Tim Palen: Photographs from the Hunger Games Ultimate Edition

The Ultimate edition of Tim Palen: Photographs from the Hunger Games, with 11 new photos, is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

Here's some info:

The publication of Tim Palen: Photographs from the Hunger Games was so well received, that publisher Assouline decided to make an Ultimate Edition of the book to meet the demands of their high-end collectors. Only 350 copies have been made of this oversized hand-bound leather book that includes 11 never-before seen images and an archival print of the cover image signed by Tim Palen.

Dimensions: 14 x 17 inches, 144 pages, 108 total images.

Lionsgate’s proceeds from the books will go to the World Food Program and Feeding America. They will also be giving an Ultimate Edition of the book away to 5 lucky fans (those proceeds will also benefit World Food Program and Feeding America).

If you do not have an extra $800 or so lying around, the original version of the book, which has gone into second printing, is still available on Amazon at a discounted price!

Check out more pictures of the book after the cut:

Tim Palen: Photographs from The Hunger Games PREORDER

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Great news! The Deluxe Version of Tim Palen: Photographs from The Hunger Games, out this June, is available for pre-order from Assouline right now! The book consists about 200 pictures from the first 3 Hunger Games movies, as well as a sneak peek of Mockingjay Part 2. CLICK HERE to preorder now!

Here's a little more info on the book:

In exclusive collaboration with Lionsgate, Assouline presents Tim Palen: Photographs from The Hunger Games. Compiled in one deluxe volume, Palen’s portraits capture each character with striking intimacy and transform the high-octane adventure of the films into exquisite visual art. Through Palen’s unique lens, characters become icons, immortalized as the beloved characters the world has embraced.

Assouline

Waiting for Mockingjay: The Calm Before The Storm

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      So guys, I feel like I need to get real here. I've often talked about how The Hunger Games has changed my life and of course all the epic opportunities I've had that comes with running this site. So why did I feel the need to desperately connect with all you lovely folks online in the first place? Reading The Hunger Games trilogy CHANGED ME. But really, it was Mockingjay. Mockingjay is the reason I love this series as much as I do, and if it were up to me I wouldn't change a single word.

     It's possible you've noticed this site's devotion to the third book, as seen in our Mockingjay Mockup. After reading Mockingjay in the double digits, it became clear that Mockingjay was most deserving of splitting into two. The way Suzanne writes is constantly on the move, and so much happens in such a small amount of pages. This is why we wrote the Mockingjay Mockup so we could convince others not only should this happen, but if it did why it was a GOOD thing.

     So here we are at long last waiting patiently for Mockingjay details to come to light. Here's what has come out this past week:

As you guys may know, they have been filming Mockingjay Part 1 & 2 in Atlanta. (If you leave nearby and wanna be an extra, check out CL Casting "Untitled Trilogy" ) So excited to see that Crazy Cat made the cut!

Today, a GREAT article from Variety was released about the upcoming Mockingjay films. Here are some cool tidbits from the article:

Some opportunities when new Mockingjay material might get released:

There will be reveals of the campaign in May at the Cannes film festival and in July at Comic-Con. Until then, Lionsgate is trying to keep specifics under wraps, though director Lawrence allows that the next two films take place in a Panem so devolved as to be barely recognizable.

The fact that Erik Feig is comparing The Hunger Games to Star Wars is a huge sign to me that Lionsgate execs have the right idea about this franchise.

“Not since Luke Skywalker shot into the Death Star has one person had that kind of impact in a franchise film,” asserts Lionsgate production president Erik Feig. “What I really love about how (the 23-year-old Lawrence) plays that character is that Katniss is larger than life and yet she wears her emotions in a very relatable way. She’s not a superhero by any stretch — she’s all too human in the face of extreme conditions — and she faces them with the presence of mind that we all wish we had.” 

Producer Nina Jacobson adds that thematically, the film strikes a nerve with auds. “I was reading a New York Times article on the set about economic inequality, and it made me feel as if we’re becoming more like Panem each year,” she asserts. “The similarities are striking.”

EPIC DETAILS ABOUT INTERNATIONAL FILMING LOCATIONS!!

Lionsgate has even booked Berlin’s massive Templehof Airport — built in 1927, reconstructed by the Nazis as a symbol of supremacy, and closed six years ago — and huge apartment complexes outside Paris for shooting battle scenes. Feig allows that part of the inspiration came from Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” his cinematic recounting of the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam. 

“Kubrick shot the siege in London,” Feig notes. “In a weird way, we love the idea of urban sprawl. So we (looked for) big buildings that have been around forever. We kept coming back to classic war movies, and we started thinking we should look into Europe.” 

Producer Jon Kilik says the “Mockingjay” films mean Lionsgate is moving to the next level. “We are trying to create the reality of a future that’s rooted in the past,” he notes, adding that shooting in Hawaii for “Catching Fire” added to the film’s spectacle. “Those locations are extra-special, and it’s a real reach financially for them,” Kilik says.

That last piece of information is a doozy. Add this to the fact that Mockingjay is Francis Lawrence's favorite, and what an amazing job he did with Catching Fire in a short time frame, all signs point to a great marketing campaign and great films that will respect the book. I can't believe how lucky we are to have these fine people working on this precious trilogy and honoring it how I had always hoped for.

Check out the full Variety article HERE

New Peeta Portrait and Interview with Tim Palen

A cool interview with Tim Palen, CMO of Lionsgate, about the marketing for Catching Fire is being passed around the internet today featuring a new portrait of Peeta. It's a really interesting read for those interested in marketing, and it's also cool to see how Tim Palen seeks out genuine fan reaction when looking for feedback on what they put out for The Hunger Games.

