Since over a year ago, there have been rumors that Lionsgate was looking to split the final chapter of The Hunger Games series, the third book titled Mockingjay, into two films, much like their sister company Summit did with Twilight: Breaking Dawn and Warner Bros. did with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now the split seems official as Deadline now has release dates for the two-part finale. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I will hit on November 21st, 2014, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II will arrive a year later on November 20th, 2015. My thoughts on the split below.
A whole year between the finale seems pretty brutal, but that's exactly what Twilight fans have had to deal with between the Breaking Dawn films. I would prefer a six month wait between them like The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, but I think there's a bigger problem here. Honestly, Mockingjay is not a book that needs to be split into two films. Without spoiling anything, it has some slow parts that actually make it rather dull in comparison to Catching Fire, and that's actually the sequel that would benefit more from being split into two films. Of course, the story in the final book does have an easy split point with a huge cliffhanger that would put audiences who haven't read the book into a frenzy.
Either way, the studio as clearly made its decision, and Mockingjay is coming in two parts whether we like it or not. In the meantime, audiences can get excited for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the second installment which brings back original cast members like Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Donald Sutherland and Lenny Kravitz. In addition, they have all been joined by new cast members Jena Malone as Johanna Mason and Philip Seymour Hoffman as new gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. The sequel arrives November 22nd, 2013.