE LAST SONG) in the key young adult roles. Rounding out the cast is a who’s who of acclaimed adult actors: Oscar® nominee Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Oscar® nominee Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley and Toby Jones.