Although The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 continues to trail behind all of the previous Hunger Games movies at the box office, it has now passed $500 million worldwide and is the sixth highest grossing movie of the year domestically. It may feel a bit like public interest in the franchise has waned (possibly as a result of Lionsgate’s double dip on the final installment), but the truth is that there is still a pretty huge fanbase out there… so much so that Lionsgate is apparently contemplating even more films set in The Hunger Games universe. Although it is unclear if they have the rights to make more movies without Suzanne Collins’ involvement, they seem to be intent on at least exploring the possibilities. Hit the jump for more details.

According to Variety, Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns recently spoke at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York where he stated that The Hunger Games franchise “will live on and on.” He didn’t elaborate beyond that, but hinted that they were considering prequels because they would allow them to show more arena battles, something many viewers missed in the Mockingjay films. Earlier this year, Deadline also reported that Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said they were “actively looking at some development and thinking about prequel and sequel possibilities.”

Suzanne Collins has not written any other Hunger Games books beyond the main trilogy and she claims that she has no plans to do so. That being said, director Francis Lawrence and many of the cast members have expressed interest in working together again. But can they make more movies without her permission? That is anyone’s guess at the moment, although it is entirely possible that they are just promising more movies in order to keep investors happy. On a related note, Warner Brothers is currently working on a new Harry Potter spin-off trilogy, although in their case J.K. Rowling is writing the screenplays. Would you be interested in seeing a prequel to The Hunger Games?