The Hunger Games · Coming to cinemas 20 November 2026

What to watch before The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping

Before The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, watch The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. That's about 5 hours. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is coming to cinemas on 20 November 2026.

Sunrise on the Reaping goes back to the 50th Hunger Games, when a teenage Haymitch Abernathy is sent into the arena. It's a prequel, so it works on its own, but it means far more once you know the man Haymitch becomes.

Updated 15 October 2026

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The essentials

Watch these in this order. They take about 5 hours, so an hour a day gets you there in 5 days.

The Hunger Games
Film · 2012 · 2h 22m
Meet Haymitch as Katniss and Peeta's drunk, reluctant mentor at the 74th Games.
Catching Fire
Film · 2013 · 2h 26m
The Quarter Quell, and the first hints of what Haymitch went through in his own Games.

If you have more time

Optional, but they add to the story. About 7 hours in all.

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Film · 2023 · 2h 37m
A young Coriolanus Snow at the 10th Games, and how the Games became what they are.
Mockingjay – Part 1
Film · 2014 · 2h 3m
The rebellion begins, with Haymitch at its centre.
Mockingjay – Part 2
Film · 2015 · 2h 17m
How Haymitch's story, and Snow's, ends.

Questions

What do I need to watch before The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping?

The essentials are The Hunger Games, Catching Fire. They take about 5 hours.

When does The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping come out?

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is coming to cinemas on 20 November 2026 in the US.

Do I need to watch The Hunger Games before Sunrise on the Reaping?

You don't have to, but it helps. Sunrise on the Reaping is about Haymitch's own Hunger Games, and it hits harder once you know him from The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.

Do I need to watch The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes first?

No. It's set 40 years earlier, at the 10th Games. It's worth watching for President Snow's story, but Sunrise on the Reaping doesn't depend on it.