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'The Hunger Games' Prequel 'Sunrise On The Reaping' Sets Filming Date And Location

Demet Koc
© Lionsgate
© Lionsgate

Suzanne Collins' latest novel, Sunrise on the Reaping, which centers on Haymitch Abernathy, has secured a film adaptation deal even before its publication in March. Lionsgate has officially confirmed that the film is set to premiere in theaters in November 2026.

We’re excited to reveal that the casting process for the much anticipated film has already begun. Like the previous Hunger Games movies, filming will take place in Germany and is scheduled to start this July. The official logline for the movie is as follows:

Explores Panem 24 years before Katniss' saga, starting on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, where a young Haymitch Abernathy participates...

Sunrise on the Reaping, a prequel to the original Hunger Games trilogy, takes place during the Second Quarter Quell (the 50th Hunger Games) with 48 tributes fighting for their lives in the arena instead of the usual 24 subjects.


The premise of the book reads as follows:

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

In Scholastic's initial press release, author Suzanne Collins stated that Sunrise on the Reaping is inspired by "David Hume’s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘The easiness with which the many are governed by the few.’ The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question ‘Real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me every day.”


 

Sunrise and the Reaping will be published on March 18, 2025 with its film adaptation premiering in theaters November 20, 2026.



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