Thanks to you lovely readers we’ve learned the Gary Ross has not formally withdrawn from the notion of direction the next film in “The Hunger Games” franchise catching fire, and we’ve also learned a lot of good reasons why. Allegedly the director is on vacation with family and hasnt been able to be reached for comment with regard to any of the rumors floating around about him stepping away from the franchise but Deadline brought to light that the director has not officially stepped away from the project and has plenty of good reason not to. The main reason? He really doesn’t have much else going for him right now…
As for the notion that Ross would simply toss away the opportunity to return and direct ‘Catching Fire’because of a salary squabble, the logic seems flawed. The Seabiscuit director knows the benefit of riding in a winner and not switching horses midstream. Ross lobbied hard to get ‘The Hunger Games’ and turned it into the biggest hit of his directing career. Before that, he developed several serious historical dramatic projects under his deal at Universal that didn’t get off the ground. Staying for a sure-fire hit and a sequel that audiences actually want to see makes a lot of sense for Ross, particularly given how active the filmmaker has been in the construction of ‘Catching Fire’.
Ouch, they brought up ‘Seabiscuit’. Yeah, that makes this Hunger Games money-train seem all the more viable. He really doesn’t have many good reasons to step away from his most commercially successful film to date which has surefire interest in a sequel and if he wants to continue to elevate his name in Hollywood circles than it certainly makes $en$e to work on ‘Catching Fire’ no matter what they offer him and save the demands for higher salaries for other projects.
I honestly got pretty excited about the idea of another director stepping in and giving us a new take on the franchise. A fresh pair of eyes and a different approach can really add something to a franchise but as an executive behind the film I can see how it’s hard to argue with the box office results..
Source: Deadline
