Lionsgate-Summit Marketing Shake-up: Tim Palen Now Head of Lionsgate, Summit & Pantelion Theatrical Marketing

Image courtesy The Hollywood ReporterAccording to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate marketing chief Tim Palen will now oversee all theatrical marketing for Lionsgate, Summit, and Pantelion with the late April departure of studio executive Nancy Kirkpatrick. Tim Palen is the maverick marketing chief responsible for all of The Hunger Games films' marketing campaigns. He even photographs the campaigns himself (read more on Tim Palen and the Catching Fire marketing campaign here):

When Lionsgate bought Summit two years ago, their respective marketing operations were kept separate in order to service Summit's remaining stable of films. Kirkpatrick continued to serve as worldwide president of marketing for Summit, while Palen continued to head up marketing for Lionsgate.

Upon Kirkpatrick's departure, Palen will have oversight of Lionsgate and Summit titles, as well as Pantelion Films. He'll also have expanded merchandising and theme park duties.

Among other Summit properties, Kirkpatrick ran the marketing campaigns for the blockbuster Twilight franchise. More recently, she successfully launched Divergent, the first title in a new Summit franchise.

“Now was the right time to take the next step in integrating the marketing departments of our Lionsgate and Summit film labels as we continue to achieve significant operational synergies following the acquisition of Summit Entertainment two years ago,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairman Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger.

It's Officially Not Official! No 'Mockingjay' Teaser Trailer at Cannes

Sooooo, this morning a very nice Cannes Film Festival blog, Cannes Coverage, posted a tweet that said they had confirmed a Mockingjay teaser trailer would debut at Cannes. We also know from this January Variety article that there will be a Mockingjay marketing presence at the film festival, but it's NEVER been confirmed that a trailer will be released there. Just speculation and hope (and we have certainly been guilty of both here at Panempropaganda).

Lionsgate has confirmed with us this morning that there will NOT be a trailer shown at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Adam Vary of Buzzfeed also confirmed with the studio (see his tweet here) that there is no Mockingjay teaser trailer planned for the festival.

FYI, studios deal behind the scenes at the Cannes Film Festival to acquire films and sell existing properties to foreign buyers. Cannes is basically the marketplace for the international film industry. Lionsgate will certainly present something to foreign film distributors at the festival. Lionsgate marketing head Tim Palen:

“A big part of the second film [Catching Fire] was growing the franchise, and the greatest potential was international,” he says. “We did a major presentation to distributors in Cannes, and did six premieres outside the U.S. And we still have room to grow. We’ve matched Iron Man 3 on domestic, but we can do better on international.”

What does this mean for fans? Cannes is a huge show - last year there was a massive Catching Fire beach party to celebrate the Covergirl partnership, lots of marketing presence and red carpet appearances by Jennifer Lawrence, Sam Claflin, Liam Hemsworth and Francis Lawrence. But it was all very hush-hush right up until early May. So, if you like pretty cast pictures and marketing reveals (hey - we LOVE them!) the Cannes Film Festival could be a bonanza for you this year.

But no Mockingjay teaser trailer at Cannes. At least that's the "official" word for now.

Jennifer Lawrence is Featured in 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' Featurette "A Fitting Story"

Jennifer Lawrence is featured in some badass 70's gear in this new Google Play featurette from X-Men: Days of Future Past called "A Fitting Story." The clip is all about outfitting the extras in authentic 70's clothing for a complicated scene in an airport and we get a great look at Jennifer behind the scenes.

Sam Claflin "Meet The Actor" Event at the Apple Store in NYC

Sam Claflin talked about his new film The Quiet Ones at a special "Meet the Actor" event at the Apple Store Soho on April 15th, 2014 in New York City.

Thanks to our friends at MockingjayUpdates for the great pictures!

Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin at the MTV Movie Awards

The bromance lives! Photo thanks to lovingeverlark.tumblr.com Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin were at the MTV Movie Awards tonight. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire picked up 3 Golden Popcorn Statues at this year's MMAs: Movie of the Year, Best Male Performance for Josh Hutcherson, and Best Female Performance for Jennifer Lawrence. (Get all the details HERE)

Josh didn't walk the red carpet but Sam Claflin and his gorgeous wife, Laura Haddock did. Perhaps they should win an honorary award for being the most adorable couple? Or, wait, maybe that award should go to Sam and Josh.

