On November 17, 2023, the long-awaited movie adaptation for the prequel book A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was released in movie theaters across the world.  

While this installment of the Hunger Games did not out rank the rest of the Hunger Games series, it did overpower the others that weekend to be No.1. According to ScreenRant, Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, over the first weekend The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes made $44.6 million in the United States alone and $98.5 million worldwide. Since then, this prequel movie has made $197.2 million around the world. This is barely shy of the important $200 million movie milestone.  

This movie has received many good reviews from long term fans and newer fans. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes earned an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and 65% from the critics.  

Spoilers Ahead 

In The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the youthful Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth, is tasked with guiding Rachel Zegler’s District 12 Tribute, Lucy Gray Baird. Lucy Gray is reaped for the tenth annual Hunger Games, 64 years before we first see Katniss Everdeen. Coriolanus is assigned to be Lucy Gray’s mentor and attempts to help her win. Coriolanus is a very unconventional mentor and becomes close with his tribute in the few days he meets her. He also leads the other mentors to talk with their tributes more. Coriolanus helps Lucy Gray become a favorite tribute of the districts and Capitol. Coriolanus suggests that the people in the Capitol could become sponsors for their favorite tributes and send money to get their tribute water or food in the arena. Because of his suggestion, the Hunger Games changes drastically and the people of Panam become more invested in it. Throughout the Games Coriolanus helps Lucy Gray both by bending the rules and breaking them so that she wins the Games. This is not entirely out of the goodness of his heart though. He wants her to win so that he can get a scholarship.  

Dr. Volumnia Gaul, the Head Gamemaker of the Hunger Games, manipulates Coriolanus to help her during the Games and he gets put into a situation where he kills one of the tributes in the Games. That is his first kill.  

By the end of the Games, Coriolanus discovers that Dr. Gaul is going to kill all the tributes with her mutated snakes because of a riot in one of the districts. He learnes that if the snakes know your scent, they will not attack so he uses his handkerchief to put Lucy Gray’s scent into the snakes’ cage. This saves Lucy Gray from the snakes and wins her the tenth Hunger Games.  

After the Games, Dr. Gaul discovers that Coriolanus cheats to help Lucy Gray. He is sent off as a Peacekeeper and manages to get sent to district twelve. There he finds Lucy Gray singing in a bar. Coriolanus meets with Lucy Gray outside of their jobs and they grow closer. Coriolanus discovers that one of his friends joined a group of rebels. So, Coriolanus attends one of the meetings, which ends with him killing one of the rebels. That is his second kill. This leads to Coriolanus betraying his friend by sending a message to the Capitol about his friend. Coriolanus’s friend is sentenced to death on the Hanging Tree. That is his third kill. Coriolanus and Lucy Gray try to escape the districts, but Lucy Gray runs from Coriolanus after she finds out that Coriolanus has killed three people.  

Coriolanus then returns to the Capitol feeling betrayed and plays a large part in the improvement of the Hunger Games. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes cleared up many questions that fans had but also added many more. The movie ends in a bit of a cliffhanger making it a great candidate for another sequel and spinoffs. Nothing has been confirmed by Susanne Collins and Emma Wagner, a writer for ScreenRant found that “the director, Francis Lawrence, has stated that they won’t produce a new film without source material from Collins.” There is still hope to see these characters on the big screen but until then fans will just have to speculate.