The Hunger Games has shot past $600 million worldwide at the box office, and the sequel, Catching Fire, has a writer in Simon Beaufoy and a director in Francis Lawrence.

All of that said, it looks like the screenplay isn’t quite where Lionsgate wants it. The studio is in talks with Academy Award winner Michael Arndt to take Beaufoy’s script and give it the rewrite treatment.

Arndt won his Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine, and also was a writer on Toy Story 3.

A quickie update for all of you box office junkies out there. The Hunger Games, the first movie based on the Suzanne Collins book series, has now officially passed $600 million worldwide at the box office.

Lionsgate released the updated numbers, showing that the movie—which stars Jennifer Lawrence as one of the combatants in the Hunger Games, where two teenagers from each of twelve districts are forced to fight to the death until only one remains—has made $372.4 million right here in the States, and $228.5 million overseas.

This news is a few days old now, but for those who have not yet heard, a director has been chosen to fill in the space vacated by The Hunger Games helmer Gary Ross for the upcoming sequel, Catching Fire.

Stepping in for the blockbuster sequel, currently set for release on November 22, 2013, will be Francis Lawrence. Lawrence, who has directed such titles as I Am Legend, Water For Elephants, and Constantine, appears to have been chosen only because he was one of the few whose schedule was clear…something that may not bode well for the constantly growing fanbase.

Water for Elephants
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Starring: Christoph Waltz, Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Schneider, Hal Holbrook
Release Date: April 22, 2011

Ask somebody of yesteryear about a circus (because rarely do people attend circuses nowadays) and you’re inclined to get a favorable answer and probably be subjected to many stories recollecting their happiness such an event gave to them. This perspective of the ever-popular big top productions of the early 20th century, promising incomprehensible acts of wonder and merriment, usually comes from members of the audience sitting in awe at the wide-eyed spectacle that unfolds before them. But little are they aware of the events that unravel behind the scenes, such as a ringmaster’s wife being wooed by the circus’ veterinarian. Spectators of circuses are disconnected from all that occurs when elephants, lions, acrobats and horses aren’t dazzling them with their tricks and poetic beauty. But like what David Lynch once taught us in Mulholland Dr.: all is an illusion.

In contemporary times, an old man (played pitch perfectly by Hal Holbrook) hobbling with a cane has escaped a nursing home. He finds himself in pouring rain outside of a circus. Suddenly he comes to a halt and begins to admire the place, maybe looking for lost memories that have passed him by. We learn that he was part the Benzini Brothers circus back in 1931. But maybe that was an illusion, being it was such a long time ago. The owner of the circus (Paul Schneider) who finds this old man is soon given a history lesson regarding the 1931 Benzini circus. Water for Elephants then follows the old man’s story, a guaranteed tear-inducing technique reminiscent of Titanic and The Notebook.

Oh happy day, it’s been “officialized”… Will Smith is in for a prequel to the incredibly inexplicable success that was I Am Legend with director Francis Lawrence. D.B. Weiss is the man currently working on the screenplay.

Naturally a sequel without the Fresh Prince was out of the question, so the prequel will follow Smith as Robert Neville when everything was still normal and then the transition to a virus-destroyed humanity.

Considering the movie made over $500 million worldwide, this will surely excite the masses. I kinda-sorta hated the movie, so I’m not one of those people. It had so much potential, but it was so severely mishandled by the director that it was hard to watch. Looking at the fact that he’ll also be doing the prequel, this means certain disaster from my point of view.