Bill Ray to write the movie Hunger Games

The chances were only a little, in a way in favor of the participants of Cinemacon Tuesday morning while Lionsgate unveiled a new logo for the prequel of “The Hunger Games” “Sunrise on the Reaping” at the annual show for the cinema owners. But the studio has ceased to offer major details – such as actors or images – on the new film, which focuses on Haymitch Abernathy (portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the original saga) and will start to shoot during the summer.

In the dramatic clip of seconds, Flames engulfs a mocker (a symbol of resistance in the apocalyptic panem) which turns into a snake (another important emblem in the world of “hunger games”) because Harrelson offers a disturbing voice: “I think these games will be different.”

At least a more familiar face will return to Panem. Billy Ray, who co-written the original “Hunger Games” as well as this emblematic AMC advertisement with Nicole Kidman, was used to write the script for “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping”.

As previously announced, Francis Lawrence, who has directed all the episodes of “Hunger Games” since “Catching Fire” of 2012, will direct the rest of the prequel. “The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaging” will be released in theaters on November 20, 2026.

“We are really entering the casting process at the moment. We are very excited. We have been working on this project for a year,” said Lawrence at Cinemacon. “We are starting to shoot in July.”

Based on the novel of the same name of Suzanne Collins, “Sunrise on the Reaping” will revisit the world of Panem almost a quarter of a century before the events of the original saga of “Hunger Games”. It starts in the morning of the 50th hunger games, known as the second quarter, in which Haymitch Abernathy entered the fatal arena. In 2012, “Hunger Games”, Haymitch served as a mentor to Katniss Everdeen by Josh Hutcherson.

Collins, which wrote the original novel of the trilogy and the prequel “The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, published “Sunrise on the Reaping” earlier in March.

Lionsgate continued the film franchise “Hunger Games” with “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, with Rachel Zegler as a tribute Lucy Gray Baird and Tom Blyth as a young snow Coriolanie, who became a success with 348 million dollars in the world in 2023. This film focused on the 10th annual game, decades before snow. As a franchise, “The Hunger Games” has generated more than $ 3.3 billion at the world box office, with “Catching Fire” in 2013 as the most profitable with $ 865 million.