FILM · 2013 · USA
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- Directed by
- Francis Lawrence
- Runtime
- 146 min
- Studio
- Lionsgate, Color Force
41 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
After surviving the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta struggle with the consequences of their victory as unrest spreads across Panem. Forced back into the spotlight, they become symbols of hope and resistance while the Capitol prepares a new and deadly challenge that will change the future of the nation forever.
41 Interesting Facts About The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Interesting Facts (29)
- #001
Around the 1 hour 4 minute mark, when Katniss is in the archery simulator, the targets look like her fellow tributes: one throws spears like Brutus, one throws an axe like Johanna, and one carries a trident like Finnick.
- #002
The water scenes in the arena were shot at a water park south of Atlanta, where the water was barely above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Director Francis Lawrence, worried about her health, excused Lynn Cohen (Mags) from going in. In the first scene where Sam Claflin's Finnick carries her on his back, Claflin lost his footing, banged his knee on the rocks and dropped her in the water; he felt awful, but she thought it was funny.
- #003
The first film shows Peeta's and Katniss's training scores on a scale of 1 to 12: Peeta got an eight and Katniss an eleven. This film doesn't show them, but in the books both score 12, the only tributes ever to get a 12, which suggests the Gamemakers wanted to punish them by making them targets for the others.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013): Katniss Everdeen and Peeta MellarkImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 - #004
In the early scenes Katniss wears an unusually stylized knitted garment. In the books, the Capitol expects victors to take up a "talent" since they no longer have to work, and Katniss struggles at first because her real talent is hunting, so Cinna steps in with clothes he can claim she designed.
- #005
Jennifer Lawrence told Entertainment Weekly that she, Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin were all very clumsy, and that Claflin fell over at least once in every scene they shot. Claflin agreed, saying there was enough footage of him falling to fill a whole gag reel.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013): Peeta MellarkImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 - #006
No film made more in North America in 2013. It was also the first year's top earner since The Exorcist (1973) to have a woman billed first, and the first since The Sound of Music (1965) built entirely, hero and marketing alike, around a woman.
- #007
Jennifer Lawrence said that while shooting in the arena she hit herself with her bow mid-sprint and plunged into the jet pool, leaving her partly deaf for six days. In the first book, Katniss had lost the hearing in one ear.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013): Katniss Everdeen, behind the scenesImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 - #008
Jena Malone explained in an interview that, while she was "so excited" to play the book's famous elevator striptease, she was a little disappointed she couldn't be fully naked for it. "We stayed very faithful to the adaptation, so I had to take almost everything off in the elevator. Unfortunately there was one part of the wardrobe I couldn't remove." She doesn't say which part, but adds that the strip was less about nudity than "wanting to see if she could perform a full strip in only six seconds."
- #009
During the press tour, Chris Van Vliet interviewed Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson. Before the interview started, Chris and Liam chatted about Liam's brother, also named Chris. Even though this was their second film together, Woody hadn't realized that Liam's brother was Chris Hemsworth (Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe).
- #010
Around the 56-minute mark, Sam Claflin ate two or three sugar cubes in every take of Finnick's introduction until the scene was done, getting through a whole box.
- #011
About 32 minutes in, on the train back from the Capitol, Katniss sees a riot on a monitor, and the broadcast is clearly marked as coming from District 8. The book reveals that a rebellion broke out in District 8 the night Katniss and Peeta arrived in the Capitol.
- #012
In the film, Katniss throws nuts to find the force field, as she does in the books. In the books, though, she makes sure nobody sees her do it, and she credits her knowledge of where the force field is to the improved hearing in the ear the Capitol repaired after the previous year's Hunger Games, in which she lost the hearing in that ear.
- #013
About an hour and 45 minutes in, the pearl Peeta gives Katniss is black, and a black pearl stands for love.
- #014
On Live with Kelly and Mark (1988), Jena Malone said she was surprised the elevator nude scene wasn't shot in a studio or on a soundstage, but she went with it. "So I was like, 'OK, wait, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.' She took all her clothes off and said it was great. Woody [Harrelson], Jen [Lawrence] and Josh [Hutcherson] were very supportive and we're good friends at that point, and I think by Take 2 I was naked to the bone and about to leave the elevator and the doors open and a man who works at the hotel is carrying something like a coffee cup holder. And his mouth is open and I'm looking at him, trying to stay in character, and I laugh and step out of frame. I literally couldn't handle it." Malone said she let the elevator doors close on the employee and never saw him again. On the subject of nude scenes, Kelly Ripa told Malone she should show it off while she still has it: "Do it all now before gravity hits. Do it all now. This is my advice to young actresses. Be as nude now as you can."
- #015
For the elevator scene where Johanna strips in front of Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta, Jena Malone chose to actually take her clothes off, even though no nudity would be shown in a PG-13 film. That meant the cast and crew saw her naked for the whole sequence, and since they were shooting on location, so did hotel guests and staff whenever the doors opened.
- #016
Here's the list of districts and what they produce: District 1 luxury goods, District 2 masonry and defense, District 3 general electronics, District 4 fishing, District 5 electricity/power, District 6 transportation, District 7 lumber, District 8 textiles, District 9 grain, District 10 livestock, District 11 agriculture and, of course, District 12 coal.
- #017
The elevator and Capitol scenes were filmed at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, whose fifty-two floors and futuristic look are probably why Francis Lawrence picked it.
- #018
When President Snow watches to see whether Katniss will kill a tribute in the games, "A-113" appears in the bottom corner, the same number that pops up in Pixar films.
