With the news that director Francis Lawrence has been offered the job to direct Catching Fire, Movies.com asked the Hunger Games fansites to weigh in with their thoughts.

We have a director! (Well, unless he turns down the offer, which is highly unlikely.) After all the talk of Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, Joe Cornish, David Cronenberg and more, Lionsgate has landed on Francis Lawrence to helm the Hunger Gamessequel, Catching Fire. According to THR, it came down to Lawrence andMoneyball’s Bennett Miller, but ultimately the offer was sent to the I Am Legend andWater for Elephants director.

The article notes that many suspected Lawrence to be the top choice simply because he was the one with the open schedule. Hopefully that wasn’t the only reason he beat out the competition, which apparently also included Tomas Alfredson, Cary Fukunaga and Duncan Jones as well.

It’s tough to judge Lawrence’s ability without looking back at his repertoire and directorial decisions, but based on my fondness for I Am Legend, it seems like a fine choice. Then again, I can’t help but think I would have been more enthusiastic had Cornish, Miller, Alfredson or Jones gotten the gig, though there’s really no point in looking back now.

Lawrence is our man and he’s got some great potential having adapted two novels and a comic book, working with dramatic, romantic and action-packed material. Really, the only pivotal element missing from his resume is a writing credit. What made Ross particularly integrated in the development of The Hunger Games was his involvement as a writer, and that likely had a lot to do with the film’s success. Then again, we could look at it from the opposite standpoint and consider that a detachment from the script, to a point, would leave Lawrence hyper-focused on his directing duties.

Regardless, two Lawrences should be better than one, right? Let’s see what theHunger Games fandom has to say.

Sara of The Hunger Games Examiner
I was really pleased with Gary Ross’s work on The Hunger Games and I was sad to see him go, but I am thrilled with the choice of Francis Lawrence. Here’s a director who understands all of the elements needed to make Catching Fire work, action, special effects, romance, and working with a novel as your source material. Both I Am Legend and Water for Elephants were book adaptations, and in both cases, Lawrence did a great job bringing them to life on the big screen. I’m excited to see what he can do with Catching Fire.

Lindsay of HG Girl on Fire
The first few directors that were thrown into the ring, while high profile, seemed just a bit off for me. Plus, I just couldn’t see some of them accepting the job, like Cronenberg. When Bennett Miller and Francis Lawrence were mentioned, Lawrence jumped out at me. For one, I’m familiar with some of his work. I personally really enjoyed Water for Elephants and thought it was beautifully done. The way it looked was attractive. He did a great job with casting, making some daring choices, and the film dealt with action as well as drama and interpersonal relationships. On top of that, I Am Legend is up the same alley as Hunger Games with its post-apocalyptic-type story. I have no idea how Lawrence will handle the script written by Simon Beaufoy. I’d say that’s the iffy part for me, but I have plenty of confidence in his casting and filming abilities.

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