From ComingSoon.net ...


Hunger Games Prequel Movie to Start Filming in First Half of 2022
-----------------------------------------------------------------
During a recent quarterly earnings call, Lionsgate chairman Joe
Drake has revealed some new details about their upcoming film
adaptation of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games prequel The Ballad of
Songbirds and Snakes. He confirmed that they're planning to start
production on the project in the first half of 2022, which will
once again be directed by Francis Lawrence, who directed the last
three installments of the franchise. Drake also revealed that the
President Snow-centered prequel is currently on track for a late
2023 or early 2024 release, as its development has been "moving
along really, really well" in pre-production.

He also went on to express his confidence in the film's theatrical
release. "There's an audience that wants to come back to
theaters," Drake said (via Deadline). "I believe the market's
going to come back... There's going to be a strong, robust
platform for us to monetize our movies."

First published last year, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is
set 64 years before the events of the trilogy, starting on the
morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games where an
18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is assigned as the mentor for the
tribute girl from the impoverished District 12.

The novel's official synopsis reads: "It is the morning of the
reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the
Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his
one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house
of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender
chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and
outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating
assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the
lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -
every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure,
triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the
death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his
doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules
against his desire to survive no matter what it takes."

The film adaptation will be written by Oscar-winning-scribe
Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine), based on the treatment by 
best-selling author Suzanne Collins. Arndt is no stranger to the
franchise as he previously served as one of the writers on 2013's
Catching Fire film.

The Hunger Games prequel will be produced by Nina Jacobson, who
produced the original series of films through Color Force
alongside partner Brad Simpson, with Collins attached as an
executive producer.

The film franchise consisting of four movies (The Hunger Games, 
Catching Fire, Mockingjay-Part 1, Mockingjay-Part 2) has earned a
combined worldwide gross of nearly $3 billion. It notably launched
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence into international superstardom
after the first film arrived in 2012 for her portrayal as Katniss
Everdeen.


<https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/1190056-hunger-games-prequel-movie-to-start-filming-in-2022>

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)