It looks like there will be more changes afoot for Catching Fire than just a new director in Francis Lawrence. With production set to begin this summer, and an even tighter filming schedule than before thanks to Jennifer Lawrence's X-men: First Class commitments, Lionsgate is hoping to bring in Michael Arndt(Toy Story 3, Little Miss Sunshine) to do some scriptwork.
Simon Beaufoy(Slumdog Millionaire) wrote the first draft, with the Academy Award winning Arndt coming aboard for a rewrite if the deal comes through. This is one of the side effects of losing Gary Ross and adding Lawrence as director, as Ross was very hands on with the writing process along with Billy Ray and author Suzanne Collins. Lawrence doesn't really handle that part of things, and so another needs to be brought in to help punch things up. They couldn't have made a better choice than Arndt.
In a nice little twist, Arndt recently did some writing on Disney's Order of the Seven, their Snow White adaptation which once had Lawrence attached to direct. Catching Fire is expected to open on November 22nd 2013, but I'm starting to catch a whiff of desperation in meeting the time crunch.
