During a recent quarterly earnings call, Lionsgate chairman Joe Drake has revealed some new details about their upcoming film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. He confirmed that they’re planning to start production on the project in the first half of 2022, which will once again be directed by Francis Lawrence, who directed the last three installments of the franchise. Drake also revealed that the President Snow-centered prequel is currently on track for a late 2023 or early 2024 release, as its development has been “moving along really, really well” in pre-production.
He also went on to express his confidence in the film’s theatrical release. “There’s an audience that wants to come back to theaters,” Drake said (via Deadline). “I believe the market’s going to come back… There’s going to be a strong, robust platform for us to monetize our movies.”
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First published last year, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is set 64 years before the events of the trilogy, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games where an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is assigned as the mentor for the tribute girl from the impoverished District 12.
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The novel’s official synopsis reads: “It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.”
The film adaptation will be written by Oscar-winning-scribe Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine), based on the treatment by best-selling author Suzanne Collins. Arndt is no stranger to the franchise as he previously served as one of the writers on 2013’s Catching Fire film.
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The Hunger Games prequel will be produced by Nina Jacobson, who produced the original series of films through Color Force alongside partner Brad Simpson, with Collins attached as an executive producer.
The film franchise consisting of four movies (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay-Part 1, Mockingjay-Part 2) has earned a combined worldwide gross of nearly $3 billion. It notably launched Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence into international superstardom after the first film arrived in 2012 for her portrayal as Katniss Everdeen.