Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games book trilogy containing New York Times Bestselling books The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay came out in 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively and was followed closely by the film series which came over three years from 2012 to 2015. Both the book and film series have remained popular fan favorites and for years fans have been calling upon Suzanne Collins to put out more content following the world of Panem and the games.
Over the years, Collins has claimed she would only add to her world of The Hunger Games if the story was purposeful and meaningful. The story is, at its core, a dystopian commentary on the current state of our world. Because of Collins’ elusiveness about her plans for The Hunger Games, fans were shocked and overjoyed when she released a prequel book to the classic trilogy in 2020 titled The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The book follows the main villain of The Hunger Games in the portion of his young adulthood during which he faced his rise and fall into fame and infamy.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, or as fans have shortened the title to, “Ballad,” is led by Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth and was the number one movie in North America for two weeks after its release on November 17th. In its first week in theaters, Ballad grossed $72.8 million in the domestic box office and $171.1 million worldwide. The original four movies grossed $114.9 billion combined worldwide and the entire Hunger Games book series reentered the New York Times bestseller book list preceding and following the new films theatrical release.
The film was released on streaming on December 19th, 2023 and was made available for home viewing on DVD and Blu-Ray on February 13th of this year.