Recap: Victory Tour at Cherry Hill Mall

Top photos courtesy TheHob.org & Hunger GamesDWTC.com

Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Bruno Gunn, and Meta Golding were your Victors at the Victory Tour stop at Cherry Hill Mall today! Thanks to the coverage by The Hob and Hunger Games Down With The Capitol, who attended today's event, we have some great photos, Q&A coverage, and video from the tour stop.

 Video thanks to noplaceforgirlonfire.tumblr.com

Sam Claflin said he relates to Finnick's insecurities hidden under a charming persona. He spoke about his transformation into Finnick, particularly the "six pack, tan, and waxed chest". He also spoke about how much he enjoyed the experience of working with the amazing cast, and, our favorite bit, said that the Hunger Games fans are like his family.

Jena Malone loved going to the gym to train and not only matching the men but beating them. She  spent a lot of time chopping with an axe. She even called herself the biggest fan from the cast before filming, as she read all 3 books in 48 hours. She said "We are too old to be the revolution. YOU are the revolutionaries! Take it! Kill it!"

Jeffrey Wright said how much he likes being part of the solution to a corrupt government, and it's something he feels people can relate to. If he could choose another character (besides Beetee) to be from the Hunger Games, it would be Peeta. He says his favorite character is Peeta because Josh Hutcherson is so cute (!!) and his soldier's journey is incredible. All the cast members put their mics in his face when he was asked how he would combat the Capitol in real life, and he said he would fight the Capitol just how Beetee did it. He talked about the relaxed nature of the set, and said that the movie ROCKS!

Bruno Gunn's favorite bit of being a part of the series is meeting all of the fans. He admires the respect and passion everyone has for The Hunger Games.

Meta Golding likes her sharpened teeth, and called Enobaria a "badass" rather than a "baddie". She also said she threw up on the second day of training for the role, and was worried about whether she could complete it or not. Her favourite character is Katniss, and she loves the concept of surviving in the Hunger Games.

Special thanks to TheHob.org and HungerGamesDWTC for their great coverage of the event all the photos! 

Stay tuned for our coverage of the Victory Tour stop at Mall of America on Tuesday, Nov 5th. Please say hello to Dan from our site if you're attending!

Sam Claflin talked about his transformation into Finnick, particularly the "six pack, tan, and waxed chest". He also spoke about how much he enjoyed the experience of working with the amazing cast, and mentioned that the fans are like his family.

Jena Malone loved being able to beat the boys in the gym and spent a lot of time chopping with an axe. She even called herself the biggest fan from the cast before filming, as she read all 3 books in 48 hours. Apparently, the fans are like a revolution to her!

Jeffrey Wright said how much he likes being part of the solution to a corrupt government, and it's something he feels people can relate to. If he could choose another character (besides Beetee) to be from the Hunger Games trilogy, then it would be Peeta! Jeffrey said this was because of the character's journey (and also because Josh is so cute!) He mentioned the relaxed nature of the set, and that the movie ROCKS!

Meta Golding likes her sharpened teeth, and called Enobaria a "badass" rather than a "baddie". She also told how she threw up on the second day of training for the role, and was worried about whether she could complete it or not. Her favourite character is Katniss, and she loves the concept of surviving in the Hunger Games.

Bruno Gunn's favourite bit of being a part of the series is meeting all of the fans. He admires the respect and passion everyone has for The Hunger Games. - See more at: http://www.quarterquell.org/#sthash.9jRurPA3.dpuf

Costume Design In 'Catching Fire' - What The Well Dressed Warrior Wears

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire costume designer, Trish Summerville talked to The New York Times about her inspiration behind Katniss' and Effie's costumes in the movie. She also gives us some insight into how she designed Peeta's looks and, sigh, it's all for love:

Katniss Everdeen as fashion’s It Girl? That’s how the costume designer Trish Summerville imagined the teenage warrior portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire: As a previous victor, she must be camera-ready as Panem prepares for the 75th games.

“Considering how the Capitol and Panem ingest and digest capitalism and consumerism, and all the parties and galas they go to, they change fashions more quickly than each season,” she said.

Katniss’s outfits — gowns of feathers, accessories in rough-hewed fibers — indicate her ascent in the Capitol while evoking her home in the impoverished District 12. Her male comrades, Peeta and Finnick, received magnetic, matinee-idol looks. And dressing Effie Trinket required tapping Alexander McQueen and House of Worth for statement pieces, including shoes that forced Trinket literally to stay on her toes.

