The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

64 years before he becomes the tyrannical president of Panem, Coriolanus Snow sees a chance for a change in fortunes when he mentors Lucy Gray Baird, the female tribute from District 12.

A genuinely divisive entry in the franchise: some critics called it the strongest installment yet, praising Tom Blyth's performance and the film's ambition as a villain origin story, while others felt it drained the source material of its anger and failed to justify returning to Panem at all. The ending drew particular frustration across the board, and even sympathetic reviewers acknowledged the film's ungainly length.