The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Question: When Katniss asks Johanna about Annie why does Johanna kind of stutter when answering?

Answer: Joanna hesitates a bit when she's recalling how many years ago it was when Annie was in the games - she tells Katniss it was "four" then corrects herself and says "five." She then seems a bit somber when Katniss indicates that Annie had some kind of mental breakdown, implying that Annie is Joanna's friend. Joanna is being shown as having a softer side than the harder image she tries to project.

raywest

Answer: Joanna won her games the year after Annie. It's possible she stuttered and corrected herself when recalling how many years ago Annie won was because she was shocked by how long ago it seems her own games were.

Question: Exactly how is Peeta pretending that he and Katniss are having a baby supposed to get them to cancel the games?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: Peeta knows that he and Katniss are Capitol favorites and that their fans have been enthralled by their (fake) romance. By announcing their bogus elopement and a faux pregnancy, he is attempting to win over peoples' sympathy in hope they will demand that the games be halted in order to protect the "unborn child." People generally have more empathy when infants and small children are involved, though his attempt was unsuccessful.

raywest

Question: Given that the Quarter Quell is held every 25 years, the first and second Quarter Quells would have killed off 23 of the previous 24 winners each time. Hence, even if Quarter Quell winners are still eligible (and still alive) for the subsequent ones, the maximum number of available contestants for the 3rd Quarter Quell rises to only 26, which is far too small to guarantee 2 contestants from each district, let alone exactly 1 of each sex. How can they get 24 contestants for the Quarter Quell games?

Answer: This is explained in the books, but not in the movie. Each Quarter Quell had a different twist. The first Quarter Quell, the citizens had to vote on who the tributes would be. The second Quarter Quell (which is actually the Hunger Games that Haymitch won), four tributes were reaped instead of the usual two.

Question: When Johanna is ranting about setting fire to Snow's backyard, you can hear what sounds like a cell phone ringing. Any explanation?

Patty Morado

Chosen answer: There is no explanation. They did have electrical devices, so this could be attributed to any number of things that make ringing or buzzing noises in the background.

raywest

Question: I have 3 questions. 1. How come Katniss wanted Mags as an ally? 2. Why didn't she want Finnick as an ally? 3. Plutarch said half the tributes were in on getting Katniss out of the quarter quell. Is it known what tributes were in on it?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: 1, She chose Mags because she liked her and wanted to protect her as much as possible. 2. Katniss didn't trust Finnick. She didn't know he was one of her allies. 3. Not all of the Tributes who are allies are named.

raywest

Question: In the book, Plutarch says that he never imagined Katniss being in the games, and gave her hints because he thought she would be mentoring the next tribute. However, in the movie, there's a deleted scene that shows him switching game plans, so he did make it so that Katniss and Haymitch/Peeta would be in the games again. Someone help me understand this?

Terra-mae Patrisha Box

Chosen answer: The dance scene took place long before the time when Plutarch would have been changing out the Quarter Quell box. He had plenty of time to change his mind.

kristenlouise3

Question: When someone dies in the dome, the body is taken away by a hovercraft. At the end, Katniss' body is taken by what seems the same hovercraft, which can do this because the dome collapsed. If so, how can the hovercraft enter the dome in the earlier scenes?

Answer: It is not the same hovercraft. It is one that was either stolen or otherwise obtained by the growing rebellion faction that had planned Katniss' rescue. For the other hovercraft that have regularly retrieved the dead tributes, it can be assumed that one is already stationed inside the arena for this purpose or there is an entryway into the dome that one can fly in and out of.

raywest

Question: At the end, how were they supposed to rescue Katniss inside the dome? Because her shooting the wire at the dome just as the lightning struck couldn't have been their plan all along? It just seems like a lot of risk for them getting into the flying machine and waiting outside waiting for her to figure out how to incapacitate the dome and to actually manage it.

Answer: Whatever the plan to remove Katniss from the arena was, which was never revealed, it was circumvented by her shooting the dome ceiling with an arrow.

raywest

Question: When Katniss goes in for her individual assessment, Peeta is exiting the room after finishing his and he seems to be in a daze while walking out, almost seemingly pretending not to acknowledge Katniss walking in. Was that intentional as to not give any hints to Katniss about what he did (painting Rue) too early or to not raise any kind of suspicion to Plutarch et al watching?

Answer: There's no definitive answer to this. It appears that Peta is non-verbally signaling to Katniss that there is something ahead she might react to rather than pretending not to acknowledge her. There is no reason why he would not acknowledge her or be concerned about raising anyone's suspicions. He and Katniss are supposed to be engaged, so it would be expected that they would have this type of connection and communication.

raywest

Question: What happened to Cinna? It looked some men came into the room and started beating him up. But what happened to him after?

Answer: They don't show what happens to him in this film, but Katniss is told in "Mockingjay" that they think Cinna was killed during interrogations. Even in the books his death is unclear. In "Catching Fire" she sees him dragged away, bloody and unconscious. And then in "Mockingjay", Katniss tells the readers "Plutarch's sources believe he was killed during interrogation."

Bishop73

There is also a line where she asks President Coin at the end of this film (been a while since I watched these) where she bluntly says, "They killed him. Cinna. Didn't they?" And the response is a simple yes.

Ssiscool

There's also a scene in Mockingjay Part 1 where Effie is showing Cinna's costume drawings to Katniss. Katniss asks if Cinna is dead, and Effie says that he is, though she does not elaborate on how.

raywest

Question: During Katniss' individual assessment, was Peeta the one who painted that picture of Rue? I read that it was but that doesn't explain why Katniss got angry when Plutarch tells her she has 10 minutes to present her chosen skills. Or why she made that dummy about Seneca Crane?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: It was done by Peeta, who was artistically inclined. Peeta knew that seeing it would have an emotional effect on Katniss, making her angry over Rue's death, thus helping her not to be intimidated by the Capitol judges. It was also Peeta's defiant act against the Capitol's cruelty in taking innocent lives. Katniss made the dummy of Seneca Crane as her own defiant statement. Seneca, by stopping Katniss and Peeta from eating the poisoned berries and declaring them both victors in the previous games, saved their lives, but he was later executed for circumventing Snow's orders. Katniss is acknowledging that Seneca saved her and Peeta, losing his life in the process.

raywest

Answer: In the book, Haymitch told Katniss how he used the arena's force field to electrocute and kill his opponent. He was at the arena's edge when the other tribute threw a weapon at him. As it hit the force field, Haymitch ducked, avoiding the weapon. The electrical power bounced back, striking and killing his opponent, making Haymitch the victor. In the movie, Peeta was injured when he struck the force field. Katniss knew that shooting the arrow with a wire attached to the electrical tree into the dome would significantly damage it.

raywest

Other mistake: The old man executed in District 11 was shot in the head from behind. However, when Katniss looks out the window from above there are no blood stains on the floor, nor is there a gunshot wound to the head. (00:20:50 - 00:22:30)

More mistakes in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Primrose Everdeen: You saved my life. You gave me a chance.
Katniss Everdeen: Yes, to live.
Primrose Everdeen: No, to do something.

More quotes from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.