The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is a 2013 American dystopian science fiction adventure film based on Suzanne Collins' dystopian novel Catching Fire (2009), the second installment in The Hunger Games trilogy. The film is the sequel to The Hunger Games (2012) and the second installment in The Hunger Games film series, produced by Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik, and distributed by Lionsgate. Francis Lawrence directed the film, with a screenplay by Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt. Adding to the existing cast, the supporting cast was filled out with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Jena Malone, Sam Claflin, Lynn Cohen, Amanda Plummer, Alan Ritchson, and Meta Golding. Filming began on September 10, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia, before moving to Hawaii. The plot of Catching Fire takes place a few months after the previous installment; Katniss Everdeen and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark have returned home safely after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Throughout the story, Katniss senses that a rebellion against the oppressive Capitol is simmering throughout the districts.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was released on November 15, 2013, in Brazil; November 20 in Finland, Sweden, and Norway; November 21 in the United Kingdom; and November 22 in IMAX, in the United States. The film set records for the biggest November opening weekend and biggest three- and five-day Thanksgiving box-office totals, surpassing the first film's box office grosses. It ranks as the 14th highest-grossing film at the domestic box office and the highest-grossing film at the domestic box office of 2013, becoming the first 2-D film since The Dark Knight (2008) to top the yearly box office, as well as having a lead female top the box office since The Exorcist (1973). The film has grossed over $865 million worldwide and is the fifth highest-grossing film of 2013 and the highest-grossing entry in The Hunger Games series. The film was followed by The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, a two-part sequel and finale of the franchise: Part 1 was released on November 21, 2014, in the United States, and Part 2 on November 20, 2015.
Catching Fire received mostly positive reviews and is widely considered by critics to be an improvement over its predecessor, with the sentiment being that it's "a more-confident, more-polished movie"; praise also goes to Lawrence's performance as Katniss. It's the most critically acclaimed chapter in The Hunger Games series, according to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The film also received numerous nominations, with a nomination for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Action Film and a Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film. For her performance, Lawrence was nominated a second time for the Empire Award for Best Actress as well as the Saturn Award and Broadcast Film Critics Association Award. The song "Atlas" was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

Plot

After winning the 74th Hunger Games, 17 year old Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark return home to District 12, where President Snow visits Katniss. Snow explains that her actions in the Games have inspired rebellions. He orders her to use the upcoming "victory tour" to convince people that her actions were out of love for Peeta, not defiance against the Capitol, otherwise Katniss's loved ones and the whole District will be destroyed, "just like District 13". He makes Katniss promise that the two will not lie to each other, which she agrees to.
As the tour begins, Haymitch Abernathy warns Katniss and Peeta that the "show" of their relationship must continue for the rest of their lives. Katniss suggests they announce their engagement, which is approved by Snow, with their wedding to be staged at his mansion in the Capitol.
Katniss warns Gale Hawthorne of Snow's threat to kill both their families. Peacekeepers crack down on District 12, and Gale is publicly whipped after attacking new Head Peacekeeper Romulus Thread. Snow announces that the third Quarter Quell of the upcoming Hunger Games will involve tributes selected from previous victors. Katniss immediately devotes herself to ensuring Peeta's survival, and makes Haymitch promise to help. At the reaping, Effie Trinket draws Katniss and Haymitch's names, but Peeta immediately volunteers to take Haymitch's place.
Haymitch reveals that the tributes are angry about being returned to the Games, and all of them will most likely attempt to stop the games . For her pre-Games interview, Katniss wears a wedding dress, as ordered by Snow, but her stylist Cinna rigs it to transform into a representation of a mockingjay. Peeta announces on-air that he and Katniss secretly married and are expecting a baby, and the audience of Capitol citizens shouts for the Games to be stopped, to no avail. Just before Katniss enters the arena, Cinna is severely beaten and dragged away by Peacekeepers, as Katniss watches helplessly.
In the Games, Katniss allies with Finnick Odair and the elderly Mags, his mentor. When the arena's force field shocks Peeta, stopping his heart, Finnick revives him. The group flees from a poisonous fog, with Finnick carrying Mags, but when Peeta cannot go on, Mags sacrifices herself so that Finnick can help him. When mandrills attack, Peeta is saved by the unexpected sacrifice of a hiding tribute, the female from District 6. The group escapes to the beach around the central lake, where Finnick greets District 3's Wiress and Beetee and District 7's Johanna Mason. Wiress is able to repeatedly say the phrase "tic tock", leading to the realization that the arena is designed like a clock, with predictable, unchanging hazard each hour, but each threat only remains within its section of the arena. As the team waits for the next danger, Wiress is stabbed to death by Gloss, who alongside his sister Cashmere, Brutus and Enobaria, comprise the Careers. Katniss shoots Gloss dead with her bow, and Johanna kills Cashmere, but Finnick is stabbed in the leg by Enobaria.
Beetee suggests luring the Careers to the wet beach and electrocuting them by running his wire to the lake from a tree that is struck by lightning every 12 hours. The group separates to prepare the trap, Finnick and Peeta protecting Beetee, and Katniss running the wire down to the beach with Johanna. While pulling the coil, an unknown source of tension makes it apparent another tribute is on their tail. When Brutus and Enobaria emerge, Johanna knocks Katniss to the ground, cuts the tracker out of her arm, and flees. Katniss returns to the tree and finds an unconscious Beetee. Unable to recover Peeta, and hearing a canon, Katniss almost kills Finnick, but he reminds her to remember who "the real enemy" is, as Haymitch had advised her before the games. Katniss attaches the wire to an arrow and shoots it into the arena's roof just as the lightning hits. The lightning strike knocks her unconscious, causes a power failure that brings down part of the dome and cuts off the Capitol's surveillance.
Katniss awakens in a hovercraft with Beetee, who is still unconscious. In another room she finds Haymitch, Finnick, and Plutarch Heavensbee, the head Gamemaker, who is revealed to be a rebel against Snow. He tells her they are bound for District 13, headquarters of the rebellion, and that half the tributes (the ones from 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 11) were recruited to help Katniss escape, as she is the symbol of the growing rebellion. They were unable to rescue Peeta and Johanna, and they are captives in the capitol. Katniss is sedated after attacking Haymitch for not keeping his promise to protect Peeta. She later awakens to find Gale by her side. He assures her that her family is safe, but District 12 has been destroyed by the capitol. Katniss glares at the camera, her expression of shock and sadness, slowly merging into rage.