The Trailer For The Prequel To "The Hunger Games", "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" Is Here and It Looks Awesome

Dante5/02/2023 8:00 PM

Variety - The trailer for the “Hunger Games” prequel film “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is finally here, and eagle-eyed superfans are already picking apart every frame. The movie, based on the novel by Suzanne Collins, is the first new entry to the “Hunger Games” franchise since the run of its original four hits concluded in 2015.
Before the trailer officially debuted at CinemaCon, press and a small group of superfans were given the opportunity to preview it during a special event at “The Hunger Games: The Exhibition” on Wednesday night. Following the trailer screening, producer Nina Jacobson (who produced all four original films) and Francis Lawrence (who directed all but the first entry), eagerly broke down the biggest moments from the trailer for Variety and teased what’s still to come.

I'm not too proud, or ashamed, to admit I fell hard for the Hunger Games back in the late 2000s.

I was dating a girl who wouldn't read anything unless it was a People Magazine, and she flew through the first two books. Naturally curious I asked what the hell they were about. "A dystopian look at the remnants of the USA in a new nation called Panem, where one male and one female “tribute” between the ages of 11 and 18 from each of Panem's twelve districts is forced to participate in an annual competition called the Hunger Games, which is broadcast live throughout the country for the entertainment of the Capitol's elite?"

uhhhh

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I picked up the first book and legit couldn't put it down. Same for the second one.

When the third one dropped I was on the Amazon pre-order list and knocked it out the day it arrived.

The books were seriously that good. I don't feel embarrassed saying that. If you like fiction, or want an easy read to get you back in the groove, they're seriously well written, fast-moving, reads with awesome storylines. characters, and environments. Author Suzanne Collins did a great job with them.

That said, when the movies came out, it blasted The Hunger Games into the stratosphere. The casting was great. The direction was great. They really knocked them out of the park.

You couldn't have dreamt a better actor to play Snow than Donald Sutherland

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Woody Harrelson was great.

And of course, the trilogy helped introduce Jennifer Lawrence to the world, and make her a megastar.

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Christopher Polk. Getty Images.

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So yah, the movies were great too.

It feels like ages since they came out, but it's awesome to see them going back to the well again on this concept and doing prequels now. There's no much material there that they can tap into and address regarding how Panem came to be. How The Hunger Games themselves were even devised, and how they came to be, which seems from the trailer like it will be the brainchild of the one and only Peter Dinklage.

The rest of the cast I'm not too familiar with, Rachel Zegler, and Tom Blyth play the leads. But Jason Schwartzman is the fucking man, and the fact he's playing Caesar Flickerman's relative is great.