The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a 2023 American dystopian action film directed by Francis Lawrence and written by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, based on the 2020 novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. It is a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012) and the fifth installment in The Hunger Games franchise. The film stars Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, 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, 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 $349 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 Sunrise on the Reaping is set to be released November 20, 2026.
In war-ravaged Panem, Coriolanus Snow is one of twenty-four Academy students selected to mentor a 10th Annual Hunger Games tribute. Coriolanus hopes to win the Plinth Prize scholarship to restore his family's prosperity, which was lost after his father's death.
Coriolanus is assigned District 12's female tribute, Lucy Gray Baird. During the reaping ceremony, she engages the Capitol audience by slipping a snake down the dress of Mayor Lipp's daughter, Mayfair, then defiantly sings to the crowd. Coriolanus earns Lucy Gray's trust while accompanying her to the Capitol Zoo, where tributes are publicly caged. While a few mentors visit the tributes at the zoo, fellow mentor Arachne Crane is killed by her tribute, Brandy, who is immediately shot and killed by Peacekeepers.
While touring the game arena, rebel bombs explode, killing several tributes and mentors, and fatally wounding the President's son, Felix. After Lucy Gray saves Coriolanus from falling debris, he gives her rat poison as a weapon and says the bombings have opened tunnels in the arena, providing additional hiding places during the Games.
The Games commence the next morning, with Lucy Gray surviving the initial bloodbath and reuniting with Jessup, District 12's male tribute. Jessup, weakened by rabies, later succumbs to a fall. During the Games' last round, genetically modified, venomous snakes are dropped into the arena to avenge Felix's death. With Coriolanus's help, Lucy Gray avoids being bitten and wins the Games. Afterwards, Dean Casca Highbottom accuses Coriolanus of cheating, showing a handkerchief dropped into the snake tank to recognize Lucy Gray's scent and his mother's compact filled with the poison Lucy used. Consequently, Highbottom sentences Coriolanus to 20 years as a Peacekeeper. Coriolanus bribes an officer to transfer him to District 12. Fellow Academy student Sejanus Plinth, who has grown disillusioned with the Capitol's ideals after seeing his tribute, Marcus, die, volunteers to join him.
In District 12, Coriolanus and Lucy Gray reunite. Shortly after witnessing a rebel's execution, 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 Head Gamemaker Dr. Volumnia Gaul reveals she procured his 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 he conceived the Hunger Games while he was drunk (with unwanted assistance from Coriolanus' father) and has been traumatized ever since. 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. Isobel Jesper Jones plays Mayfair Lipp, the daughter of District 12's mayor, a rival of Lucy Gray, and Billy Taupe's new girlfriend. George Somner plays Spruce, a rebel citizen from District 12.
Other members of Lucy Gray's travelling musician group, the Covey, include Vaughan Reilly as Maude Ivory, Honor Gillies as Barb Azure, Eike Onyambu as Tam Amber, and Konstantin Taffet as Clerk Carmine.
Michael Greco and Daniela Grubert appear as Strabo Plinth and Mrs. Plinth, Sejanus' parents, while Carl Spencer and Scott Folan appear as Smiley and Beanpole, two peacekeepers sent by the Capitol to District 12.
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.
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. 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. 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". Collins, in addition, would serve as an executive producer on the film.
In May 2022, Tom Blyth was cast as the young President Snow, with Rachel Zegler as his protégée, tribute Lucy Gray Baird. Zegler was originally offered the role in January, but initially turned it down before later changing her mind. In June 2022, Josh Andrés Rivera (who previously starred in 2021's West Side Story alongside Zegler), Hunter Schafer and Jason Schwartzman were cast. Peter Dinklage was cast in the following month. Throughout June and July 2022, the cast was rounded out with actors portraying the film's multiple tributes and mentors. On August 15, 2022, it was reported that Viola Davis was cast as Volumnia Gaul, the head gamemaker of the 10th annual Hunger Games. On September 16, 2022, more cast members were revealed, including Burn Gorman and Fionnula Flanagan.
Filming began in Wrocław, Poland, on July 11, 2022, and ended in Berlin, Germany, on November 5, 2022. Filming locations included the Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig, the Strausberger Platz and the Olympic Stadium in Berlin and the Centennial Hall in Wrocław. Some scenes in the film were also shot in the "Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord" in Duisburg in North Rhine-Westphalia, and areas around Wałbrzych (Poland), including Boguszów-Gorce; a fragment of the trail leading to Chełmiec Mountain, and the lake in Grzędy.
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. 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, and "Can't Catch Me Now", performed by Olivia Rodrigo, was released on November 3.
In July 2022, composer James Newton Howard confirmed that he would return to score the film. Howard's score was released on November 17, 2023, by Sony Classical Records.
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.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes had its European premiere in Berlin, Germany on November 5, 2023, its world premiere at the BFI IMAX in London on November 9, 2023, and was released on November 16, in Europe and November 17, 2023, by Lionsgate Films.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes was released on digital and VOD on December 19, 2023. The film was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on February 13, 2024, by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes grossed $166.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $182.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $349 million.
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. 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. 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 through the five-day Thanksgiving frame. 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), $9.4 million (behind newcomer The Boy and the Heron), and $5.8 million (behind newcomer Wonka). 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.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 64% of 238 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." 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. 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.
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". 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".
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". 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". Brian Truitt of USA Today praised it as "an enticing blend of dystopian action epic and musical drama that surpasses the previous films". 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". 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".
In June 2024, after another prequel novel was announced, Lionsgate officially confirmed plans for a film adaptation. Francis Lawrence entered early negotiations to direct the film. The plot will take place forty years after The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games; and will depict Panem and its 2nd Quarter Quell. The film is scheduled for release on November 20, 2026.