Hunger Games actress Jennifer Lawrence will earn $10 million for starring in the sequel, Catching Fire. Lawrence only earned $500,000 (plus bonuses) for her performance in the first Hunger Games movie.

Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter: “[Lawrence's] original deal with studio Lionsgate locked her into four planned films based on the best-selling Suzanne Collins trilogy, but producers — recognizing the success of the franchise — moved to renegotiate her contract as the film became an international sensation.”

Co-stars Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson are also rumored to be seeking pay bumps.

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Scholastic has over 50 million digital and print copies of the books in The Hunger Games trilogy in print.

The publisher broke down those figures for the individual books in Suzanne Collins‘ series as well: 23 million copies of The Hunger Games; 14 million copies of Catching Fire and 13 million copies of Mockingjay. These big sales drove significant increases in revenue last year.

Here’s more from the publisher’s earnings report: “In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, revenue rose 24% to $678.5 million, from $545.3 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2011 … Strong sales in Children’s Books and International, especially of The Hunger Games trilogy, again drove substantially higher results.  Consolidated earnings per diluted share were $1.76 in the fourth quarter, compared to $0.78 a year ago. In fiscal 2012, revenue was $2,148.8 million, up 14% from $1,887.9 million a year ago.”

Hunger Games fans have already started to speculate who will play the new characters that will be introduced in Catching Fire. Rumors flew that Twilight star Robert Pattinson was up for the role of Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games sequel.

In an interview with USA Today, Pattinson quashed those rumors: “I woke up this morning and saw all these things about me being cast in The Hunger Games. I was kind of curious for a second. So I called my agent… [my agent] was like no one’s going to offer you that part.”

To be fair, Catching Fire director Francis Lawrence had worked with Pattinson on the film adaptation of Sara Gruen‘s Water for Elephants.

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The New York Times reports that filmmaker Francis Lawrence has come on board as the director for the next installment of The Hunger Games movie series, Catching Fire. Lawrence started off his Hollywood career directing music videos. He has since progressed on to movies including literary adaptations such as Constantine (2005) and Water for Elephants (2011).

Here’s more from the article: “Mr. Lawrence said in a statement that he ‘fell in love with the characters’ of Ms. Collins’s novels, as well as ‘the themes and the world she created,’ adding that ‘this chapter opens all of these elements up in such a thrilling, emotional and surprising way.’” MTV reports that star actors Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson feel sad that Gary Ross did not sign up to direct the sequel film. However, they both look forward to working with Lawrence.

Lawrence is not the only new addition to The Hunger Games movie crew. Simon Beaufoy, the Oscar-winning screenwriter who adapted Slumdog Millionaire (2008), penned the first draft of the script for Catching Fire. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate is negotiating with Michael Arndt, the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind Little Miss Sunshine (2006), to polish Beaufoy’s draft.

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The American Library Association (ALA) has released its annual list of the most frequently challenged library books of the year. We’ve linked to free samples of all the books on the list–follow the links below to read these controversial books yourself.

During the past year, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received 326 reports of “attempts to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves.” The list was part of the ALA’s 2012 State of America’s Libraries Report.

Here’s more eBook news from the report: “The rapid growth of ebooks has stimulated increasing demand for them in libraries, but libraries only have limited access to ebooks because of restrictions placed on their use by publishers. Macmillan Publishing, Simon and Schuster and Hachette Book Group refused to sell ebooks to libraries. HarperCollins imposed an arbitrary 26 loans per ebook license, and Penguin refused to let libraries lend its new titles altogether. When Random House raised ebook prices, the ALA urged it to reconsider.”

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The Hunger Games will open in theaters around the country today and the movie will undoubtedly send readers scrambling for the sequel–a timely book that could help the younger generation think about these revolutionary times.

The Hunger Games focuses on the personal struggle teenage girl named Katniss Everdeen. In Suzanne Collins‘ sequel, Catching Fire, that personal struggle expands in a country-wide revolution. Even though Catching Fire was first published in 2009, certain scenes feel ripped from our current headlines.

Yesterday actor Penn Badgley compared The Hunger Games plot to the Occupy Wall Street movement: “It’s the one percent [killing the kids] … I think you’d have to be blind to not see that … If this doesn’t end in revolution, it’s irresponsible, because of everything it’s bringing up.”

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Promoting The Hunger Games adaptation, actors Jennifer Lawrence and  Josh Hutcherson (pictured) visited New York City’s Barnes & Noble Union Square.

Fans camped out 24-hours before the event, vying for special bracelets that allowed them to get autographs from the stars.

The Hunger Games movie has already sold more than one million pre-sale tickets. According to Deadline, the movie could bring in as much as $125 million at the box office during its opening weekend.

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Hunger Games trilogy author Suzanne Collins is the best-selling Kindle author of all time, according to Amazon.

Over at Salon, Laura Miller took an in-depth look at the series’ success: “With the right title, a kid’s publisher can deploy something the world of adult publishing can only dream about: a large, well-oiled and highly networked group of professional and semi-professional taste makers who can make that book a hit even before it’s published.”

In June 2011, Collins became the first children’s books author to sell more than one million Kindle books. For the last ten weeks, the Hunger Games trilogy has occupied the top three spots on the USA Today best-seller list. In addition, the trilogy currently holds the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list (children’s series category) after 81 weeks on the list.

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Wish you could tune out the world while reading your favorite book? The free “Go Away, I’m Reading” book covers will send a blunt message, customized for your book.

Erin Bowman, Sarah Enni and Traci Neithercott created the simple but inspiring dust jackets pictured above–what cover will you pick?

They have built “Climbing Mount Doom” for fans of J. R. R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy,  “In Narnia BRB” for readers of C. S. Lewis‘ The Chronicles of Narnia, “At Hogwarts” for aficionados of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series, “In Forks, Send Help” for fans of Stephenie Meyer‘s Twilight series and finally, “In the Arena, BRB” for readers of Suzanne Collins‘ Hunger Games series.

Here’s more about printing: “These covers will fit the traditionally-sized YA book. Take the PDFs to your local FedEx or Staples and get them printed on tabloid paper (11x17in). We suggest a matte cardstock (you could print on something glossy, but sometimes that causes light glares at certain angles and you want people to be able to read that Go Away message without incident). Choose a weight between 60-80lb for the paper. Anything lighter and the page will be too thin, anything heavier and folding it around your book will be difficult.”

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Lionsgate has released another clip from The Hunger Games film adaptation. The clip (embedded above) features Caesar Flickerman (played by Stanley Tucci) and Peeta Mellark (played by Josh Hutcherson).  Most of the original dialogue from the book made it to this scene.

In an interview with MTV, Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence noted: “During filming, I really liked everything what I was seeing. I liked everything that Gary was doing. Then I saw it, and it was all there. It’s always hard for me watching because I think I am a horrible troll and I’ll never work again. Overall, I think everybody else in the movie is fantastic, and I think the film itself is really good.”

The film has also spawned two video games, and author Suzanne Collins consulted on both projects. The Hunger Games Adventures will be available on Facebook; you can sign up to try out the beta version. Hunger Games: Girl on Fire will be available as an iOS (Apple tablet products) game app.

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