How to watch every Hunger Games movie in order: A complete guide

The Hunger Games has carved out its own little corner in the pop culture history. Adapted from Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novels, the movies were a total game-changer.

It features social commentary, layered character arcs, and explosive action sequences. The franchise has over $3.3 billion at the box office, but it is not just cash — this thing left fingerprints everywhere. People started dressing like Katniss, politicians started name-dropping the series, and even grassroots movements started borrowing the “mockingjay rebellion” thing.

When the first movie was released in 2012, it launched the teenagers fighting the system genre with Jennifer Lawrence being an absolute powerhouse. She made Katniss a real person, and then every studio wanted a slice of that dystopian pie. You remember Divergent? The Maze Runner? They tried, but they never quite caught the same lightning.

The Hunger Games didn’t just stick to movies. It started bleeding into real life — politics, protests, Halloween costumes, and more. Panem transformed a sort of mirror for all the messed-up stuff happening out here in the real world.

Now, thanks to prequels like The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) and more on the horizon (Sunrise on the Reaping), some people keep wondering the right way to binge these movies.

Do you start with the OG trilogy and catch the prequels after, or do you dive in chronologically and watch the story unfold in order? There is no one-size-fits-all answer.

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The complete list of Hunger Games movies

Most people dive into film franchises just as they hit theaters, no time-hopping or anything. With The Hunger Games, people watched them as they dropped:

• The Hunger Games (2012)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
• The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)
• The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (anticipated 2026)

Later, prequels show up, and the timeline is all jumbled. Some diehards want to experience Katniss’s world exactly as it “happened,” not just how Hollywood released it.

Here's how to watch them in chronological order:

• The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

• The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (2026)
• The Hunger Games (2012)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)

You can go with the release order if you have never watched these before. That is how the filmmakers wanted you to experience it. You get all the suspense, the surprises, the character arcs, all in the right places. Watching it in the order they hit theaters just feels right.

Now, if you are one of the hardcore fans or just itching for a fresh take, chronological order isn’t a bad idea. It will walk you through Panem’s whole history from the very start, which is kinda cool if you are into the lore. But, for newbies, stick to the way the world saw it — it hits way harder.

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A closer look at the franchise

The Hunger Games (2012)

It is set in a dystopian nation named Panem, where the Capitol is running a twisted reality show. Every year, they snatch a boy and a girl from each of the 12 districts, just 12 to 18 years old, and put them into this brutal fight-to-the-death called the Hunger Games.

Katniss Everdeen jumps in to save her little sister Prim. Alongside her is Peeta, the other tribute from District 12, and they get shipped off to the Capitol, where everyone is all about fashion, fanfare, and fake smiles. Once the Games kick off, it is not just about dodging arrows and bloodthirsty teens.

The Capitol is pulling strings left and right, and the so-called Gamemakers are evil game show hosts dropping new horrors every five minutes. Katniss and Peeta start playing the “star-crossed lovers” angle.

In the end, when it is down to just the two of them, they flip the script on the whole system, threatening to off themselves together instead of killing each other. The Capitol blinks first, and we get two winners instead of one.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

So, Katniss and Peeta get back to Panem, all traumatized and trying to play the happy couple. President Snow is sweating over the idea of rebellion brewing in the districts. He tries to convince the districts that their defiance was an act of love, not rebellion. But no one is buying it.

For the big twist for the 75th Hunger Games (they call it the “Quarter Quell”), they drag previous winners back into the arena. Katniss is furious, Peeta is just trying to keep her alive, and they have to trust people like Finnick Odair. The arena itself is a sadistic clock, each section a new nightmare.

Anyway, Katniss shoots an arrow right into the force field and breaks the whole game. She gets pulled out by rebels, and now it is an open war with the Capitol for the first time.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)

Katniss wakes up in District 13, totally wrecked, physically and emotionally, after the chaos. Turns out, Peeta is missing, and the Capitol has got him. President Coin and Plutarch Heavensbee nudge Katniss into being the face of the rebellion — the “Mockingjay.” Now, she is doing propaganda shoots and pep talks, even though she is barely holding it together herself. The Capitol, meanwhile, is blowing up innocent people and dropping bombs.

Katniss, stuck between being a symbol and an actual fighter, starts to see just how ugly this war is. District 13 isn’t sitting on their hands — they cook up a plan to bust out Peeta and the other victors. When they finally drag Peeta back, Katniss barely recognizes him. The Capitol has totally messed with his head, thanks to President Snow’s twisted mind games.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)

All hell breaks loose. Katniss, Gale, Peeta, and their rebel crew storm the Capitol, dodging traps that feel way too much like the Games. People drop left and right, and Katniss starts questioning if this whole revolution gig is even worth it, with all the bodies piling up. Then, Prim gets blown up right outside Snow’s mansion.

Katniss is shattered, totally over it, and just when you think things can’t get any messier, Coin suggests another Hunger Games... but with Capitol kids. She snaps at Snow’s execution and, instead, takes out Coin right in front of everyone. When the dust finally settles, she heads back to District 12, emotionally wrecked but not entirely broken. Over time, Katniss and Peeta piece their lives back together and decide their kids will never have to live through this nightmare.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

Way before Katniss ever picked up a bow, we are dropped into the early Hunger Games — 64 years before Mockingjay. And our main guy is none other than young Coriolanus Snow. He is broke, desperate, and clinging to whatever scraps of power he can grab. He gets stuck mentoring Lucy Gray Baird, an unpredictable tribute from District 12.

Snow starts off just trying to save his own skin and family name, but he gets attached to Lucy Gray. He helps her out, pulls some strings, and cheats his way through these early Games. You would think things would chill after she wins, but everything just goes off the rails. Snow starts out likable, then takes a nosedive straight into villain territory.

By the end, you totally get how Panem spirals into darkness. All the seeds of Snow’s cruelty and ambition sprout.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (anticipated 2026)

We are going back to Panem. This film (dropping in 2026) jumps 24 years back. This time, it is all about baby Haymitch Abernathy. It is the 50th Hunger Games, aka the Second Quarter Quell. Haymitch gets into the arena and goes through hell. This is where he gets his emotional baggage, the same stuff he will be lugging around when he mentors Katniss and Peeta later on.

Sounds like we are finally going to see how the Capitol twisted the knife back then, with all their mind games and propaganda. Also, there is bound to be some gnarly insight into what surviving the Games actually does to a person.