Mariah Carey Judges America, Jena Malone Catching Fire as Johanna Mason

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 Mariah Carey will talk singing and being a diva and Jena Malone will be beating people down. This is just a quick update to a couple of items we posted earlier, confirming two rumors that have come into fruition, all official like. A couple of days ago we told you that Mariah Carey was circling next season’s American Idol judgement panel. It’s now official that Carey has joined, and while no official contract numbers were given, reports indicate that it may be even more than the $17 million figure  that was floating around last week. With the departure of Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, and the probable return of Randy Jackson (who is also apparently Carey’s co-manager), we should be on the lookout for another judge to be named soon, with season 12 of American Idol looming.

According to EW, Simon Cowell commented on the Carey signing, saying she’s “sweet” and would do “great”, though he questioned her ability to tell contestants no.

Up next is some closure on the Johanna Mason role, a pivotal one in the upcoming The Hunger Games sequel, one that also was rumored to have Mia Wasikowska and super cute Zoe Aggeliki in the mix as well (though the former’s interest was quickly denied due to scheduling conflicts). Jena Malone, late of Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch, has inked the deal and made official the rumor that she was the favorite that started at the beginning of July. This means two things. One, there’s still the major role of Finnick Odair hanging and that we are going to see a lot of Jena Malone from her first green slipper wearing  appearance if the Catching Fire film stays true to the books, giving us and Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss an eyeful.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire  hits theaters in November 2013.