The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping is one of those upcoming book adaptations that I simply will not stop anticipating until the day it arrives in theaters among the 2026 movie releases. But I just realized the original Hunger Games movies are finally back on streaming, and the good news has me ready to dive back into one specific movie from the franchise.
The Original Hunger Games Are Now Streaming On HBO Max
The Hunger Games movies have been jumping around streaming services over the years, but it’s been a while since they’ve been available on any of those platforms. If you don’t own all the Hunger Games movies, you’d have to rent or buy them separately. But I just found out that as of June 1, the original films have had a new home on HBO Max.
So if you already have an HBO Max subscription like I do, you can watch The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and the two Mockingjay movies right now! Unfortunately that does not include the 2023 prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is available to stream for those with a STARZ subscription. But that’s ok, because I have a movie from Katniss’s era I need to revisit after finishing the latest of Hunger Games books, Sunrise on the Reaping.
I’m Especially Excited To Rewatch Catching Fire After Reading Sunrise On The Reaping
If you somehow have been living under a rock and haven’t noticed all the perfect Sunrise on the Reaping castings, another Hunger Games prequel is on the way, and this time it’s about Haymitch Abernathy’s time in the arena. Throughout the novel, there’s a lot of returning characters from the original trilogy, most of whom are in the second book/movie, Catching Fire.
So now that I’ve caught up with the novel, and I know all but one movie is streaming on HBO Max, I definitely want to go back to the Catching Fire movie to see a number of characters again. I’ll be paying more attention to Haymitch’s relationship with Effie and Plutarch since their backstory is fleshed out in the new book. I’ll also be looking at the characters of Beetee, Wiress, Mags and such with new eyes given what I know about their journeys during the 50th Hunger Games as mentors before stepping back into the arena themselves for the 75th Hunger Games.
Plus, the movie draws a lot of parallels to Sunrise on the Reaping, considering both take place during a Quarter Quell. (Joseph Zada, who will play the new Haymitch also compared the upcoming movie to Catching Fire too in an interview with ET.)
Even though Suzanne Collins or the actors theoretically didn’t know any of the information of Sunrise on the Reaping, I really want to explore this time in Panem, especially considering it all leads directly into the games ending with the rebellion after the Mockingjay movies. Oh, and it also explores Katniss and Peeta’s post-Hunger Games lives, which I need to see again after knowing what happens with Haymitch. Knowing how Catching Fire ends, heck, I’ll probably end up binging the whole movie series.
