“Everyone Hungers For Something.” That’s the tagline for the upcoming prequel to the legendary film franchise THE HUNGER GAMES. It has been nearly a decade since Jennifer Lawrence last brought us into the forum for the competitive games that pits Tributes from each District in a televised battle to the death. Lawrence’s inspirational and triumphant character, Katniss Everdeen, succeeded in tearing the Games down from the inside, leading a rebellion that toppled President Snow (Donald Sutherland).
But how did the Games actually begin? For that, we will be traveling back 64 years before the first film and digging into the early days of the competition in Lionsgate’s upcoming prequel, THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES. Based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins, the story catches up with Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), long before he becomes president. In this story, Snow serves as a mentor ahead of the 10th Annual Hunger Games for a female tribute from District 12. (Sound familiar?) Only, Snow finds himself falling for the beautiful Tribute, and helping her in the Games, despite what it might mean for his family lineage.
Lionsgate did release the first official trailer for THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES, so give it a look to see what we are talking about:
So yes, Coriolanus Snow falls for this Tribute, Lucy Gray Baird, played by the stunning Rachel Zegler, who is coming off of the back-to-back celebrated features of Steven Spielberg’s WEST SIDE STORY and SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS. Zegler brings star power that is one more thing the film has going for it, as Lionsgate likely wants to start a trilogy based around these younger characters. While Zegler's character, Lucy Gray Baird, shares a district and the challenge of entering the Hunger Games in common with THE HUNGER GAMES' lead character Katniss, THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES is set in a different time period, with a new story to tell.
While teasing the impact of THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES, Lionsgate executives explained that this story will sit in the Hunger Games universe in a similar way that STAR WARS: EPISODE - THE PHANTOM MENACE preceded its original trilogy. It will fill in narrative gaps. It will color in the lines of the existing story. And it will pack AMC Theatres locations near you once it opens on November 17. May the odds be ever in your favor.
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