Gary Ross Will Not Be Catching Fire

Everyone was optimistic a deal between director Gary Ross and Lionsgate would transpire amid issues of salary disputes, as THR leaked earlier this week. This morning as news broke the studio settled their differences with Fox over star Jennifer Lawrence is word on where things stand for Ross.

Namely he won't be back for Catching Fire, reports The Playlist.

The reasoning, their spies say, had less to do with money but focused on his affinity for not repeating himself and a lack of desire nailed down to that franchise for so many years with no side projects in between. Not to play the "NU-UH!" card on their sources, but come on, it's always about money. Throw enough cash up-front and back-end points, and we'd have never heard of Ross and studio-heads clashing.

The shaky-cam flaws notwithstanding (and even that can be excused as his way of getting The Hunger Games to its lucrative PG-13 rating), Ross performed the thankless task of creating that world, setting up the characters and their dynamics, all the while telling a compelling three-act story. And he did a great job. We all would have liked to see Ross get his hands dirty, letting the story loose with Catching Fire with all the traditional "First Movie" constraints gone. An unfortunate turn of events indeed.