‘Hunger Games’ Director Gary Ross Won’t Direct Sequel

Some surprising news from the entertainment world.  The director of the first big blockbuster of 2012 says that he is not on board to do the sequel.

'The Hunger Games' is one of the hottest things going right now.  So far it's dominated the box office for three weeks, making over $300 million.  So since it's the first movie in an epic trilogy, the next logical thing to do would be to make the sequel, right?  Not if everyone isn't on board.

Apparently director Gary Ross and the studio have been battling for weeks over various issues, and long story short, he won't be making 'Catching Fire'.  Some of the reason is that there would be a big time constraint on when they can film because of actress Jennifer Lawrence's (Katniss Everdeen) commitment to making a sequel to 'X-Men: First Class'.

'Catching Fire' is slatted to come out in November 2013- not the longest amount of time to put together, and that time table has Ross pulling out.

[Via LA Times]