The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Francis Lawrence |
Screenplay by | |
Based on | The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Jo Willems |
Edited by | Mark Yoshikawa |
Music by | James Newton Howard |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Lionsgate Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 157 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $100 million [2] |
Box office | $337.4 million [3] [4] |
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a 2023 American dystopian action film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, based on the 2020 novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins. It is the fifth installment in The Hunger Games franchise and is a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012). The film stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, and Viola Davis. In the film, Coriolanus Snow (Blyth) is called on to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), a Games tribute, as he seeks to restore his family's prosperity in Panem.
Lionsgate Films CEO Jon Feltheimer confirmed future Hunger Games films would be produced if Collins wrote further installments. In 2019, the studio announced plans for Songbirds & Snakes and official development on the film began a year later, with Lawrence returning as director and Leslie and Ardnt serving as screenwriters. Blyth and Zegler were cast in May 2022 and principal photography began that July and lasted until that November, with filming locations including Wrocław, Berlin, and Leipzig.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes premiered in Berlin on November 5, 2023, [5] and was theatrically released in the United States on November 17. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its cast and story, but criticism for its execution. It grossed $337.4 million worldwide against a production budget of $100 million, making The Hunger Games series the 20th-highest-grossing film franchise of all time, having grossed $3.3 billion worldwide.
A sequel based on the forthcoming novel Sunrise on the Reaping is set to be released on November 20, 2026. [6]
In war-ravaged Panem, Coriolanus Snow is one of twenty-four Academy students selected to mentor a 10th Annual Hunger Games tribute. Coriolanus hopes for the Plinth Prize scholarship to restore his family's prosperity, which was damaged after his father's death.
Coriolanus is assigned District 12's female tribute, Lucy Gray Baird. During the reaping ceremony, she engages Capitol viewers by slipping a snake down the dress of Mayor Lipp's daughter, Mayfair, then singing for the crowd. Coriolanus earns Lucy Gray's trust while accompanying her to the Capitol Zoo, where tributes are publicly caged. While a few of the mentors are visiting the tributes at the zoo, a Capitol student is killed by her tribute, who is then shot.
While touring the arena, rebel bombs explode, killing several tributes and mentors, including the President's son Felix. After Lucy Gray saves Coriolanus from the falling debris, he gives her rat poison as a weapon and says she can hide in a bombed hole in the arena floor.
During the last round of the Games, genetically modified snakes are dropped into the arena as revenge for Felix's death. With Coriolanus's help, Lucy Gray avoids being bitten and wins the Games. Afterwards, Dean Casca Highbottom accuses Coriolanus of cheating and shows him evidence proving so. Dean Highbottom sentences Coriolanus to 20 years' Peacekeeper service. Coriolanus bribes an officer to transfer him to District 12, and fellow Academy student Sejanus Plinth, who has grown disillusioned with the Capitol's ideals after seeing his tribute die, volunteers to join him.
In District 12, Coriolanus and Lucy Gray reunite. Shortly after witnessing an execution of a rebel, Coriolanus is to transfer for officer training in District 2. Coriolanus later finds Sejanus meeting with rebels Spruce, Billy Taupe (Lucy Gray's former love interest), and Mayfair. In the ensuing confrontation, Coriolanus fatally shoots Mayfair and Spruce kills Billy. Coriolanus allows a jabberjay to hear Sejanus' plans. Spruce hides the guns, but he and Sejanus are later hanged for treason.
Lucy Gray and Coriolanus flee north. At a small cabin, Coriolanus finds the hidden weapons tying him to Mayfair's murder. Lucy Gray, distrusting Coriolanus, disappears into the woods. After he is bitten by a snake and unsuccessfully tries to shoot Lucy Gray, Coriolanus dumps the guns into the lake near the cabin. With no remaining witnesses, he returns to District 12.
Coriolanus is sent to the Capitol, where Gamemaster Dr. Volumnia Gaul reveals she procured him a pardon and scholarship to the Capitol University. Sejanus' parents, unaware Coriolanus caused their son's death, make him their heir. Dean Highbottom tells Coriolanus that the Hunger Games was an idea he came up with while drunk, and has since been traumatized by. Coriolanus poisons Dean Highbottom's drug stash, killing the latter and beginning his rise to power, while Lucy Gray’s fate is left unknown.
