Hunger Games to become stage show

Jennifer Lawrence will reprise her role as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 later this month

Best-selling trilogy and blockbuster film franchise The Hunger Games is set to be made into a stage show in summer 2016, it has been announced.

The "innovative" stage adaptation will launch in a purpose-built theatre next to Wembley Stadium in London.

It will be created by Robin de Levita, who was behind a Dutch stage show about World War Two diarist Anne Frank.

The movie adaptations of The Hunger Games have taken around $1.5bn (£946m) at the worldwide box office.

The latest instalment, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, will be released in cinemas later this month.

Based on the novels of Suzanne Collins, the dystopian tales follow the fortunes of Katniss Everdeen, who becomes a reluctant reality show heroine.

No further details of the production, or the plans to build a new theatre to accommodate it, have been disclosed.

Tim Phelan, chief marketing officer for Lionsgate - the company behind The Hunger Games film franchise - said the team behind the stage adaptation would "provide a uniquely immersive experience for fans around the world".

Broadway producer Mr de Levita added: "The theatre is a fantastic medium to bring the many meaningful layers of Suzanne Collins' writing to life."