“The Hunger Games” franchise continued on Nov. 17 with the release of “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a prequel movie to the original trilogy. The new movie, directed by Francis Lawrence, tells the story of the 10th annual Hunger Games, highlighting Coriolanus Snow. 

Viewers got to see where the games originated and how things might have evolved into the 74th Hunger Games. With a runtime of two hours and 38 minutes, the movie does not have a dull moment.

The first “The Hunger Games” movie, released in March 2012, starred Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen and Josh Hutcherson as Peeta Mellark. It placed fans within the world of District 12 and started with the 74th games. It became a hit, and there has been a movie for every “The Hunger Games” book that Suzanne Collins, the author of the series, has written since.

“The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” stars Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird and Tom Blythe as Coriolanus Snow. The pair had great chemistry within the movie, giving viewers a chance to forget they were watching a dystopian movie. Lucy Gray was a character from District 12 with a love of music, using songs to express her feelings throughout the movie.

Getting to see the background of President Snow was key to understanding where he ended up in later years. Viewers get to see Snow and his older cousin Tigris as kids during the Dark Days, which are the days before The Hunger Games and Capitol existed, and then flash-forward to them living with their grandmother during the preparation of the 10th Hunger Games.

The story is told entirely from Snow’s perspective, which creates a question at the end of the film: what is Lucy Gray’s ending? Viewers see her run off into the woods while Snow attempts to shoot her at the end of the movie, since they initially planned to run away together. She becomes the one person who knows that he has killed three people in total, which Snow sees as a threat to his power. We eventually see Snow 64 years later, but we never see Lucy Gray again.

The soundtrack for the movie adds to the ambiance of the world. With the folksy musical style, the listeners get a deeper feeling of the world of Lucy Gray and District 12. Collins says she included the music as an essential aspect to Lucy Gray as it is one of the things that haunts President Snow the most. While Lucy Gray might not be remembered, her songs “The Hanging Tree” and “Deep in the Meadow” continue to be known throughout the series.

With $243 million being made at the box office as of Dec. 3, it is the best-performing installation of the movie series in the first week, with the second being “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” coming in at around $158 million.

PHOTO COURTESY OF IGN NORDIC