First Trailer for ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’

First Trailer for ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’

by Alex Billington
April 27, 2023
Source: YouTube

“What does my mentor do besides bring me roses?” Lionsgate has revealed the first official trailer for the prequel spin-off movie The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, also based on Suzanne Collins’ other book. It’s set 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem. Leading up to the 10th Hunger Games, Snow mentors and develops feelings for the female District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray. This is pretty much just Hunger Games all over again – but set in the past. Rachel Zegler (from Spielberg’s West Side Story) stars as Lucy Gray Baird, and Tom Blyth (from “Billy the Kid”) is co-starring as Coriolanus Snow. It’s directed again by Francis Lawrence, who also made The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and the two Mockingjay movies. The full cast features Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Burn Gorman, Jason Schwartzman, Hunter Schafer, Fionnula Flanagan, and Ashley Liao. In all honesty, this looks better than I expected and actually got my attention, thanks to the all-out epic scale and future-retro vibes. Definitely worth a look.

Trailer for Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, on YouTube:

Return to The Hunger Games, the landmark film franchise that has earned over $3 billion globally, with Lionsgate’s adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ bestseller The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow & Lucy Gray’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is once again directed by filmmaker Francis Lawrence, director of Constantine, I Am Legend, Water for Elephants, Red Sparrow, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire + Mockingjay 1 & 2 previously. The script is by Michael Arndt and Michael Lesslie. Lionsgate will release this in theaters starting November 17th, 2023 this fall. How does that look so far?

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