The highly anticipated prequel to the Hunger Games series; The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, came out in early November. This movie is very popular, as the original Hunger Games was an award-winning movie, receiving 28 awards in total. 

The cast for this movie were mostly up-and-coming actors who were not well known yet, compared to the previous movies, who had already famous actors. The original 3 Hunger Games movie cast consisted of Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, and Josh Hutcherson. 

Set in a dystopian world, the idea of Hunger Games revolves around a gruesome game where two representatives from each of the 12 districts are forced to fight against each other. They fight for food, supplies, and weapons. The chosen people fight each other till there is only 1 winner left. 

The movie is a prequel, meaning the story is that of an earlier work, 64 years before to be exact. The main male character Coriolanus Snow later goes on to be the villain of the next 3 movies as he becomes the president. Meanwhile, the main character, Lucy Gray, is a new character from District 12 (the poorest district). She captivated the audience with her voice 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes follows the games as well as a romantic relationship between the two main characters Snow, and Lucy Gray. Snow comes from money but is poor and tries to fit into a rich society of people. 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has been very popular among teens, as new dystopian films are scarce. The new movie has grossed over $423 million worldwide. The book that the movie was based on was also an instant New York Times best seller. 

When watching the movie, we thought that it was very entertaining and a good prologue for the originals. This movie helped us to understand why Snow is such a deranged person. Opinions on the film have been very mixed reviews, with a 64% on rotten tomatoes and a 3.5/5 on Google ratings. Despite this, many believe the movie captured Snow’s villain origin story and it was worth a watch.