The Hunger Games Movie

Not one to leave well-enough alone, I did some investigation (read: IMDb searched) for info on The Hunger Games movie.  The flick’s slated release date is March 23, 2012 and a trailer can be found here. 

Notable casting includes Woody Harrelson as Haymitch, Elizabeth Banks as Effie, Donald Sutherland as President Snow, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, and (random, but okay) Lenny Cravitz as Cinna.  I heard the chick from the remake of True Grit is playing Katniss, but since I didn’t see that flick, or recognize the name, I got nothing to go on.  As for the rest of the cast, I don’t recognize any other names because they are mainly kids.

IMDb has Gary Ross directing.  Not familiar with the name?  Me either.  His previous directing credits inclue Seabiscut and Pleasantville.  He's also known for writing the screenplays for Lassie and Dave, and has a writting credit on this screenplay along with Collins.  I don't know folks, this doesn't seem like a good idea.... 

Production cred comes from the Director of Photography, Tom Stern, who was involved with Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, and Grand Torino, among a lot of other really great looking films.  Production design is being done by Philip Messina, who was involved with Traffic, Erin Brocovitch, and the Oceans movies.  The visual effects producer is Jacquie Barnbrook, who worked on Spiderman, Contact, and Waterworld.  Not gonna lie, the costumes and art people make me a little nervous (not a lot to recommend them), but the DP's got solid cred, so that's something. 

The real juice though (if this info is true), comes from (and bear with me here), the second unit director, Steven Soderbergh.  Yeah, that's right, the dude who directed Traffic is listed as the second unit director on IMDb for this film.  Acurate or not, I have no clue, but I'd be shocked if that's the case.

IMDb is already showing a filming budget of $75m for this flick, and sequels with tentative release dates (years).

The plot is good, and the bones for a franchise are there, but we'll have to wait and see.