‘Hunger Games’ Prequel Reveals Villainous Leader’s Origin Story 

Actors Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth and Josh Andres Rivera appear during a promotional event for the movie "Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes", in Times Square in New York City, US, November 1, 2023. (Reuters)
Actors Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth and Josh Andres Rivera appear during a promotional event for the movie "Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes", in Times Square in New York City, US, November 1, 2023. (Reuters)
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‘Hunger Games’ Prequel Reveals Villainous Leader’s Origin Story 

Actors Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth and Josh Andres Rivera appear during a promotional event for the movie "Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes", in Times Square in New York City, US, November 1, 2023. (Reuters)
Actors Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth and Josh Andres Rivera appear during a promotional event for the movie "Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes", in Times Square in New York City, US, November 1, 2023. (Reuters)

It wasn't easy for director Francis Lawrence to transform "Hunger Games" franchise villain Coriolanus Snow into a compelling protagonist for a prequel film taking place 64 years before the hit films starring Jennifer Lawrence.

"We had to figure out a way to get an audience emotionally invested in him, to be behind him, to be rooting for him, to empathize with him," Lawrence told Reuters.

"The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes" arrives in theaters on Nov. 17 and delves into the origin stories of some characters from the four previous films. In particular, it explores President Snow's journey to overseeing the brutal games in which young people must fight to the death in an arena for an event called "The Hunger Games."

Like the other films, the Lionsgate prequel is based on a novel by Suzanne Collins, released in 2020.

"Once we felt like we had the audience behind him, we still had to seed in layers of his ambition and layers of his greed and layers of the darkness and layers of his sort of hunger for power so that when he does turn, it feels honest, it feels truthful and believable," Lawrence added.

The older version of Snow from the original films was portrayed by Canadian actor Donald Sutherland and the younger version in the prequel is played by English actor Tom Blyth.

The cast also includes noteworthy actors Viola Davis as Dr. Volumnia, Hunter Schafer as Tigris Snow and Peter Dinklage as Casca Highbottom.

Snow will do anything to succeed, including agreeing to mentor one of the contestants in The Hunger Games, songstress Lucy Gray Baird, played by Rachel Zegler.

What starts as coaching Baird in hopes of bolstering his academic achievements transforms into a sequence of events that take Snow down a menacing path of betrayal.



Tomorrowland Music Festival Opens after its Main Stage was Destroyed by Huge Fire

The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
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Tomorrowland Music Festival Opens after its Main Stage was Destroyed by Huge Fire

The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
The burned main stage is seen at the Tomorrowland music festival in Boom, Belgium, Friday, July 18, 2025, two days after a huge fire destroyed the stage on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Fans roared in excitement and organizers sighed with relief as the Tomorrowland music festival kicked off Friday — just two days after a massive fire engulfed the main stage and threw one of Europe's biggest summer concert events into doubt.

Workers labored around the clock to clear out the debris from the elaborate backdrop that was consumed in Wednesday's fire.

Shouting ‘’We made it!'', the festival's opening performers, Australian electronic music group Nervo, were able to take to the main stage Friday after a last-minute scramble and slight delay. Some charred frames were still visible behind them.

No one was hurt in the fire, organizers said. The causes are being investigated.
Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world attend Tomorrowland's annual multi-day festival outside the Belgian town of Boom.

Some 38,000 people were camping at the festival site Friday, Tomorrowland spokesperson Debby Wilmsen said.

’’Maybe there are some few people that say, OK, we would like to have a refund, but it’s only like a very small percentage because most of them are still coming to the festival,” she told AP.

“It is all about unity, and I think with a good vibe and a positive energy that our festival-goers give to each other and the music we offer, I think they will still have a good time,″ she said. ’’We really tried our best.″

Australian fans Zak Hiscock and Brooke Antoniou — who traveled half the world to see the famed festival as part of a summer holiday in Europe — described hearing about the fire.

“We were sitting having dinner when we actually heard the news of the stage burning down. We were very devastated and shattered, quite upset because we travelled a long way,'' Hiscock said.

Ukrainian visitor Oleksandr Beshkynskyi shared their joy that the festival went ahead as planned.

‘’It’s not just about the one DJ or two DJs you’re looking to see, but about all the mood and about the dream being alive," Beshkynskyi said.