The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping Trailer Pits Haymitch Against President Snow

by · /Film

Add SlashFilm on Google:
Google Discover

Hey are you ready for "Sunrise on the Reaping," whatever the heck that means? The latest "Hunger Games" prequel, "The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping," just dropped a new trailer, and as someone not very well-versed in this world, I have to say that while I think "Sunrise on the Reaping" is a clunky, awkward title, the film looks pretty solid. At the very least, it has more color than most modern blockbusters.

This new movie tells the story of Haymitch Abernathy, who was played by Woody Harrelson in the original "Hunger Games" films and now played as a younger man by Joseph Zada. Haymitch is a contestant in those deadly Hunger Games this time, which means he's drawn the attention of the wicked President Coriolanus Snow (portrayed here by Ralph Fiennes, who kind of has the market cornered on playing villains like this).

Watch the trailer above!

Sunrise on the Reaping hypes the most vicious Hunger Games yet

Lionsgate

I'll confess here that I am not well-versed in the "Hunger Games" world. I've never read Suzanne Collins' books, and I only recently watched the previous "Hunger Games" movies, which I thought were overall entertaining and well-made. So, while it's easy to look at yet another prequel story as a cash-grab (and the previous "Hunger Games" prequel film was accused of being overstuffed), the reactions to Collins' source material for this movie were very positive, and the latest trailer is mighty effective.

It doesn't hurt that "Sunrise on the Reaping" has an incredible cast. Jesse Plemons! Kieran Culkin! Glenn Close! Mckenna Grace! Elle Fanning! And the already mentioned Ralph Fiennes. This is in keeping with the previous films, which boasted such heavy-hitters as Donald Sutherland and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The problem with any prequel is that we inevitably know where this story is going. We know, for instance, that Haymitch isn't going to bring down President Snow, since he's a villain in the original four "Hunger Games" movies set decades after this story. Still, I like what I see here, and even as kind of an agnostic about this franchise, I'll be interested in watching "Sunrise on the Reaping" when it hits theaters on November 20, 2026.