4 Dystopian Movies to Get You Ready for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (That Aren’t Part of the Franchise)

One of the biggest movie franchises and adaptations of the modern era is about to get a brand-new installment. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping has all the makings of one of the most unique entries in the series. While the arena is still a key part of the story, the new chapter uses Haymitch Abernathy’s (Joseph Zada) Hunger Games to look beyond the competition itself, showing how the Capitol manipulated the truth, shaped its own narratives, and turned violence into a spectacle to keep Panem under complete control. In short, it’s a shift in perspective that promises to expand the universe by putting some elements that have always been part of the franchise but are now set to take center stage.

And while rewatching all five previous movies is certainly the perfect way to get ready, it’s also worth looking beyond the franchise at films that closely align with what Sunrise on the Reaping specifically aims to explore. So with that in mind, we’ve selected a few dystopian movies that tackle many of the same ideas from different angles and will help you get in the mood for the upcoming film to make the experience even more rewarding.

4) V for Vendetta

Throughout the franchise, we’ve seen what the Hunger Games were like in their early days and what they eventually became by the time Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) came along to spark a revolution. Sunrise on the Reaping, however, takes place during a time when even thinking about putting an end to the Games was still out of the question, and the regime is at the peak of its authoritarian rule. And that’s where V for Vendetta comes in, following V (Hugo Weaving), a mysterious masked vigilante who challenges a fascist government that controls its people through censorship, surveillance, and fear. And do you know what the new installment of the franchise is really about? Controlling information and manipulating the public.

Haymitch’s story is much darker and more brutal because, unlike in the original trilogy, people have largely accepted the system as part of everyday life. Sunrise on the Reaping is there to show how Snow (Ralph Fiennes) carefully built a strategy that made the Games one thing in reality while presenting them as something completely different to the people watching. Even then, a rebellion is already beginning to take shape — however quietly. And that’s what V for Vendetta is about as well: showing that before a rebellion erupts, there are feelings of desperation, anger, pain, and the determination to finally stand up and change everything.

3) Children of Men

Children of Men is actually a pretty underrated movie, and truthfully, not that many people have seen it. And when it comes to portraying a completely broken dystopian world, it’s outstanding. The story takes place in a future where humanity has lost the ability to have children, and with hope fading away, the world has fallen into violence, authoritarian governments, and an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. At the center of it all is Theo (Clive Owen), an ordinary man who ends up being tasked with protecting the first pregnant woman in nearly twenty years. Compared to The Hunger Games, the scale is very different, but the feeling is remarkably similar.

What Sunrise on the Reaping aims to reinforce across the entire franchise is what it’s like to live in a society that’s completely broken, where the system will do everything it can to stay in control. We’re going back in time to understand what shaped Haymitch into the person he is, especially in the first Hunger Games movie, and the answer basically comes down to one thing: a complete loss of hope. Watching Children of Men beforehand is worthwhile because it highlights the idea that the real conflict isn’t just against an oppressive government, but against a world that has convinced people there’s no other way. It’s a film that puts the consequences of that kind of regime front and center.

2) Snowpiercer

Sunrise on the Reaping centers on a Quarter Quell edition of the Hunger Games, and the trailer has already given us a look at the arena’s visual style. In other words, it’s the ultimate example of turning something horrific into pure entertainment — and that’s exactly the kind of idea that Snowpiercer understands so well. The film takes place after an attempt to stop global warming turns Earth into a frozen wasteland, forcing humanity’s last survivors to live aboard a train divided by social class: the wealthy occupy the luxurious front cars, while the poor struggle to survive in miserable conditions at the back. And when a rebellion begins, each new train car reveals another piece of that system.

Comparing it to Panem is only natural, but more importantly, the movie goes a step further by questioning whether replacing the people in power actually changes the rules of the game. In Sunrise on the Reaping, Haymitch eventually tries to destroy part of the arena, kill, and expose the Capitol’s manipulation, but nothing he does truly changes anything because the system is far more complex and far more powerful than he is. Snowpiercer works in much the same way, showing that the fight isn’t just against the person at the top, but against an entire structure built to preserve itself. It’s an excellent warm-up if you want to fully dive into the message The Hunger Games is trying to tell.

1) Battle Royale

To get ready for any Hunger Games movie, it’s almost impossible not to recommend Battle Royale, which is essentially the best example of state-sponsored violence as entertainment. It’s a highly acclaimed Japanese classic that follows a class of students forced by the government to take part in a program where only one of them is allowed to leave a remote island alive. However, it sets itself apart from what we’ve already seen in The Hunger Games franchise by taking a different approach. While one uses the Games to explore propaganda, power, and resistance, the other leans into a much harsher and more psychological perspective.

The Japanese film is about showing how an authoritarian regime destroys any sense of trust between ordinary people. But when you think about Sunrise on the Reaping, that connection isn’t far off at all, because the new movie is expected to be the most brutal entry in the franchise so far. Haymitch carries deep trauma and psychological scars because of everything that happened during his Games, which featured twice as many tributes and saw him singled out for punishment because the Capitol wanted to reinforce its power at any cost. And in Battle Royale, the goal is never to find out who the strongest student is, but to remind an entire generation that the state has absolute power over their lives.

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping hits theaters on November 20.

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