Google Earth Satellite Image Reveals Outdoor Water Park Set for 'Hunger Games' Sequel

Editor's note: Some spoilers below.

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The release of the second movie in "The Hunger Games" trilogy is still more than 10 months away, and if you're going through withdrawal from the lack of "Catching Fire" news, here's a little something to light your fire.

Google Earth's new satellite images have revealed the set of the arena for the Quarter Quell, a Hunger Games event that happens every 25 years with a theme that makes the games even more gut-wrenching for the Districts to watch, if you can believe it. In Suzanne Collins' second book, the 75th annual Hunger Games' Quarter Quell has previous winners return to the arena again.

(Image: Google Earth)

The Google Earth image was spotted by @Whedonite96 and a few other Twitter users. Earlier this year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported an area in Clayton County, Georgia, was selected to host part of the set for the film. Here's more specifics on the location from the AJC:

[It] will shoot at a man-made water park known as “The Beach” because it was built as the beach volleyball venue for the 1996 Olympics. The park is being transformed into a post-apocalyptic setting for the movie, which is based on a book about children forced to fight to the death for food. Other parts of the movie will be shot in Atlanta and Hawaii.

(Image: Google Earth)

The water park was chosen because the arena in the book is designed like a donut with an island at the center where the cornucopia exists (an area where useful supplies and weapons can be found by the tributes). Then there's a ring of water that is surrounded by an outer ring of beach and jungle. MTV recently reported director Francis Lawrence explaining more about the challenge of the set:

"The arena stuff is pretty tricky... just because the sort of center of the arena where the cornucopia exists and the water and the spokes. The circular beach with the jungle around it doesn't exist, so we have to sort of piece it all together," he explained. "And you know even though shooting in Hawaii sounds like a lot of fun, it's pretty tricky when you're in the beach and waves and tides. Our set got washed away one day by the tide, and then... shooting in the jungle where there's bugs and mud and rain. The days are short, so you don't have much time, and you're starting to lug around 100-pound IMAX cameras."

Deviant Art artist alternatecoppa (via MyHungerGames.com) has a rendition of what the arena might look like on a map (Note to get a better sense of the details, visit alternatecoppa's page):

(Image: alternatecoppa/Deviant Art)

Hopefully this helps satiate your need for "Hunger Games" updates since"Catching Fire" doesn't hit theaters until Nov. 22.

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Related:

• Liberal or Conservative? Both Sides Trying to Claim 'Hunger Games' as Their Own - Why?
• What Are Critics Saying About the 'Hunger Games'? The Reviews Are In...
• Which Reality TV Show and War Inspired the 'Hunger Games'?

(H/T: io9)