Michael Arndt, who won an Oscar for his script for Little Miss Sunshine and wrote Toy Story 3, is in negotiations with Lionsgate to do some rewrites on the script for the sequel to The Hunger Games, titled Catching Fire, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Arndt will be working from a draft originally written by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) which would adapt the second novel in Suzanne Collins'Hunger Games trilogy.
The site is also reporting that Francis Lawrence has officially signed on as director for the movie, after we reported earlier that negotiations were nearly complete. Production on Catching Fire is set to begin this summer in order to give Jennifer Lawrence enough time to reprise her role as Katniss and as Mystique in the X-Men: First Class sequel that will begin filming early next year.
[via The Hollywood Reporter]
