Costume Design Duo Will Replace Trish Summerville on 'Mockingjay' Movies

Bart Mueller, left, and Kurt Swanson. Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images

Lionsgate has confirmed that costume designers Bart Mueller and Kurt Swanson will head the Mockingjay films' costume design, succeeding original franchise designer Trish Summerville. Summerville chose to work on the film adaption of David Fincher's Gone Girl instead of completing the Hunger Games series, Summerville's rep confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Although the design duo wouldn't reveal any details to the project, they did express being "so excited" when reached via email.

Mueller and Swanson are nominated for a Costume Designers Guild Award for their recent work on the Matthew McConaughey- and Jared-Leto-starring Dallas Buyers Club. "With such committed actors, we really loved being part of bringing these characters to the screen," expressed Mueller and Swanson about their nomination. The fact that it’s getting so much attention and that people are seeing this movie is really rewarding. The CDG nomination is icing on the cake.
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They've previously worked on Britney Spears' "Lucky," "Stronger" and "Slave 4 U" music videos, and also designed the look of HBO's fashion industry-focused How To Make It In America.

The UK 'Catching Fire' DVD Release Date is March 17th

The reveal we've been waiting for from the Hunger Games UK has been announced - it's the official UK release date of the Catching Fire DVD: March 17th, 2014.

Head over to the official site to pre-order the DVD, Blu-ray, Triple play version or the deluxe limited edition.

'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Arrives on DVD & Blu-Ray March 7th

Target's Exclusive 3 disc combo pack trailer with BTS:

Get ready, tributes! Catching Fire officially arrives on DVD, Blu-ray combo pack, digital HD, video on demand and pay-per-view in the US on March 7th. The DVD is packed with over two hours of extensive, must-see bonus materials that include a Blu-ray-exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, “Surviving the Game: Making Catching Fire,” deleted scenes (YAY), an audio commentary with director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson as well as a sneak peek at the highly-anticipated theatrical action film Divergent from Lionsgate’s Summit label. The Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.99 and $29.95, respectively.

Go to CatchingFireMovie.com to see all buying options including Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Xbox, Best Buy, Walmart and Target!

BLU-RAY COMBO PACK SPECIAL FEATURES

• “Surviving the Game: Making Catching Fire” – 9-part feature-length documentary

• Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson

• Deleted Scenes

• Sneak Peek of Divergent


DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

• Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson

• Deleted Scenes

• Sneak Peek of Divergent

Entertainment Tonight Reveals 'Catching Fire' DVD Behind The Scenes Sneak Peek

Entertainment Tonight aired a snippet from the upcoming Catching Fire DVD behind the scenes special feature footage on their broadcast this evening. The sneak peek clip reveals the close working relationship of stars Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson and also shows the two cracking each other up on-set.

BTW, the official release date of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on DVD and Blu-Ray is March 7, 2014!

Elizabeth Banks Talks About Jennifer Lawrence and Being ON THE MOCKINGJAY SET!

Elizaeth Banks at Sundance. Portrait thanks to EW E!Online spoke with Elizabeth Banks at Sundance while she was promoting her film, Little Accidents, and they asked her about co-star Jennifer Lawrence. We LOVE Jen, obviously, but don't you think her co-stars get a little sick of having their entire interviews be about someone else? Anyhoo, Liz gave up one little tidbit that is still FREAKING me out (in a good way). She's in Mockingjay Part 1.

"Yes, I was on [the Mockingjay] set the Thursday she was nominated," Banks dished to E! News at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival junket for her film Little Accidents sponsored by Chase Sapphire on Main at the Nintendo Chalet. "We all kid with her more than anything."

Banks, who also called J.Law's second Oscar nomination for American Hustle "pretty cool," continued, "A lot of poking fun at her. She can handle it, which is a lovely quality of hers."

So what's the craziest thing Banks has ever seen Lawrence do?

"I could never repeat the craziest," she said. "She'd get in a lot of trouble."

"We don't give away all of our set secrets," Banks said, adding of Lawrence, "She is exactly what people hope that she is, which is really fun, easygoing gal you'd want to hang out with. You definitely want to have a beer with her."

See the video HERE. 

Yeah, yeah, Jennifer Lawrence, blah, blah we love her but - GUYS!! Elizabeth Banks was on the Mockingjay set which means Effie is really in the movie. She's not listed on the IMDB page for Mockingjay Part 1 but now we know she's in the film!

Entertainment Tonight Teases 'Catching Fire' DVD Sneak Peek

Entertainment Tonight announced last evening that they'll be airing an exclusive sneak peek at the upcoming The Hunger Games: Catching Fire DVD AND that they'll be revealing the long-awaited release date on their show tonight (Thursday, January 23rd). To find out when ET airs in your neck of the woods use their showfinder.

We'll be updating this post as we find out more!

Thanks to The Hob and their follower Brett Vickerman for the heads up!

Target Shares New Video of Jennifer Lawrence & the 'Catching Fire' Cast to Celebrate Their Exclusive DVD Content

To celebrate the upcoming release of their exclusive edition of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on DVD and Blu-Ray, Target has shared some new video of Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone and Alan Ritchson talking about what they'd bring to the Hunger Games arena and some behind the scenes video in the Target exclusive Catching Fire DVD trailer.

Target is featuring an exclusive free fabric poster ($9.99 retail value) with any pre-order purchase, along with the following extas for $24.99:

Target Exclusive (45 minutes of content):
• “ONE VISION” (A FAITHFUL ADAPTATION)--translating Suzanne Collin’s source material to the big screen
• “THE ALLIANCE” (RETURNING CAST)—an inside look at the close-knit relationships of the returning actors
• “FRIEND OR FOE” (NEW CAST)--finding the perfect embodiments of the new characters

Additional Special Features (over 2 hours of content):
• Filmmaker Commentary
• 9-part Making-of Documentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Divergent Sneak Peek

Go to Target.com to pre-order.

The 'Mockingjay' Team on Marketing and Plans for the Next Two Films

Variety just posted a great article on the Mockingjay films. They spoke with Lionsgate's head of marketing, Tim Palen, producers Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, production president Erik Feig, and director Francis Lawrence on everything from the marketing plan to European shooting sites. Read on:

“When we started, we decided to look at this as one big movie that’s eight hours long,” notes Tim Palen, the architect of Lionsgate’s marketing effort. “Otherwise, it’s going to be kind of overwhelming to do a new campaign for each movie.”

Palen admits the bar is set higher for the Mockingjay movies than for the first two pics — even though foreign box office jumped by more than 50% (to $450 million from $283 million) from the first to the second pic.

“A big part of the second film 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.”

Mockingjay: Part 1, which hits theaters Nov. 21, takes place in a location far different from the world of Suzanne Collins’ first two books — and the first two movies in which Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen battles through two versions of the gladiatorial Hunger Games. In the coming film, Katniss becomes the poster child of a massive rebellion in a world on the brink of war.

In his promotional materials, Palen used the iconic mockingjay image from the The Hunger Games book covers for the first film as a symbol of freedom and for the second with the pin ablaze. In the third image, the bird is breaking free and taking flight — reminding fans of what they liked about the first two movies and hinting at what’s to come.

Director Francis Lawrence ended Catching Fire with a shot showing a spark in Lawrence’s eyes, followed by the rebels’ mockingjay logo. “It was a great way get from one to the next eloquently and elegantly,” Palen notes.

There will be reveals of the campaign in May at the Cannes film festival and in July at Comic-Con. Until then, Lionsgate is trying to keep specifics under wraps, though director Lawrence allows that the next two films take place in a Panem so devolved as to be barely recognizable.

Much more after the jump!

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