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The movie-hype machine was in a post-apocalyptic kind of mood this weekend as the trailers for two highly anticipated dystopian thrillers premiered. Fans have been longing for a new entry in the seminal Mad Max series, and now—just about thirty years since Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)—the former cop-turned-outlaw is back to wreak some bone-crunching, car-crushing havoc. Tom Hardy takes over for Mel Gibson in the title role, and his costars include seasoned celeb Charlize Theron (sporting what looks like a killer mechanical hand) as well as fresh-faced up-and-comers Nicholas Hoult and Rosie Huntington-Whitely. Perhaps most excitingly, though, series creator George Miller is back in the director's chair, and based on the the jaw-dropping trailer (a gearhead chase sequence set during a calamitous sandstorm? Yes, please!), it looks like he's still got a killer eye for action. Look for the movie sometime in 2015.
And then there's Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence). When we last saw Panem's celebrated warrior—in 2013's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire—she was being airlifted to a secret base, home to an army rising up against the totalitarian government led by the vicious President Snow (Donald Sutherland). In the just-released teaser trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1, we finally get a glimpse of her new environs, populated by characters old (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's slippery double-agent Plutarch Heavensbee) and new (Julianne Moore's haunted-looking rebel leader Alma Coin). Katniss herself looks wizened and tougher, raw yet ready to lead the troops into battle. No doubt a slew of the faithful will be there in the movie theater to cheer her to victory when Mockingjay—Part 1 opens on November 21, 2014.
