#mockingjay premieres

[djarintreble]

i bought a peeta mellark shirt to match my friend for the ballad premiere (we’re doing the peeta and finnick shirt trend) and the girl at boxlunch was like “oh i’m a peeta girl too!” and i was like “peeta was my first love and i’ve been- well this might be embarrassing but i’ve been reading this fic that-“

“IN PEETAS PERSPECTIVE?!”

“YES OMG YOU GET IT”

we literally jumped and screamed in the middle of boxlunch. anyways, shout-out to my new bestie and go read Peeta’s games for more lover boy enjoyment (and hurt)

[bogkeep]

i saw the hunger games prequel movie last night! i haven't read the book for it but i thought it was pretty good, especially the first part. i have a lot of fond memories from the heyday of the hunger games trilogy, so it was exciting and nostalgic to have a new experience.

that said 2 hours and 37 minutes is a RIDICULOUS runtime. remember when movies used to be 90 minutes

[dreamgirledward]

girl (me) who read the hunger games in middle school + was in high school when the movies came out just finished watching all 4 movies with her dad over the past week,,,, now forced to think about a point in her life that she'd really rather not

[cooledtured]

The Hunger Games Return: A Deep Dive into “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”

Hey there, movie enthusiasts! Settle in because on November 17, 2023, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” graced the screens, treating fans to a captivating journey into the dark and enthralling world of Panem. Under the skillful direction of Francis Lawrence and based on Suzanne Collins’ prequel novel, the film promised to unveil the mysteries of the Hunger Games’ origins, unfolding a tale set 64 years before Katniss Everdeen’s iconic arrival to the arena.

A Glimpse into Panem’s Past: Coriolanus Snow’s Tale Unfolds

Now, let’s dive into Panem’s past with the main man himself, young Coriolanus Snow, played by Tom Blyth. He’s navigating the tricky terrain of the 10th Annual Hunger Games, once a part of the fallen Snow family. Now, he’s unexpectedly thrown into the role of mentor for Lucy Gray Baird, played by Rachel Zegler, a tribute from the struggling District 12. The film explores Snow’s moral struggles, tangled relationships, and his surprising journey from privilege to the edge of power.

Star-Studded Ensemble: A Stellar Cast Graces the Screen

And can we talk about the cast? A bunch of stars that had us counting down the days! Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, and Jason Schwartzman brought their A-game. Davis rocked as Dr. Volumnia Gaul, the mastermind Gamemaker with a seriously sinister imagination. Dinklage was the brains behind the Hunger Games as Casca Highbottom, and Schwartzman added humor and charisma as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, a distant relative of the original trilogy’s charming host.

Beyond Survival: Privilege, Exploitation, and Power Unveiled

Now, “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” wasn’t your typical survival thriller. It went beyond the previous Hunger Games entries, digging into deeper topics — privilege, exploitation, and power. All of this unfolds in a condemned amphitheater where the lives of tributes hang in the balance. Coriolanus’ moral tug-of-war and his intricate bond with Lucy Gray Baird promised a storyline packed with unexpected twists, giving us a fresh take on Capitol society.

With a mix of new faces and familiar elements from the Hunger Games universe, the film hit the sweet spot. This movie works as a great expansion of the world created by Suzanne Collins. As we got lost in the roots of Panem’s most infamous tradition, “The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” is set to make a lasting mark on the Hunger Games legacy. It was a thrilling and thought-provoking joyride, inviting us to revisit the dystopian universe that first captured our hearts and witness the rise of a young Coriolanus Snow. Fingers crossed the odds stay forever in our favor!

 — — 

FERNANDO ORTIZ | Writer  POP-COOLEDTURED SPECIALIST  cooledtured.com | GROW YOUR COLLECTION

[cunninghamh2014]

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Josh Hutcherson

[posthungergamessyndrome]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Movie Review

I went to the opening night of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, and since I had written all my reviews of the Hunger Games movies on my tumblr blog, I’d be remissed if I don’t do one for the prequel here. 

First I want to say that no matter how you feel about the prequel or even if you read it all or not,  sitting in the movie theatre in my district 12 shirt and TBOSAS cardigan and watch a new hunger games movie with other hunger games fans who were also all dressed up is so nostalgic and just bring me back to the times when we were thick into this franchise here on tumblr with the OG movies, and that alone was worth going to see this movie.

The showing I went to was a Panem Party, so they also had “merch” on our seats when we arrived, and it reminded me so much of the time when I went to the catching fire premiere in DC, and it's just amazing to have new hunger games merch in 2023.