- #019
The angel statue at the center of District 12's Victor's Village closely copies "The Angel of the Waters" on top of the Bethesda Fountain in New York City's Central Park. The statue was designed in 1868 by Emma Stebbins, the first woman artist to create a public artwork in New York, and it has had memorable "roles" in many films, including Godspell (1973) and Angels in America (2003). Jeffrey Wright (Beetee) appears in the latter.
- #020
Forty-eight minutes of the film, every Arena scene among them, were filmed with IMAX cameras.
- #021
This is the only Hunger Games film in which Katniss doesn't sing. She sings "Deep in the Meadow" in The Hunger Games (2012) and in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) (over the credits), and "The Hanging Tree" in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014).
- #022
About an hour and 40 minutes in, the monkeys that attack Katniss, Peeta and Finnick in the Arena are mandrills.
- #023
Around the 52-minute mark, the surnames of Effie Trinket, Katniss Everdeen, Haymitch Abernathy and Peeta Mellark spell out TEAM, which makes Effie's line all the more poignant: "Show them we're a team."
- #024
Vases of white roses turn up all through the film, including when Katniss asks Peeta to stay on the train and when she meets Finnick.
- #025
The death of the male victor from District 10 is never shown, no cannon 'explosion' is heard, and his face never appears in the sky. In the book, he is torn apart by a 'beast', and Katniss and Peeta see the Capitol remove his body, with the hovercraft having to come down again and again to collect all the pieces. It was probably cut to keep the PG-13 rating.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013): Peeta MellarkImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage - Flickr user Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0 - #026
It's the only Hunger Games film to gross more than $865 million worldwide, making it the series' biggest earner. If The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015) are counted as a single film, though, their combined worldwide gross tops $1.4 billion.
- #027
Lynn Cohen, who plays Mags, shares an August 10 birthday with author Suzanne Collins.
- #028
This is the only poster in the series that doesn't show Katniss with her signature braid.
- #029
Josh Hutcherson split his pants while filming Peeta's proposal scene with Katniss.
Production Story (4)
- #030
(Around 1 hour 45 minutes) While shooting the scene in which Katniss, Finnick and Peeta eat fish, the actors eat raw fish. Neither Jennifer Lawrence nor Sam Claflin likes fish much, which made eating the fish difficult for both actors. Lawrence had the hardest time, and Josh Hutcherson and Claflin found her struggle amusing.
- #031
(Around 26 minutes in) At the Presidential Gala, "Katniss Everdeen" Jennifer Lawrence wears makeup reminiscent of Elizabeth Taylor's look in Cleopatra (1963). They also did CGI work or direct facial lighting to emphasize Lawrence's eyes. They changed them from a natural steel gray to violet. There is a mistaken belief that Taylor's eyes were purple, even though they were actually a deep blue that appeared violet under certain lighting.
- #032
Stanley Tucci and Toby Jones played scientists in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Tucci plays a German scientist, while Jones plays a Swiss scientist.
- #033
Finnick's trident, his blond hair and even his name with FIN in it like the fins of a fish share many similarities with Aquaman.
Behind the Scenes (1)
- #034
Elizabeth Banks improvised the lines "The library. All mahogany" and "Eyes bright. Chins up. Smiles on."
Characters & Cast (2)
- #035
In an interview at the 2012 Teen Choice Awards, Josh Hutcherson let slip that Jena Malone had been cast as Johanna Mason. He said he was really excited to work with her; when the interviewer reacted with surprise, he realized the casting hadn't been announced yet.
- #036
Jeffrey Wright hadn't read the books before signing on as Beetee, so he didn't know about the tribute costume in advance.
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #037
Around the 53-minute mark, as Katniss, Peeta and Haymitch talk about needing allies in the Quarter Quell, a figure in the background with a sphere around its head is covering its mouth. It's an Avox, a person who can't speak because their tongue has been cut out. The Avoxes have an important storyline in the books.
Deeper Meaning (2)
- #038
On the Josh Hutcherson/Tracey Ullman/Echosmith (2014) episode, Josh Hutcherson told Jimmy about a hidden reference director Francis Lawrence slipped into the film. Around the 57-minute mark, as Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) go through a tunnel just before facing the crowd, "PDL-736" is printed above the tunnel entrance. It stands for Ponce De Leon-736, an underground hip-hop club in Atlanta the cast used to go to.
- #039
Contains a major spoiler — show
About an hour and 11 minutes in, during the tribute interviews, Cinna looks over Katniss's dress and says, "I think I'm done." It foreshadows his death just before Katniss is lifted into the Arena: as she enters the tube, Peacekeepers attack Cinna and beat him to death on President Snow's orders, as punishment for the wedding dress he designed for Katniss, which turned into the Mockingjay, the symbol of rebellion for the districts.
Career & Awards (2)
- #040
Gary Ross, who directed The Hunger Games (2012), chose not to come back for this one. He explained: "Yeah, it was a really tough decision. I think people don't realize I had two jobs. I wrote and I directed, and you do one of those before you do the other. Honestly, there wasn't time in the three and a half months between the films to do both well, so I moved on." Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, J. A. Bayona, David Cronenberg, Bennett Miller, Tomas Alfredson, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Duncan Jones and Joe Cornish were all considered to replace him, but Francis Lawrence, who had been on the shortlist for the first film, ended up directing this film and its two sequels. With his schedule free, Ross went on to make his long-planned passion project, Free State of Jones (2016).
- #041
The day after winning the Academy Award for Silver Linings Playbook (2012), Jennifer Lawrence was back on set for this film, and the first scene she shot was the chattering scene.
Related pages
- Frozen — The Hunger Games: Catching Fire comes up in the facts on that page
- Philip Seymour Hoffman — The Hunger Games: Catching Fire comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work