JM: HOW CHALLENGING WAS IT TO APPEAL TO A WIDE AUDIENCE IN A MOVIE LIKE THE HUNGER GAMES?  

There were a lot of challenges in marketing a beloved book especially knowing that it was the first of four films in a series. The best decision we made was to take our queues from the book – and we consider the words of Suzanne Collins to be our bible in marketing the film. The Hunger Games is a story about a reluctant hero who is forced into a world of violence and how institutionalized violence (i.e. war) changes everyone. One of the biggest challenges fundamentally was how to handle the notion of kids killing kids. The books do not glorify violence and Katniss is not a killer. Sensationalizing that aspect of the story would be contrary to the core message of the books and we believed that it would be alienating to a huge part of the audience that love the books and that would love the movie.  

JM: WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAMPAIGN YOU SHOT? CAN YOU TALK ABOUT A RECENT SHOOT AND HOW YOUR PROCESS WORKS?  

Most recently I shot the campaign for HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE. Because I also shot the campaign for the first HUNGER GAMES I have gotten to know the talent and there’s a certain level of trust and
familiarity that has added a level of magic to the campaigns.
As a general rule, a photographer has a short window of time to connect with an actor and make them feel comfortable and safe and taken care of – most times it’s a matter of hours from the time they show up at the studio for
hair/makeup before you have to dive right in. I think that’sone of the advantages of my job – I get to connect withthe people I’m working with on a more intimate level thanmost marketing executives. It’s something I’m grateful for and something I never take for granted.  

JM: WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC QUALIFIERS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WITH YOUR NEXT MARKETING CAMPAIGN…YOU JUST RELEASED THE FIRST TEASER FOR CATCHING FIRE(WHICH GOT OVER 28M VIEWS IN A LITTLE OVER A WEEK) BUT I’M SURE THERE WERE MANY CHALLENGES.

The launch of the teaser trailer for CATCHING FIRE was a hugely pivotal moment in the ongoing HUNGER GAMES campaign. Because we have a franchise across four films, each piece is just part of the larger puzzle, and this step was even more crucial because we had such great success on the first film. At the same time we have a new director (Francis Lawrence), a new editor,a new cinematographer and a new costume designer.
So I really needed this first glimpse of the second film to work hard to reassure the fan base that the characters they know and love are back and that the integrity we showed with the first movie is still intact. But almost equally important for me was to show that the stakes are higher, the drama will be greater and that CATCHING FIRE will be taking the story of our reluctant hero Katniss Everdeen to a whole other level. I’m grateful that Francis Lawrence has delivered a gigantic movie that has so many rich and amazing pieces for me to play with. He’s really made my job a fun and easy one.
Probably the most satisfying thing I saw after the release of the teaser was a fan comment on one of the blogs that posted the trailer. I tend to be overly obsessive about reading and monitoring real fan reaction to the materials. This one comment did the most to reassure me that we had hit the mark with the new teaser trailer: “Shit’s getting real.” It doesn’t get better than that.

Source: Scribd via Panem Propaganda and  HG Girl on Fire

Lionsgate Splitting Marketing Groups; Tim Palen and Nancy Kirkpatrick to Stay | THR

Fear not, Hunger Games fans! When the Summit/Lionsgate merger was announced, we wondered who would be heading Lionsgate's marketing. Since The Hunger Games had a very successful and innovative marketing campaign, we were hoping they'd keep Tim Palen so that we can expect more awesome marketing for the future Hunger Games movies. Looks like they've reached a compromise!

Lionsgate marketing head Tim Palen and Summit marketing chief Nancy Kirkpatrick are both staying with the company, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. 

The Hunger Games studio has closed a new long-term deal with Palen, who will now run marketing for the Lionsgate-branded film slate. Kirkpatrick will head up marketing for Summit-branded films, including the final installment of the Twilight franchise, set for release in late November.

There had been widespread speculation in Hollywood that one of the marketing execs would depart Lionsgate in the wake of the company's merger with Summit this year. As part of that deal, Summit'sRob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger took control of the film studio, potentially giving Summit's Kirkpatrick the inside track. But Palen is considered a talented marketing executive, responsible for the campaign for Lionsgate's current blockbuster Hunger Games. The studio now has worked out a compromise that seems to have satisfied both executives in the short term while planting the seeds of a long-term plan. 

Combining the two studios has resulted in a large number of films on the upcoming release slate, so splitting the duties and allowing each executive to run his and her own slate makes sense. However, once the merged Lionsgate trims its film slate to about 14 films a year, as it has said it plans to do, two marketing heads probably won't make sense. 

At that point, locking Palen into a long-term deal probably gives him the pole position to remain with the company.

UPDATE: Lionsgate is confirming the news with a press release announcing Palin's new long-term deal. 

"Tim is a gifted marketing executive who has been a driving force in the success of our motion picture business over the years, and he elevated his game to a new level with a groundbreaking marketing campaign for The Hunger Games," said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and vice chairman Michael Burns in a statement. "His marketing campaigns integrate digital and traditional resources in innovative and cost-effective ways that reflect Lionsgate's entrepreneurial culture at its best." 

"One of the great benefits of Summit’s recent merger with Lionsgate is the opportunity to be in business with a marketing executive as talented as Tim,” said Friedman and Wachsberger said in a statement. “As we roll out a combined slate capable of generating more than a billion dollars at the North American box office, we are fortunate to have two extremely talented marketing executives to guide both the Lionsgate and Summit brands going forward.”

We're glad that Tim Palen's work on The Hunger Games hasn't gone unnoticed. We love the marketing done for The Hunger Games and we can't wait to see what's in store for Catching Fire and Mockingjay!

Source: The Hollywood Reporter