Photo by whitneyhoustonwehaveaproblem.tumblr.com

The pic above was posted by Whitney on tumblr with the caption: So today I went to the red carpet at the MTV Movie Awards and Sam Claflin skipped by saying “sorry I can’t stop, I’m late and I’ve got to mush on through.”

We didn't get Josh on the red carpet (boo!) but we did get some cute shots of him inside the awards. He attended with his little brother Connor. Connor, congrats on becoming an internet sensation.

Josh and Shailene Woodley during the show

'Catching Fire' Wins at the MTV Movie Awards

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire took home 3 Golden Popcorn statuettes at the MTV Movie Awards tonight in Los Angeles! Sadly, even with ALL of your hard work to vote Katniss in as Favorite Character, Tris ended up taking the category. We know who OUR favorite character is though, right tributes? #KatnissForever

Movie of the Year: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Best Male Performance: Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark

Best Female Performance: Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen

Cameron Diaz wins tonight's Josh Travolta Award for Epic Cluelessness. Gif by Yahoo

Get More: 2014 MTV Movie Awards, Latest Movie News

Josh Hutcherson wins Best Male Performance at the MTV Movie Awards

Sam Claflin and Josh Hutcherson accept the Movie of the Year Award at the MTV Movie Awards

gif by Cosmopolitan

Josh gave a little tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman in his acceptance speech for Catching Fire saying, "I know that if Philip were here, he would think this is really cool. To have him in our movies was one of the coolest things in the world. He’s one of the actors I’ve looked up to my entire life. We think about him every day on set. Wherever he is, this definitely goes out to him as well."

Another fantastic interview: Josh and Sam talk to MTV's Josh Horowitz backstage. Whoops, nice spoiler Josh. "You're dead."

Get More: 2014 MTV Movie Awards, Latest Movie News

Raw footage of the press room at the MTV Movie Awards. Sam and Josh come in around 10:47 and then Josh is photgraphed alone immediately after until about 13:40. Watch with the sound off to avoid the screaming paps:

Your next question is probably, "When is the Mockingjay teaser trailer coming?" Ours, too! I wish we knew for sure. Nothing about a trailer has been officially confirmed as of press time. The only information we have at this point is from the article we posted back in Jan in which the Mockingjay team discusses the marketing plan and confirms the Cannes Film Festival as a place where at least SOMETHING from Mockingjay marketing will be revealed. We'll keep you updated!

First Casting Call For 'Mockingjay' In Berlin!

 

The first extras casting call has gone out for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay in Berlin! Our friends at Mockingjay.net first discovered this post in a German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost. I've re-translated it here for you so it's a little bit easier to read and understand. Such exciting news! German tributes - let us know if you get a peek at any of the filming.

From Berliner Morgenpost:

Hollywood returns to the region – and many can join. The casting agents of Berlin agency “Film Faces” are looking for approximately 1000 extras for an international film which shoots in the early summer at, among other places,studio Babelsberg in Potsdam. The applicants should have “character” faces, as the agency said. The men must be between 18 and 65 years, and of foreign nationality – for example African, Asians, south Europeans and Middle-Eastern as well as African-Americans.

The casting call boasts working alongside actress Jennifer Lawrence (23) in the American science fiction film, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. At the German premiere of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Lawrence announced she’d be returning soon to Berlin. That time is finally here. Mockingjay Part 1 & 2 are being shot in different locations around Berlin and Brandenberg. Studio Babelsberg have already started pre-production on the project. Studio spokesman Eike Wolf did not want to confirm this for “privacy reasons” however.

"Film Faces" will be casting for extras 26 April in Berlin at the Delphi Movie Palace. Those picked should expect one to three days of shooting.

PHOTOS: Stef Dawson Bellus Magazine Photoshoot BTS

Stef Dawson (our lovely Annie Cresta) did a photo shoot for an upcoming Bellus Magazine feature and the photographer (Joshua Shultz) shared some of the behind the scenes snaps on social media. We'll be sure to post the spread when the issue comes out.

Thanks to HungerGames-Net for finding the pics!