Earlier this week, we reported that The Hunger Games director Gary Ross is seeking a substantial raise to come back and direct the sequel, Catching Fire. Today we have word that the filmmaker has dropped out of this follow-up altogether.

The aforementioned raise had little to do with the director leaving the project, though Lionsgate's offer is believed to be quite low. His departure is simply attributed to his lack of desire to make a sequel. It is also believed that Suzanne Collins' first book is his favorite in the trilogy.

There was the possibility of a shooting conflict for star Jennifer Lawrence with the X-Men: First Class Sequel and Catching Fire potentially shooting around the same time. That scenario was put to rest last night, when we reported Fox has pushed production on the mutant sequel to January, which would allow for Catching Fire to start shooting this fall, as originally planned. However, now this Liongate sequel faces a bigger hurdle in finding a new director.