Premiere in Berlin 'perfect way to end'

Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson arrive for the world premiere.

Fans flock to farewell hit Hunger Games saga with stars of series.

Thousands of shrieking teenage fans have greeted superstar Jennifer Lawrence as the final movie of The Hunger Games blockbuster franchise premiered in Berlin, whose monumental architecture served as the backdrop for much of the dystopian fantasy.

Gazing at the 6000 crowding out the Sony Centre venue, many of whom had camped in the autumn chill since the previous night, the Oscar winner said she had mixed feelings about having completed the four-movie action saga.

"It's the perfect way to end these amazing four years, but it's sad to not have this again," said Lawrence, 25.

The red-carpet venue - decorated with fire bowls and echoing to the sound of drums - was packed with youngsters wielding smartphones and homemade banners of the rebel forces her warrior character Katniss Everdeen leads in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2.

A day earlier, Lawrence, the world's highest-paid actress, said it felt bitter-sweet to say goodbye to the feisty heroine of the series, based on the best-selling teen novel trilogy by Suzanne Collins. "She is kind, she is ruthless, she is independent-minded. She is strong but merciful," said Lawrence about the character who has battled through reality TV style life-and-death games.

"I wish that I could have a percentage of her courage and thoughtfulness. She inspires me in every way."

While the books have sold 87 million copies worldwide, the four-part movie franchise has passed the billion-dollar mark at the box office, and Lawrence has topped Forbes magazine's 2015 list of best-paid actresses at US$52 million ($78.9 million).

Hundreds of fans had camped out from as early as midnight, eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of the stars before the rare global premiere in the German capital, before the movie hits screens worldwide from November 18-20.

"I like that for a change a woman plays a strong heroine," said Manuela Braun, 23.

Fans vied for autographs and selfies with Lawrence and other cast members, including Australian heart-throb Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Julianne Moore, Game of Thrones stars Natalie Dormer and Gwendoline Christie and Donald Sutherland, who walked through the venue on Berlin's Potsdamer Platz.

Director Francis Lawrence said he felt inspired by Berlin, whose gigantic Nazi-era Tempelhof airport building, a crucial airhub during the Cold War, serves as the setting for an explosive battle of good versus evil in the movie.

The shuttered airport terminal, a towering semi-circular edifice of the country's fascist past, today houses refugees who have escaped real-life strife - a fact the director said he found "strange" indeed.

"The city has a unique monumentalism in its architecture," said the director, who also shot in abandoned Soviet army barracks and a former power plant in the city.

Sutherland - who plays the tyrannical President Snow ruling over a post-apocalyptic state - said he hoped the story of revolution will give today's young people hope for "a decent future".

- AAP