‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2’ Will Be Released in IMAX 3D
For the past two years, ‘The Hunger Games’ movies have topped the yearly box-office charts, beating two Marvel movies (‘Iron Man 3’ and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’) without the help of 3D ticket sales. Well, today Lionsgate announced that ‘Mockingjay, Part 2’ will be released in IMAX and 3D, which should put it squarely in the running with ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ and ‘Avengers 2’ as the biggest movie of 2015.
‘Mockingjay, Part 2’ will be digitally remastered into the IMAX format and released in IMAX 3D theaters on November 20. Says director Frances Lawrence:
I’m thrilled Mockingjay – Part 2 will be in IMAX theaters. Fans will now have the chance to see the film in any format they want, which is exciting; we recently saw the 3-D version of Mockingjay – Part 1 before its release in China, and the new level of immersion was really fantastic.
‘Mockingay, Part 2’ will be the first ‘Hunger Games’ movie to use IMAX since ‘Catching Fire’, which was partially shot using IMAX cameras. That film, however, only used the IMAX format for 50 minutes of the battle sequence, as the image dramatically expanded to fill their entire screen.
It didn't really make much sense for ‘Mockingjay, Part 1’ to be in IMAX or 3D because there was little going on action wise. Lawrence said in 2013, “We are shooting the third one digitally because there are more claustrophobic, underground scenes that won't be suited for IMAX.”
‘Mockingay, Part 2’ will instead be converted to the IMAX 3D format for what should be an exciting and action-packed conclusion to the ‘Hunger Games’ series. ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Avengers 2’ will also be in IMAX 3D this year, making it an interesting run for the biggest movie of the year.
With the nation of Panem in a full scale war, Katniss confronts President Snow (Donald Sutherland) in the final showdown. Teamed with a group of her closest friends – including Gale (Liam Hemsworth), Finnick (Sam Claflin), and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) – Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to stage an assassination attempt on President Snow who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her. The mortal traps, enemies, and moral choices that await Katniss will challenge her more than any arena she faced in The Hunger Games.