For her grand entrance to the 75th Hunger Games kickoff, Katniss dons a fantasy wedding dress by the Jakartan designer Tex Saverio — the one she might have worn had her nuptials to Peeta not been quashed by the games.

Illustration by Tex Saverio “I wanted to have a subliminal feel of flames and feathers to keep her the Girl on Fire while also representing the Mockingjay,” Ms. Summerville said. Mr. Saverio’s froth of layered organza features a flame-inspired silver corset and fabric peacock feathers sprouting at the waist. As Katniss twirls, the gown erupts, and an iridescent Mockingjay dress rises from the ash. Using images of a mockingbird, blue jay, pheasant and peacock, Ms. Summerville worked with an illustrator and graphic designer to create patterns of feathers and wings, which she then had printed on chiffon and built into the Mockingjay dress.

Katniss wears a one-shouldered, cowl-neck sweater vest, almost like a shield, over her father’s leather coat. The piece, made by Maria Dora, a Los Angeles knitwear designer, is meant to see Katniss through summer, spring and winter.

Murray Close/Lionsgate

“I wanted to bundle her up a bit and give her something that had a feel of the Capitol,” Ms. Summerville said, “but still with keeping in those nubby, big natural fibers — something, say, her mom could have made for her.” Like a security blanket, the piece accompanies Katniss on her hunting expeditions and even to bed on the Victory Tour. “It’s trying to marry both sides of her duality,” Ms. Summerville said, “having her heart at home but also fitting into the Capitol world without selling out.”

“This time around we made Peeta’s character much more masculine,” Ms. Summerville said. She laughed as she recounted meeting Josh Hutcherson, the actor who plays him, and saw how athletic he was.

“I was like, ‘We have to dude you up.' ” Using jackets and more structured pieces that amped up his already muscular physique, she accentuated his rapid maturation between the first and second films, and hinted at the emotional and sexual allure that drew Katniss to him initially. Ms. Summerville used a lot of subdued greens in Peeta’s wardrobe “because Katniss’s favorite color is green,” she said, “so subliminally, he’s always trying to woo her.” (!!!)

When the Capitol escort Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) returns to District 12 for the 75th reaping, she is adorned with monarch butterflies — on her dress, an actual Alexander McQueen couture design; her hair; even her eyelashes.

“In her mind, it’s springtime,” Ms. Summerville said. “Her chrysalis has turned into this butterfly, she gets to come out again, she gets to see the kids.” She wanted Effie to look uncomfortable. “I think it’s her penance to herself,” she said, explaining that Effie loves all the grandeur, but that “she’s also really conflicted about her role in calling the kids up for the reapings.” Effie’s waist is cinched a little too tightly, her heels are a little too high, and her clothes are nearly impossible to sit in.

Francis Lawrence Opens Up About 'Catching Fire' To Hero Complex

Francis Lawrence opens up about The Hunger games: Catching Fire in a new article in LA Times Hero Complex. Read on to hear what he has to say and how he, "really liked the book, and I really wanted to make the book."

The color wasn’t finished. The visual effects were not complete. The score, temporary. Yet those details seemed to be of little consequence to director Francis Lawrence, who chose a fine summer day to open up his edit bay and show off his work in progress, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

While other filmmakers might be stressed over the work to be done on such an eagerly awaited film — let alone the inherent pressure of taking over a beloved franchise — the 42-year-old Austrian director gleefully cued up scene after scene of heroine Katniss Everdeen facing the repercussions of having manipulated a government-sanctioned death match in the first film.

Dressed casually in a blue button-down shirt, jeans and sneakers, Lawrence is relaxed, even a little excited by the footage — a fanboy given the keys to the kingdom.

“I really latched on to the themes of the books overall, and I was excited to grow and create this world and cast new people,” Lawrence said.

When Lawrence was hired to direct, Lionsgate Studio had a hard start date just 20 weeks out. But he felt the original script, commissioned by Ross for writer Simon Beaufoy (“Slumdog Millionaire”), was too far afield from the original “Catching Fire” text. So he and Collins spent a weekend in New York poring over the book, creating an outline of all the moments the duo wanted to hit in the film — the after-effects of war, including the post-traumatic stress suffered by Katniss, her fellow survivor Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) and their mentor Haymitch (Woody Harrelson).

