Hunger Games Prequel Officially a Go At Lionsgate!

After grossing nearly $3 billion worldwide across the first four films, Lionsgate scooped up the rights to The Hunger Games prequel novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snake from Suzanne Collins and now the studio has announced that development on the project is officially underway.

RELATED: The Hunger Games Prequel Will Center on President Snow’s Origin Story

The prequel novel, which is set to hit shelves on May 19 and can be pre-ordered here, will follow an 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow years before he becomes the tyrannical President of Panem. Though his family has fallen on hard time, he sees a chance for a change when he is chosen to be a mentor for the Tenth Hunger Games, only to have his hopes dashed when he is assigned to mentor the girl tribute from the impoverished District 12.

Though no casting progress has been made on the film, chairman of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Joe Drake has stated that “Suzanne’s new book has been worth the wait” and that it breaks “new ground” in the young adult franchise and introduces “an entirely new canvas of characters.” Nina Jacobson, who produced the original series of films through Color Force, will produce the upcoming project alongside partner Brad Simpson and Collins attached as executive producer.

Collins is set to pen the film’s treatment with Michael Arndt, the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind Little Miss Sunshine who also served as one of the writers on the first sequel in the film series Catching Fire, and Francis Lawrence will return to helm the film after directing all but the first installment.

RELATED: Lionsgate Nabs Hunger Games Prequel for the Big Screen

The original Hunger Games movies launched Jennifer Lawrence into international superstardom after the first film arrived in 2012 for her portrayal as Katniss Everdeen. Also starring Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Sam Claflin, Stanley Tucci and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Hunger Games film franchise consisting of four movies (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay-Part 1, Mockingjay-Part 2) had grossed over $2 billion worldwide. Get the whole series on Blu-Ray.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.