It’s good news for fans of “The Hunger Games”.
Lionsgate motion picture group chairman Joe Drake confirmed this week that the “Hunger Games” prequel film, which is based on Suzanne Collins’ novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was aiming to start production in the first half of 2022.
Drake made the comments during the company’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts, Deadline reported.
The eagerly anticipated flick is targeted for release in late 2023 or early 2024, he said, announcing it was “moving along really, really well” in pre-production.
The movie is likely to be a theatrical release, with Drake saying: “There’s an audience that wants to come back [to theatres].”
He went on, “I believe the market’s going to come back. There’s going to be a strong, robust platform for us to monetize our movies.”
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Lionsgate confirmed last year that “Hunger Games” series filmmaker Francis Lawrence would return to direct the upcoming prequel.
Lawrence directed the last three “Hunger Games” movies: “Catching Fire”, “Mockingjay Part 1”, and “Mockingjay Part 2”, which in total, along with the first movie (directed by Gary Ross), yielded nearly $3 billion in global box office sales.
Casting has not yet been announced.
The novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes revisits the world of Panem 64 years before the events of “The Hunger Games”, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games.
It focuses on Coriolanus Snow at age 18, years before he becomes the President of Panem.
In the book, Snow is friendly, charming and the hero of this story. Very far from the man fans knew and hated in the trilogy. Donald Sutherland portrayed the evil leader of Panem in the hit movies.
The previous four “Hunger Games” movies starred Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark.
The likes of Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks also played parts in the much-loved franchise.