Dakota Shapiro plays Billy Taupe, Lucy Gray's former love interest and a former member of the Covey. [10] Isobel Jesper Jones plays Mayfair Lipp, the daughter of District 12's mayor, a rival of Lucy Gray, and Billy Taupe's new girlfriend. [11] George Somner plays Spruce, a rebel citizen from District 12. [10]
Other members of Lucy Gray's travelling musician group, the Covey, include Vaughan Reilly as Maude Ivory, [10] Honor Gillies as Barb Azure, [11] Eike Onyambu as Tam Amber, [11] Konstantin Taffet as Clerk Carmine. [11]
Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert appear as Strabo Plinth and Mrs. Plinth, Sejanus' parents, [11] Carl Spencer and Scott Folan appear as Smiley and Beanpole, two peacekeepers sent by the Capitol to District 12. [11]
Archival audio of Donald Sutherland as President Coriolanus Snow from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 is played before the credits.
In August 2017, Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer expressed interest in more stories in The Hunger Games film series, but only with the approval of the author of the series, Suzanne Collins. [12]
In June 2019, Joe Drake, chairman of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, announced that the company was working with author Suzanne Collins with regards to an adaptation of the novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes . [13] By April 2020, Collins and Lionsgate confirmed that plans were underway for the film's development. Francis Lawrence was later confirmed to direct, after doing so for the prior three films in the series since The Hunger Games: Catching Fire . The screenplay was written by Collins, Michael Arndt and Michael Lesslie, with Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson as producers along with Lawrence. [14] [15] Concerned over the book's length, Lawrence briefly considered to split the film in two parts like he did with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 , but abandoned the idea to do so, due to his regrets over that decision. Jacobson felt that the finished film had a "daunting" length but feels that it "really goes by so fast". [16] Collins, in addition, would serve as an executive producer on the film. [15]
In May 2022, Tom Blyth was cast as the young President Snow, [17] with Rachel Zegler as his protégée, tribute Lucy Gray Baird. [18] Zegler was originally offered the role in January, but initially turned it down before later changing her mind. [19] In June 2022, Josh Andrés Rivera (who previously starred in 2021's West Side Story alongside Zegler), Hunter Schafer and Jason Schwartzman were cast. [20] [21] [22] Peter Dinklage was cast in the following month. [23] Throughout June and July 2022, the cast was rounded out with actors portraying the film's multiple tributes and mentors. [7] [9] [8] [10] On August 15, 2022, it was reported that Viola Davis was cast as Volumnia Gaul, the head gamemaker of the 10th annual Hunger Games. [24] On September 16, 2022, more cast members were revealed, including Burn Gorman and Fionnula Flanagan. [11]
Filming began in Wrocław, Poland, on July 11, 2022, and ended in Berlin, Germany, on November 5, 2022. [15] [25] Filming locations included the Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig, [26] the Strausberger Platz and the Olympic Stadium in Berlin and the Centennial Hall in Wrocław. [27] Some scenes in the film were also shot in the "Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord" in Duisburg in North Rhine-Westphalia, [28] and areas around Wałbrzych (Poland), including Boguszów-Gorce; a fragment of the trail leading to Chełmiec Mountain, and the lake in Grzędy. [29]
The soundtrack for The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes contains the film's version of songs such as "The Hanging Tree", "Pure as the Driven Snow", which were live performed by Zegler, and produced by Dave Cobb, which heavily drew from Appalachian-country folk music. [30] The official soundtrack The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) was released on November 17, by Geffen Records featuring tracks performed by Zegler, as well as songs performed by established Americana and folk artists, and was led by two singles: "The Hanging Tree (Lucy Gray's version)" was released on October 20, 2023, [31] and "Can't Catch Me Now", performed by Olivia Rodrigo, was released on November 3. [32]
In July 2022, composer James Newton Howard confirmed that he would return to score the film. [33] Howard's score was released on November 17, 2023, by Sony Classical Records. [34]
On October 30, 2023, the film was given an interim agreement so that actors could promote it during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, since Lionsgate is not part of the AMPTP. [35]
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes had its European premiere in Berlin, Germany on November 5, 2023, [5] its world premiere at the BFI IMAX in London on November 9, 2023, [36] and was released on November 16, in Europe [37] and November 17, 2023, by Lionsgate Films. [38]
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes was released on digital and VOD on December 19, 2023. [39] The film was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on February 13, 2024, by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. [40]
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes grossed $166.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $171 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $337.4 million. [3]
