The rumours are now official: Simon Beaufoy will write Catching Fire, the second instalment in the much anticipated Hunger Games franchise. Lionsgate successfully hired the Oscar winning English scriptwriter, who has wrote for an impressive number of bestselling films, including 127 Hours and Slumdog Millionaire.

Gary Ross, the director and co-writer of The Hunger Games, will return to adapt the second novel in Susan Collins’ popular trilogy and supervise the script. A release date for the sequel has already been scheduled for the 22nd of November, 2013, even though the first film does not premiere for another few weeks.

The latest teen craze is set to be a box-office smash when it hits theatres March 23, 2012.