Lionsgate scored by far the biggest theatrical hit in its history with The Hunger Games, as the film has now grossed $391.9 million domestically and continues to attract repeat viewers.  For the last few months, we've been focused on Catching Fire, the adaptation of Suzanne Collins' second novel in the series set for theatrical release in November of next year. 

While fans have been justifiably upset by the absence of director Gary Ross on the sequel, today brings happy news: The Hunger Games will be available on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download this August 18th.

Just like Terry Crews so enthusiastically promised in yesterday's preview of a preview, the full theatrical trailer for The Expendables 2 has made its ostentatious online debut. 

As you'd expect, the sequel to 2010's The Expendables looks like a quiet drama focused on subtle, telling interactions between complex, nuanced characters in a world not of their own making. 

Nowadays, little teases for trailers – ads hyping ads – are increasingly common, but perhaps none has more succinctly encapsulated the appeal of the product its hyping than this new The Expendables 2 trailer tease.  

The only actual bits from the sequel included are a series of explosions which sort of blend together into one bit generic mega-explosion.  Most of the trailer tease, though, is Terry Crews yelling at the audience in a most aggressive manner.  Crews, who reprises his role as the amusingly named Hale Caesar, is wearing a tank top and shouting about the imperative importance of watching The Expendables 2 trailer this Thursday.  Explosions, muscles, shouting, and zero subtext.

Warner Bros continues to power ahead with Winter's Tale, its rather improbable adaptation of Mark Helprin's classic and seemingly unadaptable novel.  Last month, the studio cast Downtown Abbey's Jessica Brown Findlay as female lead Beverly Penn, and we've been left wondering just who would play Peter Lake, the rakish burglar and world-class second story man who falls for her.  Our wondering might just be over, as Variety is reporting that Warner Bros. has offered the role to Colin Farrell.

Pop quiz, hotshot.  You're Lionsgate, the mini-major studio that has scored the biggest hit in its history with The Hunger Games, which has now grosses more than $534 million globally.  With a release date already announced for Catching Fire, the first of what will likely be three sequels, and some scheduling complications, you discover that The Hunger Games director and co-writer has surprisingly opted not to return.  Who do you pick to replace him and make that all-important release date?

Well that was dramatic.  After co-writing and directing The Hunger Games, easily the biggest movie in Lionsgate's history and his career, Gary Ross has decided not to return for the sequel, Catching Fire.  Ross himself, who made the first film a critical hit in addition to a commercial juggernaut, released a statement making it official.  While early reports cited difficult negotiations, the director explicitly denies that this was not the case, and instead says, "I simply don’t have the time I need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make because of the fixed and tight production schedule.'

In two weeks of release, The Hunger Games has now grossed $384.3 million dollars globally, while also earning a pretty ecstatic response from critics, fans of the novel by Suzanne Collins, and general audiences.  So you'd think that co-writer and director Gary Ross would be eager to return to the futuristic dystopia of Panem.  Evidently not, as Ross has opted not to direct the sequel, Catching Fire.

After opening to the third-biggest domestic debut weekend of all time, legitimate pop culture phenomenon The Hunger Games has grossed $368.0 million globally.  It's done so in under two weeks of theatrical release.  So with by far the biggest hit in its history, Lionsgate is naturally keen to continue the series with Catching Fire, the already announced adaptation of Suzanne Collins's novel.  But apparently it's not a guarantee that Gary Ross, who co-wrote and directed The Hunger Games, will be back for another round.

Lionsgate looked to the horizon with The Hunger Games, spending the last year playing to the novel's considerable fanbase, first by ensuring that every part of casting was a big deal, then by consistently reminding everyone that the film was on the way and was gonna be huge.  Today, the adaptation of the first novel in Suzanne Collins's dystopian trilogy opens nationwide, and it looks like The Hunger Games will live up the commercial hype.  According to Lionsgate, the film earned an estimated $19.7 million at midnight screenings already.

On the eve of its release, The Hunger Games is enjoying the kind of critical reception that most movies can only dream of and is preparing for an opening weekend that distributor Lionsgate and pretty much everyone else in the nation are expecting to be massive.  Anticipation amongst fans of the novel by Suzanne Collins and the moviegoing public at large is at a fever pitch.  The Hunger Games is everywhere at the moment.

Set in the futuristic dystopia of Panem and focusing on an annual twenty-four person death match between young people is televised for entertainment and as a reminder of governmental power, The Hunger Games could have easily become just the kind of slick entertainment that it subtextually criticizes.  Instead, it's a smart, thrilling science fiction film with smartly drawn characters and a subtle, knowing depiction of a world out of whack.

That The Hunger Games turned out as such can be largely attributed to director Gary Ross, and his effective choices are reflected by his unexpected cast, from lead Jennifer Lawrence through supporting players Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, and Wes Bentley.  At the Los Angeles press junket for the film, IAR was lucky enough to sit in on roundtable interviews with Ross, as well as Banks, Kravitz, and Bentley.  All four were eager to discuss the source material, the film's development, outlandish makeup, their leading lady, and preparation for the first sequel, Catching Fire.