In the United States and Canada, The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes was released alongside Next Goal Wins , Trolls Band Together , and Thanksgiving , and was projected to gross around $50 million from 3,776 theaters in its opening weekend, with some industry estimates going as low as $45 million or as high as $60 million. [41] [42] The film made $19.1 million on its first day, $5.75 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $44 million, topping the box office but marking the lowest start of the franchise. [2] The film made $29 million in its second weekend (a drop of 35%, the smallest of both the franchise and of any blockbuster in 2023), remaining in first. [43] [44] The film finished in second place each of subsequent three weeks, with grosses of $14.5 million (finishing behind newcomer Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé ), [45] $9.4 million (behind newcomer The Boy and the Heron ), [46] and $5.8 million (behind newcomer Wonka ). [47] In its sixth weekend the film made $3.5 million, and a total of $5.4 million over the four-day Christmas frame, finishing in seventh. [48]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 64% of 239 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.4/10.The website's consensus reads: "An outstanding cast and exciting story help make The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes a worthy return to Panem in spite of a rushed and somewhat frustrating ending." [49] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100, based on 53 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [50] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the lowest of the franchise, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an 87% overall positive score, with 70% saying they would definitely recommend the film. [2]
Zoe Guy of Vulture reported that "some critics view the 158-minute spectacle as an overwrought snoozefest, while others argue that Ballad is the most satisfying entry in the entire franchise". [51] NME 's Alex Berry meanwhile characterised the initial critical response as "largely negative", noting that "the film has been criticised as lacking in the excitement and drama promised by the trailer, and not living up to the expectation following the first films". [52]
Writing for IndieWire , David Ehrlich named the film both the best young adult dystopian film and "by far" the strongest installment in The Hunger Games film series, describing it as "the rare prequel that manages to stand on its own two feet and still feel taller than the other stories it's ultimately meant to support". [53] RogerEbert.com 's Christy Lemire complimented the "subtlety of this supervillain origin story" and described Blyth's performance as Coriolanus Snow as "a star-making performance". [54] Brian Truitt of USA Today praised it as "an enticing blend of dystopian action epic and musical drama that surpasses the previous films". [55] In a negative review for The Guardian , Peter Bradshaw wrote that "the interest, dramatic momentum and energy" of the franchise "have frankly expired", concluding that "this movie finally ties itself into various knots to prefigure the later world of Katniss, but the time to end the Games came long ago". [56] Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent criticized the film for "[squandering] the anger of novelist Suzanne Collins's source material" and "[diluting] its biggest villain", further deriding Snow's characterization as a "yassification of a future monster". [57]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result | Ref. |
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Alliance of Women Film Journalists | January 4, 2024 | EDA Special Mention Awards | The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | Nominated | [58] |
Artios Awards | March 7, 2024 | The Zeitgeist Award | Debra Zane, Dylan Jury and Simone Bär (Location Casting) | Nominated | [59] |
Costume Designers Guild Awards | February 21, 2024 | Excellence in Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film | Trish Summerville | Nominated | [60] |
Excellence in Costume Illustration | Oksana Nedavniaya | Nominated | |||
Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 15, 2023 | Original Score – Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film | James Newton Howard | Nominated | [61] |
Original Song – Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film | "Can't Catch Me Now" - Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro | Won | |||
North Carolina Film Critics Association | January 3, 2024 | Best Original Song | Nominated | [62] | |
Ken Hanke Memorial Tar Heel Award | Hunter Schafer | Nominated | |||
People's Choice Awards | February 18, 2024 | Action Movie of the Year | The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | Won | [63] |
Female Movie Star of the Year | Viola Davis | Nominated | |||
Rachel Zegler | Nominated | ||||
Action Movie Star of the Year | Viola Davis | Nominated | |||
Rachel Zegler | Won | ||||
Set Decorators Society of America Awards | February 13, 2024 | Best Achievement in Décor/Design of a Science Fiction or Fantasy Feature Film | Sabine Schaaf and Uli Hanisch | Nominated | [64] |
Society of Composers & Lyricists Awards | February 13, 2024 | Outstanding Original Song for a Dramatic or Documentary Visual Media Production | "Can't Catch Me Now" - Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro | Won | [65] |
Francis Lawrence is an American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thriller Constantine (2005) and has since directed the post-apocalyptic horror film I Am Legend (2007), the romantic drama Water for Elephants (2011), four of the five films in The Hunger Games film series, and the spy thriller Red Sparrow (2018).
Suzanne Collins is an American author and television writer. She is best known as the author of the young adult dystopian book series The Hunger Games. She is also the author of the children's fantasy series The Underland Chronicles.
"Lucy Gray" is a poem written by William Wordsworth in 1799 and published in his Lyrical Ballads. It describes the death of a young girl named Lucy Gray, who went out one evening into a storm.
