It was in August of last year when Lionsgate gave The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire a November 23rd, 2013 release date. It caught most people off guard because sequels will usually only get dated/greenlit following the success of the first film.

Anticipation has been very high for several months, which explains why they wanted to carve out a release date: So no other big films would snatch up that lucrative Thanksgiving date.

But my issue is that March 2012 and November 2013 are twenty months apart. What could happen in that long time? Fans could lose interest in the series even if they love the first film. It’ll be hard to keep a steady stream of hype flowing for those twenty grueling months. And, god forbid, another franchise could come along that takes away some of Katniss’ thunder.

Instead, Lionsgate should bump the film’s release up to Summer 2013. I propose a late-May 2013 date to be more specific (Iron Man 3 and Star Trek 2 come out earlier in the month). It’ll be a win for fans who will be happy to hear they don’t have to wait as long, and it’ll be a win for the studio in that they could turn The Hunger Games franchise into a summer blockbuster.

If The Hunger Games turns into a huge box office success later this month, I could imagine the studio at least giving the idea of a Catching Fire move some thought.

Catching Fire is expected to begin filming in September of this year.