I did purposely avoid all promos for this movie as much as I can because I wanted to go into it as spoiler free as possible, and I only read the book once and haven’t reread it since.

I did rewatch all the movies earlier this year but only rewatched mockingjay part 2 the night before, which I think was a good idea because I think a lot of the foreshadowing and parallels are with Mockingjay.

Before I go into spoilers in my review, I’d say overall it’s a good movie on par with the original trilogy. I think this prequel managed to do and succeeded in what other franchises failed to do when they tried to also revisit or expand their world. 

It delves into the world of hunger games without being redundant, it had a relevant story to tell outside of the trilogy but still very much connects to it, it gave us interesting characters  and while it gave a lot of new information about the world, it also left audience with questions and wanting more, but it in a good way.

When it comes to casting, I think they did another great job of casting the characters especially with young Snow. I think Tom Blyth was able to humanize Snow enough without - and I can’t believe I’m using this word again after all these years - woobifying him or making him overly sympathetic. 

I think both his acting and the script allowed audience to see him as a human being, which is kinda meta when in the movie Snow advocated for the tributes to be seen as human beings by the capitol enough to place bets on them and make them believe the tribute they got to know and root for will win, at the same time we as the audience was led to believe or hope or be deluded or gaslit or whatever you want to term it, that there’s good in young Snow and worth rooting for, which makes the moments where he shows no he’s not a good person and he chose to do the bad things was still shocking to the audience, even if we already knew how his story ends from the original trilogy. 

However, I do think what the movie failed to convey about his character is the bad choices he initially made weren’t because he ultimately didn’t have a choice or those are the only choices he can make in order to save sejanus, him and Lucy. 

Because in the book we were privy to his internal monologue, we know the bad choices he made were his own conscious choices, that he had every opportunity to be a good person but actively chose to not be one. 

But on the other hand that’s a natural consequence of a book to movie adaptation, we don’t get the internal monologue unless there’s a voice over, which I don’t think would have worked in this movie if they went that route. 

Although I do think it could have somewhat worked in the last scenes when he was talking to dr Gaul about what are the hunger games for and his future, coz the ending of this movie didn’t explain why the 10th hunger games wasn’t mentioned or known at all by the characters in the original trilogy. 

They could have done a montage of Snow erasing the footage of the 10th hunger games himself while we hear their conversation, and while he was staring at the screen it could even then transition to that last scene in the first hunger games movie where president snow was looking at katniss and Peeta returning to 12 and then turning around, and then the scene goes back to young snow as he exit the academy and to the last shot of him in the movie, which also was a nice parallel to katniss’ last shot in catching fire, along with the same movie score.

I do think Rachel Zegler was a great casting choice for Lucy Gray, however, I got to be honest, I found her musical numbers to be cringey. It’s like this movie is actually a hunger games musical but it’s only her character that’s singing for her character and plot development. She’s a great actress but she’s also very theatrical, which you might say makes sense coz Lucy Gray is a performer, but it was to the point I thought she was overacting in certain scenes that it really took me out of the film. 

But that said, Rachel and Tom had great chemistry, and the tension in the relationship really came through in the movie. I bought their relationship more in the movie than I did when reading the book. 

Their relationship in the book felt very insta love to me, like their tongues are in each others throat after meeting for three days. The movie made it a little bit more slow burn, that yes there might be initial attraction between them but snow was directly questioning her if she’s for real and she’s directly asking him if he can be trusted. Their one real kiss in the movie was earned instead of just kissing all the time like they did in the book.

There’s that real desire or they deluded themselves that they can be together but when hit with reality they ultimately choose themselves over the other. 

Sejanus was the character I was looking forward to the most and I wasn’t sure about Josh Rivera playing him, but he managed to pull it off okay.

For me, the real formative relationship Snow had that truly informs who he becomes is his relationship with sejanus, more so than his with Lucy. 

I’m not condoning anything he did towards Lucy, but it wasn’t unreasonable that in the end City Boy Snow didn’t choose to give up his lifelong ambition for a two-week situationship with a poor girl from another district that’s likely still hung up on her ex, and worst, to live in the woods. It was kinda expected, really. 

His relationship with sejanus however imo was far more meaningful and significant to him, because whether he admits to it or not, he did care about sejanus, even if he didn’t want to. Sejanus basically crept up on him and even though he rationalized in the book and maybe also in the movie that he was only protecting him because his mentors instructed him to or he needed to win the prize money, but ultimately he did care about what happens to sejanus and can’t help but save him from himself. That’s why Snow betraying sejanus and killing him in the end was truly the point of no return for Snow and what he did to Lucy just seals the deal. 

