If you were anywhere near Hall H on Saturday of last year, you probably heard the crowd roaring for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and its all-star cast, including Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson (and if you weren’t or just want to re-live the moment, you can watch our video here).
For a lot of attendees, it was the highlight of their convention. And now, thanks to Variety, we know that the next release in the franchise — The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — will have a presence at 2014’s San Diego Comic-Con.
Variety recently sat down with Tim Palen, the “architect of Lionsgate’s marketing effort” for the films. Although he couldn’t say much about their upcoming plans to promote the newest movie, which is currently filming, he did mention that those plans include SDCC. According to Variety:
There will be reveals of the campaign in May at the Cannes film festival and in July at Comic-Con.
Of course, this doesn’t completely guarantee a panel at the convention. Last year was the successful franchise’s first panel, but their second time attending Comic-Con. After skipping the con in 2011, in 2012 several of the cast members, including Amandla Stenberg (Rue), Willow Shields (Primrose Everdeen), and Alexander Ludwig (Cato) attended a signing at the Lionsgate booth.
Each year, though, as the films have become more successful (Catching Fire just grossed over $418,000,000 domestically, making it the number one movie of 2013), Lionsgate has stepped up its marketing efforts during the convention. In addition to a panel, last year saw an exclusive trailer for the new film and an updated version of 2012’s popular Mockingjay pin handed out at the Lionsgate booth. We wonder, what will 2014 bring?
Given the franchise’s popularity and that Lionsgate is already planning their promotion during the convention, it’s a safe bet for a panel, and probably for another round of must-have swag. The only real questions are if Lawrence will have time in her busy schedule to attend, and just how long fans are going to have to queue for Hall H.
Are you already lining up for this? Are you hoping to grab another Mockingjay pin? Let us know in the comments.