The Hunger Games are a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The series consists of a trilogy that follows teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, with a prequel set 64 years before the original series. The Hunger Games universe is a dystopia set in Panem, a North American country consisting of the wealthy Capitol and 13 districts in varying states of poverty. Every year, children from the first 12 districts are selected via lottery to participate in a compulsory televised battle royale death match called The Hunger Games. Aided by nuclear weaponry, the last district instead successfully rebelled against the Capitol and moved underground following a secret peace treaty.
Coriolanus "Coryo" Snow is a character in The Hunger Games franchise, a book series and film series. In the original book trilogy (2008–2010), President Snow is the dictator of the state of Panem through the end of the Second Rebellion, which deposes him. In the prequel book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020), he is an ambitious, intelligent and charismatic 18-year-old. He is assigned the role of mentoring a girl competing in the tenth Hunger Games—singer Lucy Gray Baird—and forms a relationship with her.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is a 2014 American dystopian action film The sequel to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), it is the third installment in The Hunger Games film series. The film is based on the first part of Mockingjay, the third novel in the underlying book trilogy by Suzanne Collins. The film is directed by Francis Lawrence based on a screenplay by Peter Craig and Danny Strong. It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland and Sam Claflin. In the film, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) joins Alma Coin (Moore), the renegade leader of the underground District 13, in a mass rebellion against the Capitol.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 is a 2015 American dystopian action film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Peter Craig and Danny Strong, based on the 2010 novel Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. The sequel to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014), it is the fourth installment in The Hunger Games film series and the final installment in the original film series. It stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland and in his final film, Philip Seymour Hoffman. In the film, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) leads a team of rebels to Panem to liberate it from the tyrannical leadership of Coriolanus Snow (Sutherland). This marks Hoffman’s final film appearance prior to his death.
The Hunger Games is a media franchise centering on a series of science fiction dystopian adventure films, based on the novel series of the same name by Suzanne Collins. The films are distributed by Lionsgate. The series feature an ensemble cast including Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark, Liam Hemsworth as Gale Hawthorne, Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy, Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket, Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman, and Donald Sutherland as President Snow. In the prequel film, Tom Blyth stars as Coriolanus Snow, Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, Josh Andrés Rivera as Sejanus Plinth, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow, Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom, Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia Gaul and Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman.
"The Hanging Tree" is a song by American composer James Newton Howard featuring vocals from American actress Jennifer Lawrence. It was written by Suzanne Collins and composed by Howard, Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz from the band the Lumineers. The song was released by Republic Records on December 9, 2014, as the second single from the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014). It was first included in the film's score album but was later added to the digital extended edition of the film's soundtrack. "The Hanging Tree" is a folk ballad that features orchestral strings and a choir.
Rachel Zegler is an American actress and singer. She came to prominence with her film debut playing María in Steven Spielberg's musical adaptation West Side Story (2021), for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. In 2023, she played Anthea in Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Lucy Gray Baird in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.
Next Goal Wins is a 2023 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Taika Waititi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Iain Morris. It is based on the 2014 documentary of the same name by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison about Dutch-American coach Thomas Rongen's efforts to lead the American Samoa national football team, considered one of the weakest association football teams in the world, to qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The film stars Michael Fassbender as Rongen, alongside Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Will Arnett, and Elisabeth Moss.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a dystopian action-adventure novel written by the American author Suzanne Collins. It is a prequel to the original The Hunger Games trilogy, set 64 years before the events of the first novel. It was released on May 19, 2020, by Scholastic with an audiobook of the novel, read by the American actor Santino Fontana, was released simultaneously. The book had a virtual launch due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A film adaptation by Lionsgate, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, was released on November 17, 2023.
Tom Keir Blyth is an English actor. He took an interest in drama from a young age, studying acting at the Television Workshop in Nottingham and at the Juilliard School in New York City.
Mackenzie Lansing is a French-American television and film actress.
"Can't Catch Me Now" is a song by American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo from the soundtrack to the 2023 American dystopian action film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Rodrigo wrote it with its producer, Dan Nigro. Geffen Records released it as the soundtrack's second single on November 3, 2023. A folk rock ballad driven by acoustic guitars, "Can't Catch Me Now" has lyrics about vengeance and the narrator's ubiquitousness in the subject's life, inspired by the film's plot.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is the soundtrack album to the 2023 film of the same name, based on Suzanne Collins's 2020 novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The fifth installment in The Hunger Games film series and prequel to the first film, it stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Josh Andrés Rivera, and Viola Davis.
Laurel Marsden is an American actress, known for her role as Zoe in the Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries Ms. Marvel.
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