The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Set decades before Katniss Everdeen's story, the film follows eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow in a post-war Capitol, where his once-proud family has lost its standing. With the tenth Hunger Games approaching, he is assigned as mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from the impoverished District 12. When she draws Panem's attention by singing defiantly at the reaping ceremony, Snow sees a way to improve his own position, and the two become entangled in a contest that will determine both of their fates. The film is based on Suzanne Collins's novel of the same name, a prequel to her Hunger Games series.

Francis Lawrence directed, working from a screenplay by Michael Arndt and Michael Lesslie. The film sits ninth in his directing career, following Slumberland and arriving after three earlier Hunger Games installments, Catching Fire and the two Mockingjay films. Tom Blyth plays Coriolanus Snow and Rachel Zegler plays Lucy Gray Baird, with Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer and Josh Andrés Rivera in supporting roles. Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson and Lawrence produced.

Made for about 100 million dollars, the film took roughly 337 million dollars worldwide. Audiences received it warmly relative to critics: it holds 7.2 out of 10 on IMDb across more than 43,000 votes and 7 out of 10 on TMDB, while the critics' rating stands at 6.4 out of 10 from 238 reviews. It runs 157 minutes and was released in November 2023.