[SPOILERS]
In the past few months, “The Hunger Games” trilogy—New York Times Bestsellers written by Suzanne Collins—has experienced a huge resurgence in social media and fandom spaces. Last year was the tenth anniversary of the first film, starring the beloved Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark – our favorite star-crossed lovers of District 12 fighting for survival. With nostalgia heavy in the air, those of us in our early 20s and beyond reminisced on the (arguably) greatest YA film adaptation we ever had.
Though the films are widely loved and admired by fans of the series, splitting “Mockingjay,” the third book of “The Hunger Games” trilogy, into two films (“Mockingjay – Part 1” and “Mockingjay – Part 2”) was a somewhat controversial decision made by Lionsgate, the production company, though likely influenced by a few factors:
Despite these reasons, the decision to split “Mockingjay” into two films was met with mixed reviews. Some fans and critics appreciated the additional depth and detail allowed by the split, while others felt that the narrative was stretched too thin and that the decision was more financially motivated than artistically justified. It also pushed the limits of how long the buzz for the series would last.
- Story Complexity: “Mockingjay” is a dense book with complex themes and numerous plot developments. By splitting the book into two films, the filmmakers had more time to explore these elements, providing a more detailed and nuanced adaptation of the source material.
- Financial Considerations: From a business standpoint, splitting the final book into two movies has been a common trend in adapting popular book series (like “Harry Potter,” “Twilight,” and “The Hobbit”), as it allows the studio to generate more revenue from the franchise.
- Fan Service: By creating two movies from the final book, the filmmakers were able to extend the life of the franchise, much to the delight of fans who were not ready to say goodbye to the series.
“The Hunger Games” was a cataclysmic pop culture phenomenon in 2012, and the hype for the second film, “Catching Fire” only added fuel to the flame. However, when the news dropped that the final installment wouldn’t technically be delivered for two more years, the series lost a bit of momentum. It’s target audience was growing up and was bound not to be as excited for two more movies as they moved on with their lives and interests. I was an embarrassingly huge THG fanatic when I was in middle school, but when the Mockingjay movies were coming out, I had already entered high school and was losing interest. I never saw “Mockingjay – Part 2” until earlier this year when I was rereading and rewatching the series (though I admit that a large part of my refusal to see the film was due to my not wanting to watch Finnick (Sam Claflin) die).
Still, I am of the belief that there should really only be three movies. The first half of “Mockingjay’’ is pure character development and build-up for the second half, so to split that story up makes it hard for both parts to stand alone. They sort of need to be double-featured, so releasing them an entire year apart killed a lot of the excitement, especially because “Mockingjay – Part 1” is arguably quite slow compared to its predecessors. Either way, the deed was done, and there are four films in the franchise. I will admit that the cliffhanger ending of Part 1 is stellar and almost worth splitting the films up just for the gag of it all. So overall, I can’t entirely hate Lionsgate’s decision.
For years, fans have wondered if there might be a fifth film; perhaps the tale of Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) or Finnick’s games would take us back to the arena that terrified our youthful minds. Collins had other plans. In May 2020, it was announced that author Suzanne Collins would be releasing a prequel novel to the Hunger Games series called “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.” Rather than send us to the arena, Collins flew us up to the Capitol. This novel is set 64 years before the events of the original Hunger Games trilogy and focuses on the early life of Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland in the original films, Tom Blyth in the prequel), who becomes the tyrannical President of the Nation of Panem (a dystopian North America) in the original series. It follows the events of the 10th Hunger Games—which take place in the ruins of a place—and the District 12 female tribute, Lucy Gray (Rachel Zegler). Snow, only an 18-year-old teenage boy in this installment, is a student and citizen of the Capitol attempting to help revamp the annual hunger games so that the entertainment value of the nationally televised event is high enough to get people everywhere to watch.
The film adaptation was announced fresh on the heels of the “The Hunger Games” revival, and the first trailer dropped at the height of Twitter’s “The Hunger Games” revival. The film will be released later this year, (November 17th, 2023 to be exact) making this adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ prequel novel the technical fifth film in the franchise. Though it misses the presence of the original cast and names like Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks, and Lenny Kravitz, it gains the work of actors such as Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage. Hopefully, this new installment will thrill fans new and old. Either way, I would highly recommend “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” – it is a surprising and intricate read, and lots of fun for any fan of the original trilogy.