The 2023 film returned to a world not seen on the big screen in almost a decade

Netflix have dropped one of the best book adaptions of the decade that’s perfect for summer viewing.

There’s never a more nervewracking time for literature fans than when they’re waiting to see how a movie brings worlds to life from the page

While film series like Harry Potter appeased the novels’ millions of fans, not all adaptations go to plan for those who hold the original texts close to their hearts.

The likes of Percy Jackson, The Dark Tower and Artemis Fowl were all dismissed by both fans and critics, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars that went into making them.

It could be argued that outside of Twilight, The Hunger Games endured the most successful transition to the big screen.

Launching Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson to superstardom, each of the four films were met with open arms by the series’ stans.

Following The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 in 2015, fans had to wait eight years to see Suzanne Collins’ world on film once again.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, a prequel to the original films, follows a young Coriolanus Snow as he’s called to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, a Games tribute, as he seeks to restore his family’s prosperity in Panem.

Rather than showing Snow as the cold and calculated presence that he’d go on to become, Tom Blyth plays him with an air of sympathy that has you manifesting a different ending for him.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, the adaptation of the 2020 novel boasts Rachel Zegler, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Dinklage, Josh Andrés Rivera and Viola Davis all shine in its cast.

Released at the end of 2023, the film grossed an impressive $349 million worldwide against a production budget of $100 million.

In spite of having an 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, critics were mixed and gave it a score of 64%, claiming it had a ‘somewhat frustrating ending’.

The general audience appears to be in the right, with a sequel based on Sunrise on the Reaping set to be released on November 20, 2026.

Recent months have seen Joseph Zada, Elle Fanning, Ralph Fiennes, Kieran Culkin, Mckenna Grace, Jesse Plemons and Kelvin Harrison Jr all cast in the Haymitch Abernathy origin story.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is available to stream now on Netflix