Hunger Games Prequel Trailer Garners 109M Views in 24 Hours

Lionsgate released the first teaser trailer for "The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" on November 20, 2025, generating 109 million views across platforms in its initial 24 hours and marking the studio's second-largest trailer launch in its 27-year history. The prequel film, set for theatrical release on November 20, 2026, adapts Suzanne Collins' latest novel in the dystopian franchise and centers on the 50th annual Hunger Games, known as the Second Quarter Quell.

The two-minute trailer opens on the morning of the reaping in District 12, where young Haymitch Abernathy, portrayed by Joseph Zada, prepares for the brutal competition. In this edition of the games, each district must provide four tributes instead of two, intensifying the bloodshed and spectacle orchestrated by the Capitol. Haymitch, who later becomes the mentor to Katniss Everdeen in the original films, navigates alliances, losses, and early signs of resistance in the arena. A voiceover from an older Haymitch, originally played by Woody Harrelson, delivers the line, "I think these games are gonna be different," hinting at the unique challenges that shape his traumatic experience and eventual cynicism.