Hunger Games' Most Dramatic Movie Was Its Most Painful Box Office Failure

Dividing the final installment of a popular franchise into two parts has been done many times before and has shown all the advantages of this approach. The final installment usually makes the most money.

The situation with The Hunger Games franchise, a teenage dystopia based on the novels by Suzanne Collins, is anything but typical.

The first two movies were the most commercially successful, earning $694 million and $865 million, but the first part of Mockingjay earned only $755 million. It was almost a failure for the final installment of such a high-profile franchise, and was blamed on the unfinished story.

So the fans immediately went into waiting mode for the second and final part. However, the finale of the Hunger Games did not live up to the high expectations.

The movie that ended Katniss Everdeen's story not only failed to bring the entire franchise to $3 billion, but also grossed the least of all the installments – only $653 million.

Mockingjay Part 2 starts exactly where the events of the first part ended. It is difficult to consider it as a stand-alone movie, as it inherited many of the advantages and disadvantages of its predecessor.

The main selling point of the last part of The Hunger Games is the way it portrays rebellion against the system. It clearly shows that war is blood and death, it cripples people and disfigures the souls of representatives of both sides.

With the right words, you can justify any meanness and make enemies look like real beasts. The ability to see the humanity in her opponents is the main thing that sets Katniss apart from those around her.

If the action of the previous installment was a preparation for the battle, then in the Part 2, the thunder has finally struck. There are explosions, sizzling rays, and battles with monsters – in terms of entertainment and emotional intensity, the second part of Mockingjay definitely scores a hundred points over the first.

The movie adaptation was stronger and more impressive than the book, and the final part, despite its box office failure, was a worthy finale to a series that proved that you can take books for teenagers and make a movie that an adult would be excited to watch.

Now, Hunger Games fans are left to see just how the new upcoming prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, performs in box office. The new movie arrives in theaters on November 17, 2023.