/Film is reporting that The Hunger Games series will be receiving the same title treatment as the Twilight series. Lionsgate has decided that instead of calling the sequel simply Catching Fire, they will title it The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
From a marketing standpoint, it’s smart. By keeping “The Hunger Games” in the title, moviegoers who haven’t read the novels will still be able to associate the film with the series. It’s the same thing that Summit did for Twilight. They used “The Twilight Saga” in the title of each of the films, and we all know how that worked out.
Regardless of whether they used The Hunger Games in the title or not, the film still would have been a monstrous hit. So really, this isn’t exactly a huge deal. Nevertheless, it’s still nice to see that they’ll be using an effective name recognition strategy.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will be directed by Francis Lawrence and will be released on November 22, 2013.
