Intro for December 11, 2025

Dear Gossips,   

One of the big movie releases of 2026 will be The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, based on Suzanne Collins’s book and the second prequel to the initial trilogy after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Songbirds and Snakes was the President Snow origin story and Sunrise on the Reaping is Haymitch Abernathy’s, 24 years before we meet Katniss Everdeen, and the events of the 50th Hunger Games. 

The first trailer for Sunrise on the Reaping was released a few weeks ago, exactly a year before the movie opens, with 109 million views in 24 hours, an excellent sign for the studio about audience interest. It really is a great looking preview, beginning with a demented looking Glenn Close gleefully sending children to their demise. The visuals are spectacular, the action looks well executed, and the new group of tributes, some of whom will become big stars, seem well cast. 

 

When we think about The Hunger Games, though, of course one big star comes to mind: Jennifer Lawrence. She was already an Oscar nominee by the time she started shooting the first movie and an Oscar winner before the final Hunger Games movie came out. And now, just confirmed yesterday, she’ll be returning to the Hunger Games along with Josh Hutcherson. There’s a fast forward scene in Sunrise on the Reaping that involves Katniss and Peeta, and multiple outlets are reporting that it will be included in the film. 

At this point in her career, Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t have to go back to any character, certainly not Katniss. I mean, I’m sure the cheque was nice but if she was just about the money, we’d have seen her doing all kinds of sh-t and sponsorships, and much more social media activity. My takeaway then is that she’s maintained good relationships connected to the franchise, especially with Francis Lawrence who directed her in three of the four Hunger Games movies. Also, and this is corny, I feel she must love the character. She said a couple of years ago that if there was ever an opportunity to return to Katniss, it would “a hundred percent” for her. Clearly she wasn’t lying. 

@varietymagazine

#jenniferlawrence on if she'd ever play Katniss again. #hungergames @therealmarcmalkin

♬ original sound - Variety - Variety

JLaw has just been nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in Die My Love. Earlier this year, Jennifer came out of Cannes with all kinds of hype as an early contender for a Best Actress Oscar nomination but the momentum just hasn’t been there. Unlike, by comparison, Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You which premiered even earlier, at Sundance, and hers too is a small film, who has been challenging the presumed frontrunner, Jessie Buckley, these last few weeks. Rose has been campaigning non-stop (and this is not a criticism) while JLaw seems to be dipping in and out of campaign efforts. Will be interesting to see if she steps it up in the next few weeks or if she’s already over it. 

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey