The Hunger Games is making its return to the cinema, just five years since the last film entry, this time with a prequel set 64 years before the first film and focusing on Coriolanus Snow, originally played by Donald Sutherland.
Series filmmaker Francis Lawrence is returning to helm the Lionsgate project, which is based on the upcoming prequel novel written by Suzanne Collins titled The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
Returning to the franchise again are producers Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson. It’s also reported that Suzanne Collins will write the film’s treatment, and Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) will adapt the book after previously serving as one of the writers of 2013’s Catching Fire.
At the time of reporting, there is no word yet on casting, but this is a big project for Lionsgate, and the studio plans to ramp up pre-production once things can safely resume after the current global health crisis.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow, who would eventually rise to become the authoritarian ruler of Panem, and the central antagonist of the original Hunger Games series. In this prequel, Snow is chosen to be a mentor for the 10th annual Hunger Games — for a young girl from District 12, the future home of series lead Katniss Everdeen.
The Scholastic novel will be available for sale on May 19th in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.
