Sunrise on the Reaping, the Hunger Games prequel, premiered in London on Wednesday with a red carpet that felt like a fashion show, per E!, and the franchise's original two leads are returning for the first time in over a decade.
The franchise has now cast its third Snow, which is the clearest sign yet that President Snow is no longer a character, he is a position. District 12 gets a new Haymitch in Joseph Zada, Effie gets a new face in Elle Fanning, and Snow is a job description with a coat. The role is the only thing that has survived every version of this franchise, and the succession planning is aggressive.
London got the fashion show first. Mckenna Grace arrived in an ALmee Couture gown built to look like a lush meadow, Elle Fanning wore a pink Robert Wun with a headpiece that parks a ballerina figurine in front of a mirror, and the overall mood board ran Stevie Nicks from the sixties and seventies. A Hunger Games premiere is a red carpet that learned to write press releases.
And the original cast is back. Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson, confirmed on Call Her Daddy, are reprising Katniss and Peeta after a decade-plus gap, which is the franchise's actual business model. The prequel is the trailer, and the original cast is the warranty. You do not need to believe in the Reaping. You need to believe in the coupon.
The movie hits theaters November 20. The Reaping has been rescheduled for years now, and the attendance keeps going one direction. Somewhere in the Capitol, some executives are already doing the math on a fourth Snow, and the math is working.
YOUR TURN: Is Snow 3.0 the peak of the franchise, or proof that the franchise has replaced the movie?
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