Film version of book in the works

the next hunger Games book is coming out next month, and a movie version is now being planned.

Lionsgate is working on an adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a prequel to her three Hunger Games novels that will be released May 19.

For the new movie, Collins will serve as executive producer and write the film’s treatment. The screenplay will be by Michael Arndt, an Oscar winner for Little Miss Sunshine, a nominee for Toy Story 3 and one of the writers for the adaptation of Catching Fire. Francis Lawrence returns as director after making the three previous Hunger Games movies. Nina Jacobson will again produce, along with Brad Simpson.

With movie productions halted by the coronavirus pandemic, no release date has been set and casting has not begun. The film will take place in Collins’ fictional Panem, and center on 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow, the future president, played in the earlier movies by Donald Sutherland.

“Lionsgate has always been the cinematic home of The Hunger Games, and I’m delighted to be returning to them with this new book,” Collins said in a statement Tuesday. “From the beginning, they have treated the source material with great respect, honouring the thematic and narrative elements of the story, and assembling an incredible team both in front of and behind the camera. It’s such a pleasure to be reuniting with Nina, Francis, and Michael to adapt the novel to the screen, and having them share their remarkable talents, once again, with the world of Panem.”