So I am glad the movie did spend almost the same about time developing that relationship with Sejanus and Snow, and not just with Snow and Lucy, though I still think they could’ve found a better actor for sejanus.

The relationship Snow had with Tigris was interesting as well, and I also think was more significant to his character development than his relationship with Lucy, but the movie did just gloss over it and only spent time on it at the beginning of the movie.

The biggest issue of the hunger games movies has always been pacing, but while this movie was long, the pacing was the best in this one. I already expected that they will cut a lot from the book even though it is the longest movie in the entire franchise, so the missing details wasn’t as big as a deal for me than it was in the og movies. I still think this should had been an 6-9 episode series, but as a stand alone movie, it works and I don’t truly miss the missing scenes from the book.

I did like the movie was divided in three parts, it helps with keeping up with the movie and storyline, especially for those that didn’t read the book. 

when I was reading the book, it didn’t really pick up for me until part 3, but I actually found the first two parts of the movie to be far more enjoyable to watch than the third part. Aside from Snow and Lucy, I think a lot of credit goes to the character of Lucky Flickerman, he gave the movie enough levity to help with the pacing of the film, and I like that he voices out what’s going wrong with the games like the audience would (those drones don’t work!).  

I think the arena scenes were done well, it conveyed the horror of kids killing kids without it looking like glorified violence. I do think the portrayal of what happens in the arena was much better than in the first movie, or honestly maybe even in catching fire as far as the emotional impact of the killings and deaths go. There were many moments I was horrified and looked away when a tribute gets killed. 

I do think the movie made the capitol students more self aware and empathetic towards the tributes than they were in the books. It wasn’t just sejanus that was conflicted about being a mentor, and I don’t remember the scene of the students rallying to get Lucy out of the arena happening in the book. 

Viola Davis as Dr. Gaul and Peter Dinkilage as Dean Highbottom were without a question great in their portrayal but honestly at the end of the day not the most memorable characters in the movie. Unlike woody harrelson, Elizabeth banks, Donald Sutherland, Stanley tucci, & other adult characters in the OG trilogy, who really made an impression with their character portrayals, aside from Jason Schwartzman, no adult character did the same in this prequel movie.

I often say Francis Lawrence is always on the nose with his direction and like to spoon feed the audience, but when it came to the lore of the hanging tree, that's where he finally chose to be subtle. instead of doing like a "Deathly Hallows" exposition of the origin of the hanging tree, it is the plot of the third act. So if you're just a casual fan, you'd think the only connection is Lucy sang it so Snow remembers when Katniss does in Mockingjay.

Instead, what Francis did is show the scenes from the lyrics of the hanging tree as part of the plot. "The dead man called out for his love to flee" that happened at the very first execution sejanus and snow saw in district 12, and snowballed to the rest of the movie until Snow and Lucy agreed to meet at the hanging tree the day the ran away, although at dawn, not at midnight.

The only heavy handed foreshadowing for me was the thing the Katniss plant, "it's too early for katniss" bit was a bit much. the subtle clues here and there for me was enough, with the meadow, the lake, the lake house, the jabberjays and mockingjays, the hanging tree... 

so yeah, I think that's pretty much it. If you read this far, especially if you're one of the OGs of the THG tumblr fandom, member of the Peeta Mellark Defense Squad, and everlark stan, thank you and if you're on tiktok want to talk prequel movie or discuss all things hunger games, hit me up!

[bethpeaches123]

Facebook memories just told me that 9 years ago today, I saw Jennifer Lawrence at the Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 premiere in London! 🥰

[ddcastarchive]

Elden Henson at the premiere of The Hunger games Mockingjay part 1 (2014)

[everlarkedalways]

✺THG Series Exploration: Mockingjay✺

7: One of my favorite things about being a THG fan is the fanfare, ComicCon panels, promotional tours, cast photos, and movie premieres. Share your favorite memories, posts and thoughts on being a fan of the cast.

(Note that today's queue holds 20 instead of 15 posts because there was just too much great content!)

[timetravelingcas]

I went to a small movie theater that was showing Catching Fire and it was something else. There was 2 hosts who went up and talked on stage before the movie. They told us to shout out "oscar", "wig" "jail" "kiss" when something happens in the movie. Let me tell you it was like 2013 Tumblr irl. People booed Gale. Ppl screamed whenever Finnick showed up. Ppl called Effie "mommy" I wore my mockingjay pin just like I did when I saw the premier. It was amazing

[clatoera]

Since when do you like THG/TBOSAS? Tell me your fandom story 😊

Have you read or watched all the books/movies?

