New Hunger Games book lands March 18, 2025. Set at the 50th Games, “Sunrise on the Reaping” rewinds to Haymitch’s era, with a film already dated for 2026.
Hunger Games fans get a fresh chapter. Suzanne Collins and Scholastic set “Sunrise on the Reaping” for March 18, 2025, a return to Panem that opens on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games. The story steps into the infamous Second Quarter Quell, the brutal edition that shaped mentor Haymitch Abernathy long before Katniss Everdeen took the stage.
The franchise’s engine still runs hot. Scholastic reports the Hunger Games novels have sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Box Office Mojo tallies the films at close to 3 billion dollars globally, with the 2023 prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” adding about 337 million. Lionsgate has already circled November 20, 2026 for the new adaptation, signaling a quick page to screen pipeline.
“Sunrise on the Reaping” and the 50th Hunger Games: what Collins revisits
Here is the core idea. Collins sets the narrative 24 years before the 74th Games seen in the original trilogy, at the start of the 50th Games that District 12’s Haymitch ultimately survived. Canon sets the stakes: the Quarter Quell doubled the field to 48 tributes, a 100 percent jump that redefined the arena and its politics.
Readers know the outline from the earlier books. The 50th Games crowned Haymitch as victor and scarred him into the cynical mentor who later guides Katniss and Peeta. A focus on the reaping day signals a ground-level view of how districts process fear, media choreography, and Capitol control when the rules change overnight.
That timeline choice matters. Katniss’ era turned the Games into a spark for open revolt. The 50th sits at a different temperature, one where survival tactics, propaganda, and the expanding spectacle of television power take center stage, not open war. The setup hands Collins room to map how Panem learned obedience and how victors learned to perform.
Dates, publisher, and film plans: the 2025 book and the 2026 movie
Scholastic announced the book on June 6, 2024, confirming publication for March 18, 2025 in print, digital, and audio. The title is “Sunrise on the Reaping,” and the opening takes place on the morning the 50th Games tributes are chosen. That is the spine, set plainly by the publisher’s note.
Lionsgate moved quickly on screen rights. Industry trades reported the studio dated a film adaptation for November 20, 2026, aligning with the franchise’s late year release pattern. The approach mirrors the previous cycle: book first, movie two holiday seasons later, a cadence that kept interest steady across the original four films and the 2023 prequel.
The numbers underscore why the schedule locks in. Box Office Mojo attributes nearly 3 billion dollars to the five released films combined, a rare franchise tier. The books still move units years later, with Scholastic citing more than 100 million copies sold. That mix of bookstores and box office drives a predictable cycle fans can plan around.
Why the 50th Games era resonates in 2025
Many readers ask the same thing. Will Katniss appear. The answer is no, based on timeline. The 50th Games happen decades earlier. That clears space for District 12 history, Capitol elite calculus, and Haymitch’s formation without overlapping characters from the 74th and 75th Games.
Another frequent mix up concerns the rule twist. The Second Quarter Quell did not change the winner count. It doubled the starting roster from 24 to 48, creating an arena with more alliances, more resource scarcity, and a different style of strategy on live television. That is where the dramatic oxygen likely comes from.
A broader market context helps. “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” published in 2020 and filmed for 2023, proved audiences accept prequels when they fill in political and cultural backstory with clear stakes. The 50th Games checks that box. It connects to a known victor, aligns with franchise chronology, and answers a long standing curiosity left on the page.
For anyone counting down, the path looks straightforward. Book on March 18, 2025 via Scholastic. Then a Lionsgate film dated November 20, 2026. Fans who discovered Panem through streaming will meet the same world at an earlier, harsher turning point. Longtime readers get the layers that the original trilogy teased but never unpacked in full. That blend is why anticipation builds in millons of feeds already.