‘Hunger Games’ prequel ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ set for release in 2023

Jennifer Lawrence in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” (Image: Facebook/The Hunger Games)

“The Hunger Games” prequel, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” has been confirmed and is set to be released in 2023.

The film franchise is set to welcome back tributes on Nov. 17, 2023, production company Lionsgate announced at CinemaCon yesterday, April 28. The company revealed a teaser for the prequel during the annual trade show, as per Variety, also yesterday.

Since “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” is still in production, the teaser did not feature footage from the film. It only showed text reading, “The world will discover… who is a songbird… and who is a snake.”

The cast of the film is yet to be revealed as of this writing.

“The Hunger Games” veteran Francis Lawrence will be directing the prequel, while “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” scriptwriter Michael Arndt will be returning to write the film’s screenplay.

The prequel takes place decades prior to the events of the original movies, which were first set in the 74th Hunger Games.

“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” will focus on young Coriolanus Snow, who eventually grew up to be the tyrannical president of Panem. At 18, Snow was chosen to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute of District 12 during the 10th Hunger Games.

The four original dystopian films, based on Suzanne Collins’ novels, collectively generated $3 billion (around P157 billion) at the global box office. It starred Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks and Donald Sutherland.

Lionsgate first announced plans to make another feature film under the franchise in May 2020, a month before Collins released “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” Dana Cruz  /ra

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