‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes’ Review: A Tale Of Power And Uncertainty In Pre-Katniss Panem

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A.D. Amorosi With Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” looking to continue its reign at the top spot of the box office, it’s time to consider the most sonorous secret to its success: its original, bluegrass-tinted song selection, including a theme written and produced by Dave Cobb (with lyrics from “Hunger Games” author Suzanne Collins), and sung soulfully by the film’s star, Rachel Zegler.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes.Directed by Francis Lawrence, the prequel is set 64 years prior to the first film and depicts the events that led Coriolanus Snow (originally played by Donald Sutherland) to become the tyrannical leader of Panem.Tom Blyth plays the young Snow, who is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler) in the 10th Hunger Games.It’s the fifth film in series, following 2012’s The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One and Part Two.There are currently no announced plans for another film in the franchise. Producer Nina Jacobson, who has overseen all five Hunger Games films, has said she is uninterested in making another instalment unless author Suzanne Collins writes another story.“If [Collins] had a story in this world with something she wanted to talk about, something to explore, then great,” Jacobson told Polygon in summer 2023.

“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” stayed at No. 1 at the box office on Black Friday, retaining the top spot in its second week on the screens.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Local crime drama film “Last Suspect” returned to the top spot at the mainland China box office over the latest weekend, as “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” opened quietly in third place. Narrowly beaten last week by “The Marvels,” “Last Suspect” climbed one place while “The Marvels” fell out of the top five in China. In its third weekend of release, “Last Suspect” recorded $10.1 million (RMB76 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Refresh for latest…: Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes very (very) narrowly missed the $100M mark globally in its opening weekend, but it’s as near as dammit with an estimated $98.5M through Sunday worldwide. The Francis Lawrence-directed prequel came in slightly higher than pre-frame projections overseas with $54.5M from 87 international box office markets. The drag on getting to the century milestone was domestic at $44M versus hopes for $50M+. 

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is on top!

according to Deadline.The Post said the dystopian action film, which is predicted to enjoy a $30-million opening weekend, leaves viewers “hungry for a meatier conclusion.”“Trolls Band Together” which Deadline praised as a “cute psychedelic pop satire,” came in second, raking in close to $9.4 million.The animated musical comedy, also in its theatrical debut Friday, features the voices of Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, RuPaul and Amy Schumer. The slasher movie “Thanksgiving,” which also premiered on Friday, landed in third, with just over $3.8 million in sales.Rolling Stone called it a “lazy horror film that strains to be merely mediocre” and said it “can go stuff itself.”“The Marvels,” which was in the No.1 spot last week, fell down to fourth, earning $2.8 million.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “You may know me from other stuff, but I don’t use a lot of colors, except when necessary,” says renowned costume designer Trish Summerville. So, when it came to designing the main outfit worn by Rachel Zegler’s Lucy Gray in “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” Summerville, whose credits include “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “Mank” and “Gone Girl,” had to wrap her head around “a rainbow dress with ruffles and things she keeps in her pockets.” The rainbow dress was one of the first outfits Summerville tackled.

EXCLUSIVE: Music has continually been a facet of Lionsgate‘s $3 billion Hunger Games franchise going back to ditties from Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Lorde, and with today’s theatrical release of Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the studio teamed with Spotify for a multi-faceted partnership that shines a spotlight on music’s legacy in the Suzanne Collins franchise.

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate‘s prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is looking at a Thursday night between $5.75M-$6M after showtimes that began at 3PM.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Welcome back to Panem! “The Hunger Games” franchise is officially revived with the release of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a prequel film set many years before the rise of Katniss Everdeen. Based on the Suzanne Collins novel of the same name, the prequel centers on a young Coriolanus Snow as his experience mentoring District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird in the 10th Hunger Games shapes him into the villain fans of the franchise know well.

Cruella,” “Joker” and “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” only strewn with young-adult corpses, silly clothes and Roman names.The trouble is that by the end of the over two-and-a-half-hour movie, directed by Francis Lawrence, viewers still can’t quite put their fingers on why Coryo (Tom Blyth) picks the nasty path he ultimately does. Is it a basic lust for power? A lightbulb realization that survival is more important than morality? Who knows? A lot is shoved into a long and anticlimactic third act, but we’re left hungry for a meatier conclusion.“Songbirds and Snakes” is set during the 10th annual Hunger Games — a televised battle to the death that pits 24 low-class kids against each other in an arena — 64 years before the events of the first film.

The cast of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is hitting the red carpet in the Big Apple!

Katcy Stephan Tom Blyth is tired, but he’s doing a good job of hiding it. When the star of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” sits down with Variety via Zoom, SAG-AFTRA is still on strike, and it’s been six short days since the Lionsgate thriller received an in- terim agreement from the guild. That means the press tour leading up to the long-anticipated release, typically spread across several months, has been condensed to just two weeks.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes might be dressed up like a prequel in its early roots story of villain-to-be Coriolanus Snow, and some might think that Rachel Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird is just an early days Katniss from District 12.

Olivia Rodrigo is contributing her music to the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes with “Can’t Catch Me Now.”

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes cast had a lot say about their upcoming movie!

The Hollywood News Run by film fans for film fans! The Hollywood News Last night, the London premiere of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes took place at the famous BFI IMAX in the Waterloo area of town – quite literally the biggest and one of the best screens in the country. The cast and filmmakers arrived on the red carpet to talk about the new film ahead of its release later this month and we have some footage featuring the two main stars, Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth to share.This new film is set 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem.The film follows a young Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol.

press tour.The 24-year-old Euphoria star is currently promoting her latest role in The Hunger Games prequel film, and she's not wasting a single opportunity to on the red carpet. Just a few days after attending the Berlin premiere in , Schafer partnered with Prada for a head-to-toe golden look that seems to pay homage to iconic mockingjay pin.Now this is art.By Of course, this wasn't just any golden red carpet gown (which are typically reserved for Oscar night shoe-ins).