book-to-movie adaptations<\/a> and I have a lot of thoughts about the trailer\u2014and so do fans who can\u2019t wait to see it on the big screen.<\/p>\nI\u2019ve been a Hunger Games fan since roughly 2011, so I\u2019ve followed every book and movie release over the last decade and a half. With a stacked cast, eye-catching visuals, and a ton of book buzz, I can confidently tell you this release is going to be big.<\/p>\n
The trailer dropped on April 13, and it\u2019s the first full-length look at the movie, which releases November 20. Sunrise on the Reaping is a prequel that follows Katniss\u2019s alcoholic mentor, Haymitch, as a teenager as he fights to survive his own Hunger Games. Because it\u2019s the 50th annual games, also known as the second Quarter Quell, twice the number of tributes will battle to the death in an especially beautiful but brutal arena.<\/p>\n
As a longtime fan, what are my thoughts on the trailer? Honestly, I\u2019m excited for November. My prediction as a books editor just from watching the trailer is that Sunrise on the Reaping is going to outperform the previous prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and I\u2019ll tell you why.<\/p>\n
One major reason is the cast. I\u2019m calling it now: Ralph Fiennes\u2019s glorious malice is going to be the best President Snow casting we\u2019ve had yet. (I loved him as the noble but burdened Cardinal Lawrence in Conclave, but he\u2019s best known for playing Voldemort, and for good reason.)<\/p>\n
When he threatens Haymitch that \u201cIf you disobey me, we shall open the bloodbath with the longest, most drawn-out death your people have ever seen\u201d? Instant chills. YouTube comments agree, praising \u201cThat last line where he pauses and pauses and trails off… brilliant!\u201d and \u201cRalph Fiennes killed it. Chills, absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n
But I also think a major hook of Sunrise on the Reaping is going to be the visuals. Haymitch\u2019s arena is unique because everything is made to be both hauntingly beautiful and uniquely designed to kill you. The trailer shows overflowing fields of flowers leading to the cornucopia, where the weapons are stored and the bloodbath begins. Fans agree: \u201cThe color is so disturbing. The brightness of this. Well done,\u201d one user commented.<\/p>\n
I get annoyed with action movies that are too poorly lit because I can\u2019t actually see what\u2019s happening. (Christopher Nolan\u2019s Odyssey trailer, I\u2019m looking at you.) Sunrise on the Reaping is going to avoid this issue, but its colorful visuals are both going to lean into the franchise\u2019s visual strengths and expose its thematic weaknesses.<\/p>\n
The Hunger Games books condemn the flashy excess of the Capitol. But the tricky irony of the franchise is that it\u2019s the over-the-top flashiness and the brutality of the games that make the movies so exciting to watch. The costumes! The romance! The tragedy!<\/p>\n
It keeps us on the edge of our seats, and is part of why so many people are excited for the film to release in November, myself included. But the movies also put us in the role of the Capitol, watching the Hunger Games for entertainment and wanting them to be bigger and more dramatic than ever.<\/p>\n
The previous movie prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, didn\u2019t have the cultural force of the original series, and I think it\u2019s in part because of the visuals. While it was an interesting look at the background of the franchise following a young President Snow, the movie showed a somber post-war Capitol, less pomp and circumstance, and a stripped-down arena\u2014and it made the movie less engaging to watch.<\/p>\n
Sunrise on the Reaping is back in roaring color, firmly part of the merciless media machine we know from the original series. The trailer teased some emotional gut punches (the chariot scene\u2026if you know, you know), the over-the-top Capitol fashion, huge explosions, and teenagers double wielding axes. In short, it\u2019s everything you want from a Hunger Games installment, with a promise of tense action and high emotional stakes.<\/p>\n
As one fan sums it up: \u201c10 years later and I\u2019m STILL crying over The Hunger Games.\u201d<\/p>\n
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