‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ premiered in London’s Leicester Square where the wet, chilly November weather did nothing to dampen the enthusiastic response of the celeb audience or the hundreds of screaming fans who waited for several hours outside. 

Jennifer Lawrence, who returns as Katniss Everdeen in the second film to be adapted from the Suzanne Collins novels, said she made an emergency dash across the US to pick it up from another state.

“It was miserable,” she added. The Oscar-winner had to follow 12 hours behind the rest of the cast – who flew into the UK in style on a private jet.

The sequel to The Hunger Games is expected to be one of the year’s biggest blockbusters.

Lawrence admitted it was comforting to return to a character she loves after a whirlwind 12 months that saw her pick up the Best Actress Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook.

Lawrence’s castmates joked on the red carpet that her Academy Award win made her a “big target” on set, with Woody Harrelson urging her to “give the Oscar back” each time she forgot her lines.

The Hunger Games – based on a series of three books – is set in a dystopian society where teenagers must fight to the death in a televised contest. 

In Catching Fire, Lawrence’s character becomes the unwilling voice of a rebellion, and the actress puts the success of the franchise down to “teenagers responding to not being talked down to”. 

Jennifer also thanked the fans for braving the weather, saying, “I’ve been out here five minutes and I’m complaining!” She arrived on the red carpet with a red coat on top of her backless white Dior gown. The coat was quickly ditched for our photo session. 

The flick, which also stars Liam Hemsworth, Sam Caflin, Josh Hutcherson, and Donald Sutherland, is on general release on November 21.