Not too long ago, on the very heels of a new Hunger Games book announcement, we also received new of a new Hunger Games movie, and this time it’s all about Haymitch Abernathy. Suzanne Collins announced that she was releasing a new Hunger Games book, Sunrise on the Reaping, that would focus on the Second Quarter Quell, the Hunger Games that were won by a young Haymitch Abernathy. And, unsurprisingly, Lionsgate followed up that announcement by announcing Sunrise on the Reaping will become our newest Hunger Games movie. Now Sunrise on the Reaping, the book, is out in the world, and we have new information about the movie, too, a new logo and a writer.
Check it all out below.

Lionsgate shared, “Lionsgate will return to the world of Panem with the major motion picture adaptation of the next book in the franchise, Suzanne Collins’s highly anticipated Hunger Games novel Sunrise on the Reaping, it was announced today by Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.”

Additionally, Nina Jacobson, alongside her producing partner Brad Simpson, will return to produce The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. A release notes that “Francis Lawrence is in talks to direct the film; Lawrence has helmed four previous films in the Hunger Games franchise – every film since Catching Fire.”
Most recently, screenwriter Billy Ray was named the writer for Sunrise on the Reaping. Ray co-wrote the original The Hunger Games movie and get ready for it that iconic Nicole Kidman AMC ad. Amazing.

The first two major cast members have closed deals to star in Sunrise on the Reaping. Deadline reports relative newcomer Joseph Zada will portray Haymitch in the movie. Opposite him, as Haymitch’s girlfriend, Lenore Dove Baird, will be Hocus Pocus 2‘s Whitney Peak.
Other indicate that Elle Fanning is in talks to play a younger Effie Trinket. This well-known The Hunger Games character was first played by Elizabeth Banks in the first four movies.
A plot synopsis for the new Hunger Games movie shares of the Sunrise on the Reaping film:
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will revisit the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.
Of course, as mentioned, this setting means we’ll get the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy in the new Hunger Games movie.

The new Hunger Games movie even has a release date. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will release in theaters in North America beginning on November 20, 2026.
Originally published in 2024.
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