K.T Simpson
Lionsgate’s prequel to “The Hunger Games”, mooted late last year, has been scheduled for a first half 2022 kick-off.
Per Deadline, motion picture group chairman Joe Drake revealed during the company’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts that the film is “moving along really, really well”.
The film, set before the events of the previous “Hunger Games” films, is targeted for release in either 2023 or 2024.
Fixing on a young Coriolanus Snow at age 18, “The Ballad of Songs and Snakes” is intended to be a theatrical release.
“There’s an audience that wants to come back” to theaters, Drake affirmed. “I believe the market’s going to come back. … There’s going to be a strong, robust platform for us to monetize our movies.”
“Hunger Games” alum Francis Lawrence will direct “Ballad”, based on Suzanne Collins’ novel.
Collins, also an EP on the film, will write with Oscar winning screenwriter Michael Arndt.
The film follows Snow in his years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem. Young Coriolanus is handsome and charming, and though the Snow family has fallen on hard times, he sees a chance for a change in his fortunes when he is chosen to be a mentor for the Tenth Hunger Games… only to have his elation dashed when he is assigned to mentor the girl tribute from impoverished District 12.
