Earlier this week, Lionsgate released the first trailer for Sunrise on the Reaping, the next Hunger Games prequel after 2023’s Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. In a year of big trailers, this was a pretty big one for the studio, and it’s got the numbers to prove it.
Deadline reports that within its first day, racked up 109 million views. Compared to trailers for other big movies this year—like Fantastic Four or Toy Story 5—it’s well behind those, but for Lionsgate, it was the second-biggest trailer launch in the studio’s 27-year history. The first-biggest is Michael, which dropped earlier in November and made it to 116 million in the same 24-hour period.
Based on the Suzanne Collins novel that released earlier in 2025, Sunrise on the Reaping stars Joseph Zada as the young version of Haymitch Abernathy, a winner of the titular bloodsport who eventually grows up to mentor Katniss Everdeen in the main movies. The big novelty of this year’s Hunger Games are that each district has to offer up four child tributes instead of two, resulting in even more bloodshed than usual and Haymitch has to watch more of his friends die. Lionsgate snapped up the book’s movie rights before it was even out and released the trailer a full year before it actually hits theaters, declaring Sunrise its big event movie of the holiday season.
Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping comes out November 20, 2026, and you can see said trailer on the big screen ahead of Wicked: For Good.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Read the full article here
