Geek Hub recently covered The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping and the trauma awaiting a young Haymitch Abernathy. Now Lionsgate would like to place us even closer to it.
Perhaps a little too close.
Lionsgate and Meta have partnered to convert the film into 3D. Oh what a gem. The new format will screen in cinemas on 20 November. And after its theatrical run, audiences will also be able to watch the film on Meta’s upcoming VR glasses when they launch in early 2027.
According to TheWrap, this is the first time Meta has worked with a Hollywood studio to convert a complete feature film into 3D for a cinema release.
Director Francis Lawrence worked with visual-effects company DNEG on the conversion. The idea is to make Haymitch’s experience inside the arena feel more immediate and immersive. Sounds exciting, right?
The Meta VR Glasses feature a 5K display, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos spatial audio and IMAX Enhanced certification. Basically, the screams, explosions and general unpleasantness of the Second Quarter Quell should arrive with impressive clarity. Although you have to admit there’s something slightly strange about turning The Hunger Games into immersive entertainment.
The franchise has continuously warned us about a society that transforms suffering into spectacle. We’ve watched as the Capitol forced people to watch children fight for survival, while surrounding that violence with costumes, interviews and expensive technology. And here we are, developing a way to bring the arena directly into people’s homes. I wonder if that type of commitment deserves admiration. But I am sure that President Snow appreciates it.
Of course, viewers will not actually enter a playable version of the Games. This is still the film presented in stereoscopic 3D rather than an interactive virtual-reality experience. You will not have to avoid tributes, find water or question whether somebody offering an alliance plans to stab you later. Meta and Lionsgate also plan to bring additional films to the glasses, and I’m sure you are keen to find out which titles will follow. That may take a while.
For now, Sunrise on the Reaping will serve as the test. If it works, Hollywood may have found another way to sell films to audiences after those films leave cinemas. Panem once asked people to watch the Games from a distance.
Thanks to technology that distance, is slowly disappearing.
