When it opened in March, “The Hunger Games” movie drew the world’s eye to North Carolina, throwing its mountain wilderness and rickety mill towns on the big screen.
But the follow-up to the $700 million hit casts the Tar Heel State in a walk-on role — if that.
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” began shooting outside Atlanta this week, and for the movie’s finish the cast will travel to Hawaii to complete filming.
Towns that played backdrop to the first movie’s post-apocalyptic story haven’t heard from Lionsgate studio about a return trip for the sequel, though the chance of a late call still exists. But in “Catching Fire,” most of the film’s action shifts from a temperate forest to a tropical island.
But while the second “Hunger Games” story takes place in and around water, the third is set largely underground — giving Wilmington’s Screen Gems Studios a great chance at landing the stage work.
Based on a best-selling young adult book series, “The Hunger Games” stories follow the story of Katniss Everdeen, a teen girl from a coal-mining district in a bleak, futuristic world. Each year, the country’s totalitarian government forces children to fight to death on national television — a set of games that Katniss twists to her own rebellious advantage.
Making the first movie in North Carolina brought more than $60 million to the state, along with roughly 5,000 workers, many of them locals who appeared as on-screen extras.
For months after the film first screened, fans traveled to forgotten corners of the state for a glimpse of the “Hunger Games” scenery. The town of Shelby had bus tours running to the cotton warehouses that played backdrop scenes in Katniss’ home in District 12.
In Hildebran, a blink-and-miss-it town in Burke County, the local museum saw visitors poring over artifacts from its bygone yarn mill — houses from which appear in the movie’s opening scenes. People came from all over, including Alaska, California and New York, to see the famed film sets.
Lionsgate may have shot extra scenes on the first trip to use for the beginning of the second film. No word has come to Wade Shepherd, who owns the Henry River Mill Village that was fashioned into Katniss’ house.
State Film incentives may have played a part in the decision to fil the first film in North Carolina, which offers filmmakers a 25 percent refundable tax credit. But the state only qualifies movie salaries up to the first $1 million while Georgia is more generous. That likely influenced the Atlanta decision, especially since the young actors’ salaries have ballooned since the first film.