The score album for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, the latest entry in the franchise, arrives digitally from MCA Records on November 20, the same day the film opens in North America. The composer is James Newton Howard, who scored all five previous films, from the 2012 original through the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. He now takes on the sixth “arena” as well. The album runs 35 tracks, and a double vinyl edition is planned for early 2027. The lead track, “Haymitch Meets Snow,” is already out.
Haymitch at Sixteen, Scored by the Franchise’s Musical Voice
The story is set 24 years before the first film. Sixteen-year-old Haymitch Abernathy of District 12 is sent into the arena of the 50th Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell. Joseph Zada plays Haymitch and Ralph Fiennes plays President Snow. Francis Lawrence, who has directed the series since Catching Fire, directs again, which reunites him with the composer who has written the music for every film.
It is less common than you might think for one composer to stay with a film franchise this long. A change of director or production setup often brings in a new composer too. Howard is known for The Sixth Sense, The Dark Knight (co-written with Hans Zimmer) and the Fantastic Beasts films. He has nine Academy Award nominations and more than 140 projects over four decades. A veteran of that stature scoring one franchise for well over a decade is reason enough to listen closely.
A Story Map Hidden in 35 Track Titles
The released tracklist lays out the film’s arc quite clearly. The early cues, “Welcome To The Reaping,” “Train Window” and “Tributes Enter The Stadium,” follow the reaping, the trip to the Capitol and the opening ceremony in order. In between come the lead track “Haymitch Meets Snow,” “Caesar Interviews Haymitch,” which sounds like the interview scene, and “Plutarch’s Plan,” which hints at the rebels’ moves.
From “Launch” and “Bloodbath” we are in the arena. Titles like “Bad Water,” “Gas Plants,” “Sub Level Flood” and “Eruption” suggest the environment itself turning deadly, and “Mutt Bugs” and “Mutt Birds” bring in the muttations. Howard’s score for the first film stood out for its restraint, drawing on small ensembles and folk-like material. These titles suggest that this time, too, much of the score will be about slow-building environmental danger rather than nonstop action.
- Early character cues: “Midnight Dreary” and “Lenore Dove.” The second track is named after Lenore Dove, Haymitch’s girlfriend in the novel.
- The arena section: more than a dozen cues, from “Bloodbath” to “Ambush,” follow the Games themselves.
- The finale: “Rewrite History,” “Haymitch Comes Home,” “Epilogue” and “Reunion” move toward the victor’s aftermath.
Watch the Song Album and the Score Side by Side
Separate from the score, a song album executive-produced by Dave Cobb, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Album), comes out first, on November 13. It features 29 artists, including Noah Kahan and The Smashing Pumpkins, and its lead single is “Draw You Out,” written by Kahan and Aaron Dessner. Songs were central to the story in The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes too, but this time the song album and the score are clearly split into two releases.
What I’m most curious about is how the energy of the song album and Howard’s score will divide the work. The tracklist ends with “You Can’t Leave Me,” “Epilogue” and “Reunion,” which suggests the score closes not on victory in the arena but quietly, on the loss and reunion that come after it. Longtime listeners will want to hear how the series’ familiar shading has changed, or stayed the same. For now, “Haymitch Meets Snow” is streaming, and it is a good way to get a feel for the sixth arena before the film opens.
