Updated Sep 28, 2026: added Sunrise on the Reaping’s runtime and rating, the official trailer, and the news that all five films leave Netflix on Oct 14.
Want to watch the Hunger Games movies in order before Sunrise on the Reaping hits theaters on Nov 20, 2026? Easy. Start with the 2012 original and go in release order. The catch is that there are now two prequels, both set decades before Katniss volunteers, so “in order” can mean two different lists. We’ve got both below, plus where each film streams in the US right now. Heads up: that answer changes on Oct 14.
Hunger Games movies in order of release
This is the order audiences met Panem, and it’s the one we’d pick for a first watch. Dates and runtimes for the first five are from the film series’ Wikipedia entry, cross-checked against each film’s page.
- The Hunger Games (March 23, 2012), 142 minutes. Directed by Gary Ross. It’s the only one Francis Lawrence didn’t make.
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Nov 22, 2013), 146 minutes.
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (Nov 21, 2014), 123 minutes.
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (Nov 20, 2015), 137 minutes.
- The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Nov 17, 2023), 157 minutes, per its Wikipedia entry.
- The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (Nov 20, 2026), 150 minutes, per Rotten Tomatoes and Screen Rant’s report on the rating.
Spot the pattern? Every film since Catching Fire has opened the weekend before Thanksgiving. Lionsgate runs this series like a holiday tradition, and Sunrise keeps the streak going.
Hunger Games movies in chronological order (Panem’s timeline)
Here’s the story order. Panem counts its history in Hunger Games, so we do too.
| # | Movie | When it’s set | Whose story |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | 10th Hunger Games, about 64 years before Katniss | A teenage Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) |
| 2 | Sunrise on the Reaping | 50th Hunger Games (the Second Quarter Quell), 24 years before Katniss | A 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy (Joseph Zada) |
| 3 | The Hunger Games | 74th Hunger Games | Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) |
| 4 | Catching Fire | 75th Hunger Games (the Third Quarter Quell) | Katniss |
| 5 | Mockingjay – Part 1 | The rebellion, right after the 75th Games | Katniss |
| 6 | Mockingjay – Part 2 | The end of the war | Katniss |
Ballad’s spot comes from its Wikipedia entry (10th Games, roughly 64 years out). Sunrise’s comes from Lionsgate’s official synopsis, released with the second trailer on Sep 16, which starts the story on the morning of the 50th reaping, 24 years before the first film. That’s about 40 years between the two prequels. Snow is the thread through all six: a broke, hungry student in Ballad, the president in everything after.
Where Sunrise on the Reaping fits
Sunrise adapts Suzanne Collins’ 2025 novel and follows Haymitch, the drunk, sarcastic District 12 mentor Woody Harrelson played in the original four. Joseph Zada plays him at 16, thrown into a Quarter Quell with twice the usual number of tributes. Francis Lawrence directs again. The screenplay is credited to Billy Ray and Michael Lesslie, per TheWrap. Earlier announcements named only Ray.
The cast is stacked with younger versions of faces you know. Elle Fanning plays Effie Trinket, Kieran Culkin is Caesar Flickerman, Jesse Plemons is Plutarch Heavensbee and Ralph Fiennes takes over as President Snow, per the Motion Picture Association. Kelvin Harrison Jr. is Beetee and Maya Hawke is Wiress, two tributes Katniss meets in Catching Fire, and Glenn Close and Billy Porter join too. Variety reported that Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are back as Katniss and Peeta, with the details kept quiet.
It’s rated PG-13 for “strong violence, bloody images, disturbing material, some smoking and teen drinking,” per Screen Rant, citing FilmRatings.com. That’s the first time a Hunger Games film has been flagged for bloody images. So no, it’s not the gentle one to start younger kids on.
Here’s why the originals should come first. Sunrise is a prequel that assumes you know who Haymitch turns into. Catching Fire mentions, almost in passing, that he won the Second Quarter Quell. The new film shows you how. That only hits if you’ve already met the wrecked version of him.
Once it’s out, our Sunrise on the Reaping review will tell you if it’s worth the trip.
Our pick: the best order to watch the Hunger Games movies
Chronological order is fun on a rewatch and a mistake on a first watch. Ballad runs on dramatic irony. Every scene with young Snow lands differently when you know what he becomes. Start there and you lose all of it. So here’s what we’d do:
- Never seen any of them? Release order, full stop. Katniss’s four films, then Ballad, then Sunrise in theaters.