Thank you.

@curiousnonny

Okay so I answered a similar version of this question last year here so I just copied my answer over and put it under a cut because it's LonG but it's still the story!

Okay, I have been waiting to do this justice. But here I go.

I was one of those fans back in the day. I think I started reading the books in 2009/early 2010s. THG and CF were out, and I was literally counting down the days with my mom and aunt to Mockingjay being released. I was 12 at the time, in 7th grade. I got into the series at the age of the youngest tributes, at the age of Rue and Prim. My mom and my aunt recommended it to me, and I remember falling in love. District 12 was my hometown. An old coal down surrounded by the woods, I remember just identifying so much with that. I was little. Me and my mom got Mockingjay the day it released and I read it within a day. I was hooked.

I counted down to the movie. I remember every announcement. All the fan casts, the fan versions of Katniss' song. The buildup as to oh who's going to be Katniss! Who's going to be Peeta! What does Cinna's eye makeup look like. The clothes, I could NOT wait to see the clothes. The girl on fire dress. All of that. I remember finding out while sitting in my aunt's bedroom about it being Jennifer Lawrence. I remember the fan casts of Dianna Aaron as Madge Undersee (RIP). I can literally remember the feelings of cast releases. I bought every merch item that came out. I had a blanket, I had district 2 nail polish that looked like cement, I had the girl on fire 12 nail polish. I remember learning how to do the braid and it becoming my personality for an entire year. I publicly counted down to this movie release. My grandma made me a custom Team Peeta shirt that I rhinestoned for the premier. My best friend and I went to the movie at midnight with my Grandma. We went to them all, and she and I will be going to the newest one this November. I was 14, turning 15, and insufferable.

The Hunger Games defined me. I thought I was Katniss. I did that braid. My baby sister was 4 years younger than me. When CF released in theaters, I was the age of Katniss and she was Prim's age from the OG movie. That relationship of love between sisters is the most relatable part of the entire franchise. To this day, my sister reminds me of Prim. She is sweet and gentle and smart and innocent. And I would do anything Katniss did to protect her sister.

I got very into Clove for reasons unknown. Maybe because Isabelle Fuhrman and I were the same age. Maybe because I remember clove in the books being described as dark hair and dark eyes with freckles. thats what I sort of looked like back then. I'm 5'3, was never very tall. There is still hunger games fanfic I wrote in 2014 floating around out there of Katniss/Peeta and also Clato obviously.

To this day when I go into surgery, I have my hair in those little training ponytails Clove wore, because it keeps my bangs out of my face.

I distinctly remember wanting to be a blonde when I was 13/14. In 8th grade I kept dying my hair lighter with highlights. But about a month before the movie, I dyed my hair back to the dark natural brown. The way home from that appointment my mom pointed out to me "Maybe the hunger games, and Katniss, showed you that you can be pretty with dark hair and you don't have to change that." That has stuck with me for 11 years.

I fell out of it naturally, as I went through HS and College. I went to all the movies at midnight, but still, I was growing up and growing out by the last Mockingjay movie. Even in HS, for golf and dance I braided my hair out of the way. I did hunger games themed dance solos at competitions. Eventually, I did fall out of it as I got closer to college.

But like all things, you find your way back home.

It's been..14.. years since I read those books.

I still do my hair like Clove, but now as an almost doctor/future surgeon.

I still think of my home town as District 12 adjacent.

I still recognize the love of Katniss and Prim as the most important love and relationship in the whole series.

My type is still tall blonde boys with blue eyes (which..I got from THG movie).

I'll be at the midnight premiere of this movie with my best friend, like I did all before.

Recently I saw the movies on prime. I cried watching mockingjay part 2 because that was still so much like me and my sister. I watched again and I mourned the reality of what my favorite series EVER was.

This is a series about children fighting to the death. The horrors of fascism and the government. About actual war. The social commentary (The outrage of the capitol at the thought of Peeta and Katniss's fetus dying in the games, vs the reality of watching 23 children fight to the death every year and cheering is one of the most jarring and realistic reflections of society today). The media sensationalized THG to a love story just like the capitol. Looking back, from the age of Finnick in mockingjay, rather than Clove or Katniss in THG and CF, the way I see these films and this series is so different.

Thats what drew me back. Theres a comfort in this series, it was my favorite thing.

Theres a comfort I want back, in the most stressful season of my life.

But there is so much for me to uncover and unpack as an adult that I missed as a child.

It feels like I am doing a service to my younger self.

thank you for asking and thank you for giving me space to gush.

