Francis Lawrence returns to direct The Hunger Games prequel

When you have a franchise that proves successful with audiences and makes loads of money, what better thing to do than just keep milking it? It sounds terrible and people often get frustrated at Hollywood for continually putting out sequel after sequel rather than wholly original franchises, but movie-making is as much about making a profit as it is about creating great entertainment and when expanding on existing franchises brings in the cash, I guess you can’t blame them.

We have heard before about Lionsgate plans to return to their successful The Hunger Games film franchise by making a prequel to the Suzanne Collins’ series of novels source material. That prequel is based off her yet to be released The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes book which tells the story of President Coriolanus Snow, the villain of the original franchise as played by Donald Sutherland in the movies. It’s a different take on a prequel which will focus on the origins of its villain rather than focusing on some of its heroes. With fans especially concerned that the book could attempt to try and provide motivation for his evil ways and get you to sympathise with the character and make the rest of the books feel and play out a little differently.

With the book not yet released though, there is no way yet of knowing exactly why Collins has chosen to focus on President Snow and I guess its only once the novel comes out that fans can really know if it’s a worthy part the overall story or not. Still, it shows not only how eager Lionsgate is for Collins work, but the strength of the franchise and its previous movies in general that they are willing to make a film based on a book that is yet to be released.

And while there may be some uncertainty in the story, it seems they want to ensure that there is a lot less of that behind the camera as Variety reports that Lionsgate is bringing Francis Lawrence back to direct the prequel. While Gary Ross was responsible for bringing the first Hunger Games movie to the big screen back in 2012, it was Lawrence who truly catapulted it into the big time with its even bigger sequel Catching Fire before also helming the last two films, Mockingjay Part 1 and 2. Having Lawrence back ensures that the new prequel should look and feel like the previous films and with his strong connection to the story, that it will all feel perfectly natural too.

The project doesn’t have a set release date, but fans of the film franchise can at least take comfort in knowing that this new movie will be helmed by someone who is just as passionate about the books and movies as they are.

Last Updated: April 22, 2020