- Seen the originals, skipped Ballad? Watch Ballad before Sunrise. It’s not required, but Snow connects both prequels, and Fiennes is playing the man Tom Blyth started.
- Short on time? Watch Catching Fire and Ballad. Catching Fire is the best of the bunch, and it’s the one that explains Quarter Quells, the victors and Haymitch’s win. Ballad gives you young Snow. That’s just over five hours of homework.
- Full rewatch? Try Panem order. Going from Sunrise straight into the 2012 film, with Haymitch now a mentor who can barely watch the reaping, is the kind of payoff only a prequel can pull off.
Where to stream the Hunger Games movies in the US
Checked Sep 28, 2026. Right now, JustWatch lists all five released films on Netflix, each tagged “leaving” in about two weeks. Just Jared and Streaming Better both put the exit date at Oct 14, 2026. Where they go next hasn’t been announced as of Sep 28. We’ll update this table when it is.
| Movie | Subscription (as of Sep 28, 2026) | Rent or buy |
|---|---|---|
| The Hunger Games | Netflix, leaving Oct 14 | Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home |
| Catching Fire | Netflix, leaving Oct 14 | Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home |
| Mockingjay – Part 1 | Netflix, leaving Oct 14 | Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home |
| Mockingjay – Part 2 | Netflix, leaving Oct 14 | Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home |
| The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes | Netflix, leaving Oct 14; also listed on YouTube TV | Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango at Home |
| Sunrise on the Reaping | Theaters only from Nov 20, 2026 | Not yet |
Rentals run $3.99 per film on Amazon, Apple TV and Fandango at Home, per JustWatch. If you missed the big-screen option, Lionsgate and Fathom ran all five films back in US theaters Sep 3–7, 2026, one per night, with a sneak peek at Sunrise. That’s done now.
No home release date has been announced for Sunrise. For reference, Ballad hit premium digital on Dec 19, 2023, about a month after it opened. If Lionsgate repeats that, Sunrise could be on digital around late December. That’s our guess, not an announcement.
Let’s be real: Lionsgate keeps making this harder than it needs to be
We like this franchise a lot. That’s exactly why a few things bug us.
- The streaming shuffle is exhausting. In January, all five films moved to Peacock on Jan 14, billed as exclusives. By late September they’re on Netflix. On Oct 14 they leave, five weeks before the biggest Hunger Games release in years, with no new home announced. Imagine planning a catch-up marathon and having the whole series vanish mid-way.
- The runtimes keep growing. Ballad ran 157 minutes. Sunrise is 150. Watching all six is roughly 14 hours, and the prequels alone take up more than a third of that. A tighter cut wouldn’t hurt anybody.
- Mockingjay still shouldn’t be two movies. Splitting one book into Part 1 and Part 2 was very 2014. Part 1 is mostly setup, and a single tighter finale would’ve served the book better. It also adds two-plus hours to any marathon.
- The marketing gave away a surprise. Katniss and Peeta’s return went public back in 2025, long before release. It’s great news, but it’s the kind of moment that lands harder in a theater. We’re not the only ones who think so: TechRadar’s headline literally calls the return “spoiled.”
- PG-13 is doing a lot of work. Francis Lawrence has said some of the book’s worst moments can’t be shown at PG-13, per Screen Rant. That’s a fair call for reach. But this is the most brutal book in the series, and it’s fair to wonder how much gets softened.
To be fair, the track record is strong. Ballad pulled in $361.8 million worldwide on a reported $100 million budget, and the same director has been steering since 2013. The movies are in good hands. It’s the watching part that needs work.
Is Sunrise on the Reaping the last Hunger Games movie?
As of Sep 28, 2026, nothing after Sunrise has been announced for the film series. We searched for a new film or series announcement and didn’t find one. The franchise has already spread to the stage, though. The Hunger Games: On Stage opened in London’s West End in 2025, per the series entry. And Collins has written two prequels in three years, both turned into movies. If Sunrise does Ballad numbers, another trip to Panem feels like a question of when Collins writes one, not if.
Planning a holiday movie marathon? Our Godzilla movies in order guide covers the other big November release, and our Marvel watch order gets you ready for Avengers: Doomsday on Dec 18.
So which order are you going with: release order, Panem order, or just Catching Fire and a prayer? Tell us in the comments.
