Filming for ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ to begin in July

Filming for the next Hunger Games film, Sunrise on the Reaping, is set to begin in July.

Francis Lawrence, who has directed each Hunger Games film since Catching Fire in 2012, will be returning to direct the upcoming project.

Lawrence, who attended CinemaCon on Tuesday, spoke to attendees about the new film and said that they’re working on casting.

“We’re very excited,” he said. “We’ve been working on this draft for a year. We start shooting in July.”

Additionally, a promotional clip for the film was shared on Instagram. It features Woody Harrelson‘s character, Haymitch Abernathy, saying at the end, “I think the games are going to be different.”

Sunrise on the Reaping is based on author Suzanne Collins‘ novel of the same name. The book was released in March 2025 and “revisits the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games,” according to a press release from Scholastic.

The novel begins on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. It follows a young Haymitch, whose name is called to participate in the games, according to a synopsis.

In a statement shared in the Scholastic press release, Collins said, “With Sunrise on the Reaping, I was inspired by David Hume‘s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.’ The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question ‘Real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me every day.”

Sunrise on the Reaping will arrive in theaters Nov. 20, 2026.