The Capitol isn’t the only one watching. As the 2025 Cannes Film Festival heats up, all eyes have turned to Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, and the buzz is undeniable.
Slated for a November 20, 2026, release, the $150 million prequel is stirring the market. And potentially heading for historic sales.
According to Deadline, Germany alone is facing an unprecedented ask of over $20 million, with insiders whispering that the figure may actually be closer to $30M. That’s nearly record-breaking for a single territory.
But what’s all the fuss about?
Directed by franchise veteran Francis Lawrence and adapted from Suzanne Collins’ 2025 novel, Sunrise on the Reaping follows a teenage Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zada) and his girlfriend Lenore Dove Baird (Whitney Peak) during the brutal 50th Hunger Games.
Set 24 years before Katniss Everdeen’s rebellion, this installment mixes dystopian nostalgia with fresh star power and prestige casting, like Conclave’s Oscar-nominated Ralph Fiennes as President Snow.
Cannes buyers are all in for Ralph Fiennes as Snow
In what can only be called a casting coup, Ralph Fiennes has been announced as the new President Coriolanus Snow, aka in a role made iconic by Donald Sutherland.
“We wanted to honor Donald Sutherland by having one of this generation’s greatest actors play President Snow,” said producer Nina Jacobson to Vanity Fair. “Working with Ralph has been on my bucket list since he traumatized me for life in Schindler’s List.”
Fiennes joins an already stacked ensemble: Jesse Plemons as a young Plutarch Heavensbee, Maya Hawke and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Wiress and Beetee, and Lili Taylor, McKenna Grace, and Ben Wang rounding out a cast that has both gravitas and Gen Z appeal.
The allure for distributors is clear.
As Deadline’s Andreas Wiseman reported, Sunrise on the Reaping is the big-ticket title at Cannes this year. Its $150M budget and franchise lineage mean it’s one of the few projects worth gambling on, especially in a market short on tentpoles.
Germany’s sky-high ask is bundled with other Lionsgate projects, including Run the Night and Caine, but Reaping is the crown jewel.
RELATED: The Full Cast List (So Far) for ‘The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping’
Nostalgia is THE strategy for this franchise
What Sunrise on the Reaping promises isn’t just a prequel. It’s a puzzle piece in a larger Panem timeline.
Positioned 40 years after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and 24 years before the original series, it fills in critical lore gaps with a personal lens on Haymitch’s trauma, strategy, and evolution.
In other words, the fans are ready!
The franchise has proven legs: Catching Fire made $43M in Germany alone, and multiple entries have passed the $20M mark internationally. With this level of appetite, especially in key markets like Italy ($7.5M ask), Scandinavia ($3–4M), and MENA ($2M), Lionsgate may very well be holding Cannes’ most valuable hand.
And with Amazon hovering as a potential multi-market purchaser, there’s a nervous calm among distributors. But it’s also helpful for independent buyers to have a chance at a proven franchise.
The Hunger Games might just dominate the battlefield once more!
