Next Hunger Games Movie ‘Sunrise’ Confirms Switching Genres in ‘Return to Form’
The upcoming Hunger Games film Sunrise on the Reaping will mark a stylistic shift for the franchise, with director Francis Lawrence emphasizing a return to the series’ visual spectacle and scale. The November release, Lawrence’s fifth Hunger Games film since 2013’s Catching Fire, adapts the story of the 50th Hunger Games Quarter Quell while serving as an origin story for the character Haymitch Abernathy.
Lawrence has chosen to shoot the film in IMAX format, expanding the screen proportions to create a more immersive theatrical experience. He emphasized the filmmaking technique as crucial to the storytelling, noting how aspect ratio choices—such as those used in Catching Fire—can enhance audience impact.
Described as a “return to form,” Sunrise on the Reaping signals the franchise’s refocus on the “scope and spectacle and scale” of earlier entries, particularly those set before Katniss Everdeen’s story. The shift suggests a move away from the more grounded approach of recent films back toward the grand visual presentation and arena-based spectacle that defined the franchise’s initial success.