‘Hunger Games’ Prequel Film Based On ‘The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes’ Will Begin Shooting Next Year
Have you heardThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes? They’re singing it over atLionsgate, where an adaptation of theSuzanne Collinsnovel of the same name is gathering steam. Collins, of course, is the author of the YA book seriesThe Hunger Games.Three of the four books in that series became a franchise of four films starringJennifer Lawrence. The last book,Mockingjay—published in 2010 — hit the big screen in two parts in 2014 and 2015.
Last year, Collins went back to the well for a prequel set in the same post-apocalyptic world of Panem. Hollywood, no stranger itself to going back to the well, is following suit with a movie that will go into production in 2022.
Oh, Horn of Plenty for Us All
Sound theHorn of PlentybecauseThe Ballad of Songbird and Snakesis now on track to begin production in the first half of 2022. PerDeadline, this latest update comes “from Lionsgate motion picture group chairmanJoe Drakeduring the company’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts.” According to him, the film is barrelling along in pre-production with a release date being eyed for “either late fiscal 2023 or early 2024.”
The Ballad of Songbird and Snakesfollows a de-aged Coriolanus Snow, the character that the white-bearded Donald Sutherland portrayed in the movies. The heroic young man eventuallybecomes the evil President Snow, which means that this is essentially a supervillain origin story, something we’veneverseen in Hollywood before.
I know, I know. “Just report the news without incisive commentary,” you say. But what’s the keyboard command on a Mac for “drips sarcasm”? Never mind.
Now, the extreme Donald Sutherland voice ineluctable film adaptation ofThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakesis in the works. One thing this adaptation does have going for it is thatMichael Arndt, the Oscar-winning screenwriter ofLittle Miss SunshineandToy Story 3, is handling the writing chores. You might say welove his work a Lotso.
We previously reported thatFrancis Lawrenceisreturning to directThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Francis helmed all but the firstHunger Gamesmovie and he also directed Jennifer inRed Sparrow. No relation, incidentally.
Monetize Those Movies
Keep in mind, this information comes from the mouth of a studio executive on an earnings call, where the issue of theatrical distribution (amid the recent surge of the Delta variant of the coronavirus) came up. Deadline notes that Drake “highlighted the potency of ‘big brands’ at the box office.” He talked about some of Lionsgate’s other franchises, e.g.SawandThe Hitman’s Bodyguard, turning a profit. Here’s a quote:
“There’s an audience that wants to come back. I believe the market’s going to come back. … There’s going to be a strong, robust platform for us to monetize our movies.”
Yes, there is a moviegoing market and, hopefully, it will come back when it’s safe to do so. However, the idea of leveraging a surefire hit to get the audience for those young adult books and movies rushing back to theaters seems ill-timed given the uncertainty of current circumstances.
Everyone’s doing what they must to survive right now and that includes studio execs, who may just be trying to keep their head above water. Let’s hope that by the timeThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakesflys (or slithers?) into theaters in 2023 or 2024, we are well beyond this pandemic and resuming some semblance of safe normalcy in our lives as human beings and moviegoers.
