<P> In 2013, Hutcherson voiced the character Nod in the animated action - adventure 3D film Epic, loosely based on William Joyce's book, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs; the film is his most commercially successful except for The Hunger Games series . As filming approached for The Hunger Games sequel, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, he enlisted celebrity trainer Bobby Strom to assist him in five hour - long workouts per week . The film brought in $420 million at the North American box office, making it his most commercially successful film . Todd Gilchrist of Indiewire proclaimed of the actor's performance that "Hutcherson's maturing talents achieve a parallelism with the character's self - actualization, proving subtler and more self - aware with every resigned decision he makes on behalf of the people around him that he loves ." Hutcherson received his second MTV Movie Award for "Best Male Performance" for his role in the sequel . </P> <P> On November 23, 2013, the day following The Hunger Games: Catching Fire's United States release, Hutcherson hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live . His performance received mediocre reviews, with Mike Ryan of The Huffington Post stating that he did not really bring "anything special to the table except having a nice attitude", and John Surico of GQ remarking that "while the night didn't necessarily disappoint, it also didn't dazzle". </P> <P> Hutcherson again reprised his role in the two feature - length parts of the Mockingjay film adaptation . The Hunger Games: Mockingjay--Part 1 was released on November 21, 2014, and Part 2 followed on November 20, 2015 . His character goes through a significant personality change in the films, which provided him with an acting challenge; he said, "I'm nervous about portraying it because I've never gone crazy before in a movie ." Emily Yahr of The Washington Post spoke positively of his acting, by saying "Peeta's crazed expression is sure to haunt our nightmares for a long time," while David Edelstein of New York criticized his portrayal in relation to scenes with the other characters, saying "at least Josh Hutcherson's captured Peeta is mostly seen in interviews with Stanley Tucci's camp talk - show host on TV screens...so the actor can't bring his lack of urgency to scenes with (Jennifer Lawrence)." </P> <P> Before filming the Mockingjay movies, Hutcherson filmed Escobar: Paradise Lost, a French - Spanish romantic thriller film, which was released on January 16, 2015, in the U.S. He also served as an executive producer for the film, alongside first - time director Andrea Di Stefano, assisting with casting and blocking shots . Hutcherson said the opportunity "made (him) so hungry to do more like that". </P>

Who plays peter mallard in the hunger games