Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Director Considered Making A Controversial Hunger Games Decision Again

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes director contemplated following in the footsteps of the two Mockingjay films for the prequel film. Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes adapts the Suzanne Collins prequel novel of the same name. The plot focuses on the story of a young Coriolanus Snow, later known as President Snow, as he comes of age and trains District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird for the Tenth Hunger Games.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, ahead of the release of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Lawrence reveals that he almost decided to split The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes into two films. Lawrence had this thought in reaction to The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ massive run time, at nearly three hours long. While he pondered the possibility of splitting up the film, Lawrence ultimately decided that the team was “not going down that road again.” Check out the full quote from Lawrence below:

There was, like, one second where I thought, Do we do two movies? I decided, no, we’re not going down that road again.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes Is Staying Faithful to the Books

Kick-started by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011, splitting a franchise-ending film into two parts was a huge trend for a brief time. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay played into this trend, releasing The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 in back-to-back years to end the trilogy. This ended up backfiring for The Hunger Games, for Mockingjay – Part 2 became the lowest-grossing entry in the franchise.

The decision to keep The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as a single film not only diverges from the Mockingjay – Part 2 decision, but it aligns with what Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson have said regarding the adaptation. Both Hunger Games talents have promised that more Hunger Games prequel or spinoff films would only be made if author Collins were to come up with more ideas for the world. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a single novel, so keeping the film as such will likely do a better job honoring their piety to the book series.

Reducing The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes to a single film undoubtedly led to cut scenes, but it also has the benefit of allowing the prequel to take on grand proportions. With a run time of 2 hours and 45 minutes, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is the longest film in The Hunger Games franchise so far. Audiences have waited eight years to see The Hunger Games series again on screen, and this time, they are hopefully in for the most epic experience yet.