With outline in hand, the pair brought in Oscar-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt to rework the script and invent new scenes that articulate the machinations between Snow and his new gameskeeper, Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Coupled with a $140-million budget (far more than the first film’s $80 million), the result is a film with broader scope and scale that expands on author Collins’ themes and the physical world of Panem. Lawrence is hopeful audiences will respond.

I really liked the book, and I really wanted to make the book. I didn’t want to reinvent,” he said. “There is always some true adaptation to be done when you are distilling a 400-page book to a two-hour movie, but I think everybody will be really excited.”

Meet Willow Shields at Exclusive Walmart Appearances

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire star Willow Shields is covering a special edition of the November issue of Seventeen, available only at Walmart. YOU can get a copy of the issue signed by Willow! Willow will be doing a series of autograph signings in select cities this November. At each event, the first 150 guests will also receive a COVERGIRL lookbook. If you already have a copy of the mag with Willow on the cover, be sure to bring your issue, and get to the store one hour before the signing begins to secure your spot.

Check out Willow Shields' list of Walmart signings to find a city near you:

Sunday, November 3: Denver, Colorado 2-4pm Walmart 9901 Grant St. in Thornton

Tuesday, November 5: Manchester, Missouri 5-7pm 201 Highlands Boulevard Dr in Manchester

Wednesday, November 13: Washington, D.C. 5-7pm 1500B Cornerside Blvd in Vienna

Listen: Preview "Mirror" By Ellie Goulding From The 'Catching Fire' Soundtrack

Check out a 90 second preview of Ellie Goulding's "Mirror" from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Original Soundtrack. What do you think

"I was the girl who was on fiiiiiyah." Everlark feels over here.

'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Special on eTalk - Coverage Starts Monday 11/4

Canadian entertainment show, eTalk has exclusive interviews with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire cast during their daily TV show starting on Monday at 7pm ET on CTV. Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin will also be featured in a 30 minute special on Friday, November 8th. We're hoping the interviews will be posted to their YouTube channel!

We assume that they'll start with a snippet of teaser footage from the 30 minute special every night during the broadcast until the show airs on Friday.

Josh Hutcherson Will Host Saturday Night Live on November 23rd

Josh Hutcherson will host Saturday Night Live on November 23rd, 2013 with musical guests Haim. Coming off a whirlwind press tour and the premieres of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, this should be an amazing show for Josh, sure to be ripe with Catching Fire satire. We can't wait to tune in! This appearance will make for a FULL and super exciting Catching Fire premiere weekend.

#TickTock4 - Enter to Attend a Special Advance Screening of 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'!

To kick off our #TickTock4 countdown, 24 cities have been selected to hold ADVANCE SCREENINGS of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, presented by Subway®! Attendees at these screenings will be able to view the Red Carpet LIVE STREAM on the big screen, and be one of the first audiences to see the film.

Stay tuned to see if your hometown is included… a new city will be announced each hour today on The Hunger Games’ official Twitter! Then, enter for your chance to win tickets at www.CatchingFireAdvanceScreenings.com beginning on Friday, 11/1 at 2pm ET/ 11am PT. Tweet with #TickTock4 with which advance screening you want to attend & you'll win an exclusive new badge and bonus sparks on The Hunger Games Explorer!We'll add the cities to this post as they appear.

Chicago

Seattle-Tacoma

New York

San Diego

San Francisco

Detroit

Los Angeles

Orlando

Dallas- Ft. Worth

Tampa - St. Petersburg

Philadelphia

Denver

Washington, D.C.

Sacramento

Houston

Minneapolis - St. Paul

Miami - Ft. Lauderdale

Cleveland

Atlanta

Kansas City

Phoenix

St. Louis

Boston

Las Vegas

Don't see your city? Don’t worry! You can still watch the  Red Carpet LIVE STREAM from the LA Premiere on Monday, November 18 beginning at 9:30pm ET/ 6:30pm PT, brought to you by Yahoo! Lionsgate is also looking for one lucky fan to be their special Catching Fire correspondent at the LA premiere...  Show your #CatchingFireSelfie skills and you could find yourself on the red carpet with your favorite stars! Get your camera ready and follow @Yahoo_Movies on Instagram for all the details!