The odds are still in the Hunger Games books favor.
Scholastic announced Thursday that Suzanne Collins‘ new novel in the bestselling Hunger Games series, Sunrise on the Reaping, sold more than 1.5 million world English copies—including print, e-books, and audiobooks—in its first week on sale in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“With more than 1.2 million copies sold in the U.S. alone, Sunrise on the Reaping has sold twice as many copies its first week on sale domestically as The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2019 and three times as many copies as Mockingjay in 2010,” Scholastic announced.
“After nearly a year of anticipation, sales for Sunrise on the Reaping have exceeded all expectations, as has the overwhelmingly positive critical and fan response to the book across the world,” Scholastic Trade executive vp, president Ellie Berger said in a statement.
Sunrise on the Reaping is the newest addition to the Hunger Games series following the bestseller The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which was published in 2020. Sunrise, published on March 18, revisits the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell, when Haymitch Abernathy (portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the films) competes.
When reflecting on returning to the world of The Hunger Games, Collins said, “With Sunrise on the Reaping, I was inspired by David Hume’s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘the easiness with which the many are governed by the few.’ The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative. The question ‘Real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me every day.”
According to Publisher’s Weekly, Sunrise is already the year’s No. 3 overall bestseller in the U.S. and is the second biggest debut of the year, after the deluxe edition of Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros.
To date, there are more than 100 million copies of all five books in The Hunger Games series in print and digital formats worldwide, and foreign publishing rights have been sold in 55 languages.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was adapted into a feature film by Lionsgate and explored villainous tyrant President Coriolanus Snow’s former life before he became the feared President of Panem. The film starred Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, Jason Schwartzman and Viola Davis. Francis Lawrence directed.
Sunrise on the Reaping will also get the film adaptation treatment from Lionsgate, with the movie set to be released on Nov. 20, 2026. Lawrence will return to direct the adaptation for Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson’s Color Force banner. Lawrence, screenwriter Michael Arndt and producer Jacobson previously teamed with Lionsgate on four film adaptations of Collins’ Hunger Games books — The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. The franchise has grossed $3.3 billion at the box office.
