The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping Reveals Its IMAX Poster and Arena Plans

Wildflowers and blue butterflies frame a young Haymitch Abernathy against a smoking volcano in the new IMAX poster for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. That clash of delicate color and looming danger suits a prequel built around a boy’s entry into the arena—and gives the film’s premium-screen plans a striking visual calling card ahead of its November 20 release.

Joseph Zada plays Haymitch, a District 12 tribute whose birthday falls on the day of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. The story is set 24 years before the events of the original film. The poster places Zada in a silver-and-white outfit among dense blooms, while a plume of smoke and fire rises behind him. In the distance, a beam of light climbs from the arena.

The artwork also carries the “Filmed for IMAX” label, with flowers and butterflies worked into its lettering. The design makes a clear promise about the film’s visual character: beauty sits close to peril here. Tickets went on sale October 28, the same day the new poster appeared.

A wider arena view

Sunrise on the Reaping is the first film in the Hunger Games series to carry the Filmed for IMAX label. More than 45 minutes are reported to use IMAX’s expanded aspect ratio, giving selected scenes a taller image on compatible screens. The format shift could be especially effective for the arena, where scale and the tributes’ movement into the space are central to the spectacle.

Cinematographer Jo Willems told Entertainment Weekly that the production used IMAX-approved digital cameras rather than IMAX film cameras. Their taller sensors allowed the crew to capture footage suited to the expanded presentation. Willems said the frame will open up to fill the IMAX screen as the tributes rise into the arena.

That moment is already drawing comparisons from fans to Catching Fire. In that film, the frame expanded as the Games began, turning a change in image size into part of the scene’s dramatic impact. A similar shift here would connect Haymitch’s story to a familiar visual signature while giving this prequel its own arena entrance.

The arena footage was filmed in Spain’s Cantabrian Mountains, with production also taking place elsewhere in Spain and in Germany. The location offers the film’s arena sequences a real-world landscape for the story’s constructed danger. How the finished scenes use the expanded frame will be one of the clearest ways to judge what the IMAX format adds beyond sheer screen size.

A busy premium-screen season

The film joins Godzilla Minus Zero and Ramayana: Part 1 among titles filmed for IMAX this fall. The crowded slate reportedly affected a planned IMAX run for The Cat in the Hat, a reminder that premium screens are limited and major releases compete for them. For Sunrise on the Reaping, the format is part of the film’s identity from its poster through its arena footage.

IMAX Melbourne in Australia, home to the world’s largest IMAX screen, has confirmed screenings from November 19—one day before the U.S. release. Vue has also shared plans for Sunrise on the Reaping merchandise. Together, those details show how the release is reaching beyond the film itself, with screenings and collectibles giving fans different ways to join the occasion.

Film Updates’ October 28 post about the new IMAX poster and November 20 release

Film Updates’ April 13 post about the trailer

Vue’s October 28 post about film merchandise

Familiar names return

Francis Lawrence, who has directed every installment since Catching Fire, returns to direct from a screenplay by Billy Ray and Michael Lesslie. James Newton Howard is back to compose the score. The returning creative team gives the prequel continuity with earlier films, while Zada’s lead role puts a younger Haymitch at the center of the story.

The ensemble includes Ralph Fiennes as President Snow, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee and Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket. Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Ben Wang, Mckenna Grace, Maya Hawke, Whitney Peak and Kelvin Harrison Jr. also appear. Jennifer Lawrence has confirmed that she will return as Katniss Everdeen alongside Josh Hutcherson as Peeta. Their parts are widely expected to connect with the novel’s flash-forward epilogue; the film’s treatment of that material remains to be seen.

The Hunger Games’ October 28 ticket post

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens in theaters and IMAX on November 20. It is rated PG-13 and runs 2 hours and 38 minutes. The new poster sets up an appealing tension between natural beauty and arena menace, while the expanded image promises a fresh way to revisit one of the series’ defining settings. For viewers deciding whether to choose a premium screen, the arena sequence—and the moment the frame opens around it—may be the film’s most telling attraction.

Read more about Jennifer Lawrence’s return to the Hunger Games series