Lionsgate Entertainment announced today, via publication Entertainment Weekly, that the first installment of their successful "The Hunger Games" franchise will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download starting 12:01am on August 18, 2012.
Pre-orders for "The Hunger Games" on DVD and Blu-ray will begin this Friday, May 25, as part of the feature's 12-week countdown to the release of the film on home video. Entertainment Weekly took part of the beginning of the promotion, where they released the first DVD and Blu-ray trailer for the movie, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, and Liam Hemsworth.
EW stated that the two-disc DVD and Blu-ray sets of "The Hunger Games," based on the best-selling trilogy by author Suzanne Collins, "will include over three hours of unreleased material, with features that provide insight into how the film was made, interviews with the cast and crew, and details about some of the story lines that differed from the book -- like President Snow's character (Donald Sutherland) and the role of the game maker (Wes Bentley)."
Also included in the box sets will be an eight-part documentary, called "The World is Watching: Making of The Hunger Games," which features an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie, directed by Gary Ross. One of the extras and deleted scenes will contain the full-length "Propaganda Film" shown during the Reaping in the dystopian-genre movie.
"The motion picture event of the year is poised to become the home entertainment event of the year, and with a midnight launch and midnight retail events scheduled at stores around the country, we expect to replicate the same level of consumer excitement generated by the film's theatrical debut," Ron Schwartz, Lionsgate Executive Vice President & General Manager, Home Entertainment, told Entertainment Weekly this week.
The second installment of "The Hunger Games," series, titled "Catching Fire," will begin production this summer, Lionsgate confirmed. The full cast - those who survived in the first installment - is confirmed to return in their roles, including Lawrence's lead role as Katniss Everdeen. "Catching Fire" will be directed by Francis Lawrence, as Ross left the project in early 2012, noted EW, and will hit theatres in November 2013.
