The Hunger Games franchise continues with The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. This prequel film is set 64 years before the events of the first film and, like its predecessors, is based on a novel of the same name by series author Suzanne Collins. The film was written by Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) and Michael Lesslie (Macbeth, Assassin’s Creed) and directed by Francis Lawrence. Arndt and Lawrence have both been involved with the franchise for years, with Lawrence having directed every film after the first, and Arndt credited as a writer on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Another returning player involved in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is legendary composer James Newton Howard, as seen above. Howard’s previous work includes The Sixth Sense, The Dark Knight, and The Bourne Legacy. Howard also scored every previous film in The Hunger Games saga, beginning with the first film in 2012. Screen Rant‘s exclusive featurette details James Newton Howard’s continued work on the franchise a decade after he first got involved.
How James Newton Howard Expanded His Work On The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes
The above clip reveals plenty of interesting tidbits about James Newton Howard’s work on The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Key among them is that while Howard first envisioned that he would reuse thematic material from his previous work, he quickly realized the story he was scoring was a brand new entry requiring new original music. The full soundtrack for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is 40 tracks long, meaning that Howard crafted a huge body of new musical creations for the film.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes reviews point to a film that successfully revisits and expands upon Suzanne Collins’ literary world, and James Newton Howard complemented that concept sonically as well as thematically. New collaborators joined Howard on the film, chief among them renowned Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, who performs three solo piano pieces on the soundtrack. Another way in which Howard expands on his work is through instrument choices; no electronic elements were used in his score, meaning it is fully orchestral.
The Hunger Games
- Created by:
- Suzanne Collins
- First Film:
- The Hunger Games
- Cast:
- Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Willow Shields, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman
- Movie(s):
- The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
