The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes nears $100 million mark at box office
The film, which was released in theatres on November 17, takes place 64 years before Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteered as tribute in The Hunger Games
It is safe to say that the odds were in favour of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as the prequel emerged victorious at the box office, setting cash registers ringing an estimated $98.5 million worldwide, but these totals still came in beneath what most analysts were expecting.
In its first weekend of release, the Lionsgate film brought viewers back to the dystopia of Panem for the first time in almost ten years, taking in $44 million from 3,776 North American theatres and $98.5 million worldwide.
The movie debuted with $6.7 million in the UK, leading the way at the global box office. Germany ($4.8 million), China ($4.5 million), France ($4.1 million), and Mexico ($3.7 million) completed the top five countries.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes examines how Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) navigates his path from a family that's fallen from grace after the Panem's First Rebellion and the civil war, to the iron-handed president of Panem.
The film, which was released in theatres on November 17, takes place 64 years before Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteered as tribute in The Hunger Games, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical President of Panem.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes features an ensemble cast including Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Shcaefer, Josh Andres Rivera, Jason Schwartzman, and Viola Davis.
Our CE review of the film read, "Interestingly, the film's narrative is never about the game; it is all about Snow, and the pivotal role he plays in the games. In one of the scenes, when Coryo says he feels powerful by killing, you can see the thrones he hides in those rose flowers. And when it segues into the third chapter, outrightly, you see the seeds of a megalomaniac in that tender face."