Will There Be More 'Hunger Games' Movies? Lionsgate Vice Chairman Says Prequels Would Bring 'Arenas' Back

"Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2" has not caught quite as much fire as the previous films in the franchise. Reviews have been a little more mild and its $100 million opening weekend at the box office was well below the $121 million, $152 million, $158 million marks of the first three installments in the franchise. However, the film has still quietly earned over $500 million -- as quietly as a movie can earn $500 million anyway -- over the past three weeks and Lionsgate, the studio behind the movies, would be happy to have more.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns told an audience at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York this week that there will almost certainly be more "Hunger Games" movies, teasing some prequels might soon be in the works. Burns said the franchise would "live on and on and on" and wrote off the latest movie's relatively lackluster box office opening as a "high class problem."

Plus, Burns has a secret weapon to up the popularity of future films.

"The one thing that kids say they missed [from the first 'Hunger Games' films] was there was no arenas," said Burns, referencing the creatively elaborate venues that hosted the violent "Games" that inspired the franchise's title. "If we went backwards there obviously would be arenas."

The arenas were one of the more popular elements of the franchise's universe among fans.

If Lionsgate goes ahead with any prequels, they have a director lined up already. “Mockingjay, Part 2” director Francis Lawrence says he is interested in exploring the movies' back story as well.

“The interesting part of the story for me is to go back 75 years earlier and see how everything became the way it is,” Lawrence told Entertainment Weekly. “I’m sure if Suzanne [Collins] were to get inspired and decide there’s another story that’s important for her to tell that exists within the world of Panem and whether about the Dark Days, another character, or another set of Games, whatever that could be, I’m sure it would be great. And I’d love to be involved, absolutely.”

Will there be more "Hunger Games" movies? Fans will just have to wait to find out.

Watch the trailer for "Mockingjay, Part 2" below: