Lionsgate Announces Next Hunger Games Film Based On New Novel

Lionsgate has announced the next film in their Hunger Games franchise, which will be based on a new novel from Suzanne Collins. As THR reports, the studio announced that they are adapting Collins’ newly-announced The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. Francis Lawrence is in talks to helm the film once again, having directed every film since 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

The new book (and film) will, much like the most recent film, be a prequel to the original story that centered on Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence in the films). Sunrise on the Reaping is set 24 years before those events and will be centered around the 50th Hunger Games, which were won by Haymitch Abernathy (played by Woody Harrelson in the films).

The story is set 40 years after the events of the most recent film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. That movie was a big hit for Lionsgate when it released last November and grossed $337.4 million against a $100 million budget.

“The Second Quarter Quell is legendary and looms large over the history of the Games, even into the time of Katniss Everdeen a quarter-century later. Like fans around the globe, we are eagerly anticipating this exciting return to Panem,” Lionsgate’s Fogelson said in a statement.

No word on casting yet for the new film, which has a November 20th, 2026 release date set.