THE HUNGER GAMES:
Discover the tale of THE HUNGER GAMES. Decades before Coriolanus Snow became the despotic President of Panem and 64 years before Katniss Everdeen offered herself as a tribute. The story of a young Coriolanus (Tom Blyth), the final hope for his dying lineage—the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol—is told in THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES. A tribute from the poor District 12, Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), is grudgingly given Snow’s mentoring role after his livelihood is endangered. However, as Lucy Gray’s charisma captures Panem’s audience, Snow recognizes a chance to change their destiny. Snow teams up with Lucy Gray to change the odds in their favor as everything he has fought so hard for hangs in the balance.
Classification: PG-13 (heavy violence and disturbing content)
Sci-fi, action, and adventure
Language of Origin: English
Francis Lawrence is the director.
Producers: Brad Simpson, Francis Lawrence, and Nina Jacobson
Authors: Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt
Nov. 17, 2023, (Theaters): Date of Release
Date of Release (for streaming): December 19, 2023
USA Box Office (Gross): $160.5 million
Duration: 2 hours and 37 minutes
Retailer: Lionsgate
Color Force Production Company
Dolby Digital, DTS, and Dolby Atmos in the sound mix
Digital aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Look through the assortment: The Hunger Games
The idea
The prequel takes place decades before Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss Everdeen and opens prior to the tenth Hunger Games. Living with his grandmother (Fionnula Flanagan) and his cousin Tigris (Hunter Schafer, otherwise stunning in an underwritten role in Euphoria), Coriolanus has excelled at the Academy, where he is supervised by Dr. Volumnia Gaul (a jaw-dropping, slyly evil Viola Davis), as well as the game-changer Dean Casca (Peter Dinklage). Unfortunately, because nobody is actually watching the games, the regulations have now been altered.
New guidelines, fresh faces
Coriolanus has been appointed as a mentor to District 12’s Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler from West Side Story), along with 24 other students. She is a powerful speaker with a free spirit and no willingness to collaborate. She begins to sing during the ceremony of reaping. The crowd is energized by her voice. Zegler is an incredibly talented actress, and her performance as Lucy gives the movie the much-needed spirit it needs. As the savage Hunger Games take shape, Coriolanus must make sure to be at Lucy’s side going forward.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes delves deeply into the dark and terrifying realms of media sensationalism and systematic fascism, two highly heated topics. I was astounded by the film’s merciless demands during a particularly brutal sequence involving the youngest member of the district. The prequel, which runs for 157 minutes and is split into three segments, varies in its success as it moves from the brutality of the death games to the growth of Coriolanus and Lucy’s passion.