The Hunger Games Prequel Is Going To Be A Musical?
The Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, will be a musical as the protagonist is a musician.
One of the reasons that fans sometimes tire of franchises like Marvel and DC is that the formula for the movies gets stale and predictable. That’s why news of The Hunger Games getting a prequel film had fans asking one question: what was going to set this apart from what we saw before? According to Variety, the biggest difference is that The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes prequel movie will be a musical.
This information comes courtesy of Nina Jacobson, who produced all of the previous films in The Hunger Games series, and Francis Lawrence, who directed three of the previous films in the franchise. According to them, the musical nature of the movie is tied to the fact that the central protagonist, played by Rachel Zegler is a musician. This also helps to instantly set this new protagonist apart from Katniss Everdeen, the character made famous by Jennifer Lawrence in the original movies.
Some of the musical influence on this prequel movie comes directly from Suzanne Collins, the original writer of The Hunger Games books. For example, Collins is a big fan of country music, and the film integrated that passion into the music for District 12. Because this district is basically a metaphor for West Virginia, the filmmakers wanted the music in these scenes to have an unmistakable Appalachian sound to them.
Aside from worries about whether or not fans are going to flock to a musical or not, the biggest question filmmakers have is whether this movie can distinguish itself from the original The Hunger Games while still throwing in enough Easter eggs for fans. This example has worked well with the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard, and this prequel film would be well served to find that balance between nostalgia and innovation.
This prequel film parallels The Hunger Games in many ways, including focusing on a plucky female protagonist. And it also offers ties to familiar characters: for example, Jason Schwartzman plays Lucky Ceasarman, an ancestor of the Caesar Flickerman character originally played by Stanley Tucci. Only time will tell if this prequel, like the Star Wars prequels before it, creates a new generation of fans or merely turns away most of those who loved the original films.
One of the more cynical ways that this prequel to The Hunger Games will likely resonate with audiences is how perfectly well it mirrors the modern concerns of a cutthroat Hollywood system. We see franchise villain Coriolanus Snow as a man responsible for getting people excited about the games again during a ratings slump. Therefore, we’re forced to question whether the terrible things he does are truly that different from what a modern executive might try to get away with if they could.
Ultimately, we’re a bit on the fence about the prequel to The Hunger Games being a musical. Sometimes, genre musicals are awesome (like in Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Family Guy), and sometimes, they really suck (looking at you, CW Flash). If Rachel Zegler proves to have a good enough singing voice, though, then we volunteer as tribute to watch this on day one.
