Well, it looks like we have a winner. Barely a week after Gary Ross announced that he wouldn’t be returning to The Hunger Games franchise, Entertainment Weekly has reported that the job has been offered to another director – I Am Legend helmer Francis Lawrence.

It looked as if it was coming down to a choice between him and Moneyball‘s Bennett Miller, but what with Miller all set to shoot his passion project Foxcatcher, it could be that the timings just didn’t match up. Either way, word is that its been offered to Lawrence, whose back catalogue includes Constantine, Water For Elephants and, of course, I Am Legend.

Considering how much broader the Catching Fire world is than that of The Hunger Games, it certainly makes sense to hire a director who can handle extensive and complex CGI sequences as well as someone who can bring an imaginative eye to a dystopian world. So does Lawrence have what it takes? And is it a project he’d want to sign on for? The world is watching….