[mermaidinthecity]

World Premiere of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 at Odeon Leicester Square in London, England - November 10, 2014

[jesstasticvoyage]

Sam during the Mockingjay premiere in Madrid (Nov 2014)

[amethystsoda]

Dug back into the archives and found when my bestie and I made cupcakes for the first movie premiere and then wore our mockingjay pins to the theater 🥹

[starrrbakerrr]

What's your favorite character from The Hunger Games trilogy?

Why do you like them?

Your favorite scene or quote from them?

Do you like the actor/actress' performance who play them in THG movie series?

Thank you :D

@curiousnonny

(I am so shit at answering asks. I’ll start to reply then stop to finish later, and then forget about it until weeks later and I still won’t have a concrete answer so I continue to put it off until I finally finish and post🙃) but anyway…

Hiiiii @curiousnonny

It’s a given that Katniss is my favorite character, and it’s hard to articulate my favorite things about her. I think see myself in her, and I think she’s a character that’s often misunderstood in the book but also by readers. This is mostly the fault of the movies in my opinion, and I think they framed her as this badass girlboss archer who takes no prisoners and is the breadwinner of the household (which is how District 13/the Rebellion framed her as too). And I think Katniss is incredibly strong and all those things, but I don’t think people a lot of people understand that she has to be strong if that makes sense. Or it’s just not acknowledged enough.

And I guess this segues into my opinion about Katniss in the movies. Jennifer Lawrence is an incredible actress, one of my favorites. Silver Linings Playbook is my favorite drama movie because of her performance. And to be honest, few people could play Katniss and I think JLaw is one of the few people that are talented enough to have a convincing portrayal. But I read the first book (and CF I think, I don’t remember the rollout with the premiere of the movies) before the movie was announced, and I had this picture of Katniss and all the characters, and I had an image of Panem. The movie didn’t match that. Even small stuff like the film making the cornucopia silver instead of gold bothered me. I was 11/12 lol. I’m not the biggest fan of the movies as adaptations of the book. I actually didn’t see Catching Fire and Mockingjay pts 1 & 2 until March when they were on Netflix 😭. That was also when I reread the books for the first time and reading it in adulthood really enhanced my perspective of the series (thus 1/2 of my blog). There are amazing actors in movies and the script is good. There’s little to no cringe like Twilight. And Josh’s Peeta in CF is something so special to me (that’s bby boy fr they really underutilized him in these films). But ultimately I don’t connect much with the movies because they left out some things I consider foundational to the story (leaving out Madge also bothered me). I enjoy watching them as entertainment, but I wish there was a better adaptation of the story out there as someone who loves film/tv more than books. It was a missed opportunity.

I haven’t read the prequel yet, I plan on it before the film comes out. I’m really excited to see how the movie will compare with the book so fresh on my mind, and if it’s a better adaptation then the trilogy.

[sirensorisons]

Have you read the hunger games prequel, the ballad of songbirds and snakes?

What's your opinion about it?

What's the most shocking revelation from the novel related to the original trilogy?

What's your favorite character from it?

Do you plan to see the tbosas movie in theaters?

Thank you

@curiousnonny

i preordered tbosas and spent the entire day reading it once it arrived in the mail! i literally couldn't put it down. it's not the prequel anyone wanted, but it's the prequel we needed, because suzanne collins doesn't pull any punches.

i've described it before as her taking the audience by the shoulders and shaking us like, "do you get it this time?" because, in the pop culture consciousness, thg is the one with the love triangle, instead of a story that takes a hard stance against war and authoritarianism. so i love tbosas because it doubles down on the trilogy's message.

i'd hate to spoil it for anyone who hasn't had a chance to read it yet, so i won't go into specifics, but... in the trilogy, president snow is an imposing and threatening figure, but we only ever see him pulling the strings instead of getting his hands dirty. the most startling revelation for me was seeing how snow gets downright filthy. like, he's terrifying. i felt genuinely afraid of him during the story's climax.

favorite character: LUCY GRAY BAIRD MY BELOVED!!!! while the book was being promoted i was afraid she would just be a katniss clone. of course i love katniss! but i didn't want more of the same. so the ways lucy gray differs from katniss is really refreshing. she has an active love life, she's charismatic, she's a natural performer... mwah.

OF COURSE i'm planning to see tbosas in theaters!! 💕💕 i've been rabidly tracking the casting and production of the movie since it was announced, and i just love going to the movie theater. i saw catching fire and mockingjay part 1 in theaters too, but i've never been to a midnight premiere, so that could be a lot of fun.