The Hunger Games poster feels a little early

have some high hopes for this movie, as I'm sure do most fans of the amazing books by Suzanne Collins. Now that the Harry Potter and Twilight series have come to an end, it seems like there's a huge opportunity for The Hunger Games to become the newest YA novel to pull in some major bucks at the box office. I'm just crossing my fingers the movie franchise remains true to the smart, strong vibe of the books, and uses that much-lauded production and acting team to create something worth seeing. (Unlike those sparkly vampire movies. I'm sorry, Twi-hards, but yeesh.)

I think Twilight had an easier challenge—they mainly had to find someone who would make the Team Edward fan base nice and sweaty, and the rest was gravy. In the case of The Hunger Games, we need the entire story to come to life in its film incarnation. 

Hot on the heels of the buzzy Dark Knight Rises poster comes our first glimpse at what Lionsgate has dreamed up for promoting The Hunger Games—and it's a doozy. Like Dark Knight, The Hunger Games poster feels a little early, but the marketing campaign has definitely been kicked into high gear for quite a while now. (I don't know about you, but I can't remember a movie-in-the-making that pumped out so much publicity over its casting choices. I half expected to start seeing press releases about their best boy grip and catering company.)

The Hunger Games poster features Katniss Everdeen's golden mockingjay pin, and the whole thing is engulfed in flames (thus evoking her "Girl on Fire" moniker). It's a clever teaser in and of itself—the focus on the mockingjay really speaks to the entire movie franchise to come, since the symbol becomes more of a central theme in the second two books—but the digital "motion poster" available via Yahoo! Movies is even cooler.