Lionsgate will adapt the new Hunger Games novel, Sunrise On The Reaping, and has scheduled a November 20 2026 release.
The latest addition to the $3.3bn, five-film franchise comes as Scholastic announced on Thursday it will publish the latest book in Suzanne Collins’s YA franchise in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand on March 18, 2025.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping will revisit the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.
Franchise producer Nina Jacobson, alongside her producing partner Brad Simpson, will once again produce through their Color Force. This will be the sixth outing for Color Force since it brought the franchise to Lionsgate in 2012.
Francis Lawrence is in talks to direct. The filmmaker has directed the four previous films in the franchise since Catching Fire.
Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said: “The Second Quarter Quell is legendary and looms large over the history of the Games, even into the time of Katniss Everdeen a quarter-century later.”
The franchise cast has included Jennifer Lawrence as Everdeen, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, and Donald Sutherland.
Rachel Zegler and Tom Blyth joined the latest film, 2023 release The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes, which earned $337.4m worldwide.
Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien will oversee the production on behalf of the studio. Patricia Laucella and Phil Strina oversaw the rights for the book for Lionsgate.