Ranking Guide · Updated May 2026

Hunger Games Movies Ranked Worst to Best

All 5 released Hunger Games films ranked, with Rotten Tomatoes scores, worldwide gross, and the strongest scene from each. Plus a prediction slot for Sunrise on the Reaping (November 20, 2026).

The ranking ↓·Sunrise prediction ↓·How I scored these ↓·FAQ ↓·Sources ↓

Films Ranked

released 2012–2023

$3.35B

Franchise Gross

worldwide, all 5 films

90%

Highest Tomatometer

Catching Fire

Nov 2026

Next Release

Sunrise on the Reaping

Section 01

The Ranking, Worst to Best

Counting down from #5. Each entry includes the worldwide gross, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer + audience score, Metacritic, the best moment, and the weakness that costs it the next spot up.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)

The bleakest finale in 2010s YA cinema — and the lowest audience score in the franchise.

Director: Francis Lawrence
Runtime: 2h 17m
Worldwide: $661M

RT Critics70%RT Audience66%Metacritic65

Part 2 carries every cost of the split-into-two decision. It has the franchise's lowest audience score (66%), the lowest worldwide gross of the original four ($661M, down $94M from Part 1), and the only critic-audience gap in the series that runs against the audience. Critics rewarded the bleak Capitol invasion and the Coin-vs-Snow reveal; general audiences came for a war-movie payoff and got a horror movie in the sewers instead. The pod sequence with the mutts is the franchise's most genuinely terrifying ten minutes and the Prim moment lands — but Part 1 + Part 2 was always one and a half movies stretched across two tickets, and Part 2 paid the bill.

Best Moment

The mutts in the sewer. Black-and-white skinless faces, Finnick's death, no music — Francis Lawrence shoots it like a James Wan film. The franchise's scariest scene by a wide margin.

Where It Loses Points

The epilogue. Twenty years jump, two kids in a meadow, voiceover. The book ends there too, but on screen it deflates the courtroom shot that should have closed the franchise.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)

The setup half. Two franchise-best scenes carry a movie that mostly waits for the finale.

Director: Francis Lawrence
Runtime: 2h 3m
Worldwide: $755M

RT Critics70%RT Audience71%Metacritic64

Part 1 is the most defensible of the two Mockingjay films — same 70% Tomatometer as Part 2, a higher audience score (71% vs 66%), and the higher gross ($755M vs $661M). The District 8 hospital airstrike and the "Hanging Tree" sequence are franchise-best moments. What pulls it to #4 is the same thing the studio decision created: the central story stops moving. No arena, no Games, no Snow on screen until the third act. The book's pacing problem (the slowest of the four novels) gets stretched by splitting the finale, and you feel every minute of the 2h 3m runtime.

Best Moment

Katniss singing "The Hanging Tree" while the rebellion intercuts to District 7 lumberjacks downing peacekeepers. Lorde's cover hit Billboard #12. The four-minute sequence the half-movie was built to deliver.

Where It Loses Points

Everything between the District 8 hospital and the Hanging Tree. Bunker scenes, propaganda meetings, Effie complaining about the wardrobe. The franchise's only stretch of dead air.

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

The franchise's biggest critic-audience split — fans love it, critics flinched at the runtime.

Director: Francis Lawrence
Runtime: 2h 38m
Worldwide: $349M

RT Critics64%RT Audience91%Metacritic56

This is the most defensible position to argue. Songbirds posts the franchise's lowest Tomatometer (64%) and its highest audience score (91%) — a 27-point gap that says critics and fans watched two different movies. The Capitol arena half lands, the Snow-Lucy Gray courtship is the strongest material the prequels have, and Rachel Zegler's Lucy Gray gives the franchise a singing villainess it never had. But the third-act District 12 detour stretches a 2h 10m movie into 2h 38m, and the Snow heel-turn that should crush you instead arrives one beat too late.

Best Moment

Lucy Gray singing "The Hanging Tree" in the woods, decades before Katniss makes it a rebellion anthem. The franchise's best needle-drop, and the moment the prequel justifies itself.

Where It Loses Points

The District 12 act. Every minute after Lucy Gray and Snow leave the Capitol is a different, slower movie than the one you came for.

The Hunger Games (2012)

Rougher than Catching Fire but still the cleanest first-act adaptation of any 2010s YA series.

Director: Gary Ross
Runtime: 2h 22m
Worldwide: $695M

RT Critics84%RT Audience81%Metacritic68

The shaky cam and the muted color grade have aged worse than the franchise hoped. But everything that mattered landed: Jennifer Lawrence in the reaping scene, the silent District 11 salute, the cave sequence, the nightlock cliffhanger. 84% on Rotten Tomatoes and a $695M opening that put YA-on-film into a different tier than Twilight or Divergent ever reached. This is the movie that made the franchise possible, and rewatching it in 2026 it still works as a 2-hour intro for anyone you are pulling into the series cold.

Best Moment

The reaping. Two minutes of Jennifer Lawrence going from silent panic to the four-word volunteer line that the franchise spends the next four films trying to live up to.

Where It Loses Points

Gary Ross's handheld camerawork during the cornucopia bloodbath was a censorship compromise (to keep the PG-13). It looks worse every time you go back.

#1#1 Pick

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

The franchise peak and the rare sequel that lifts the original.

Director: Francis Lawrence
Runtime: 2h 26m
Worldwide: $865M

RT Critics90%RT Audience89%Metacritic76

Catching Fire is the only Hunger Games film that critics, audiences, and the cast itself agree is the best — 90% Tomatometer, A CinemaScore, the franchise-best $865M global gross. Francis Lawrence takes over from Gary Ross and immediately upgrades everything: the Capitol opulence has texture, the victory-tour political tension does the work the first film only gestured at, and the clock-arena Quarter Quell is the tightest 75 minutes of action the series ever cuts. The supporting cast (Hoffman, Wright, Malone, Claflin) hits at a level the franchise never matches again.

Best Moment

The wedding-dress-to-mockingjay reveal at the interview. Cinna gets a single shot of pride before everything that follows — it is the franchise distilled into ten seconds.

Where It Loses Points

Almost none worth listing. The opening reaping rerun is slow, and Plutarch's reveal lands cleaner in the book. That is the entire complaint sheet.

The Hunger Games is the rare YA franchise where the second film is also the best — and every sequel after has been measured against it.

— The franchise's own track record on Rotten Tomatoes

Section 02

The Prediction Slot: Sunrise on the Reaping

Sunrise on the Reaping releases November 20, 2026. We are not ranking it yet — no review embargo has lifted, no public footage beyond the teaser. But the early signals are loud enough to call a range.

Sunrise on the Reaping — Hunger Games prequel poster (November 2026)

Upcoming · Nov 20, 2026

Predicted Range

Likely #2 or #3 — competing with the original Hunger Games for the second slot

Rationale

Francis Lawrence is directing his fifth franchise entry. His track record across this list: #1 (Catching Fire), #3 (Songbirds), #4 (Mockingjay 2), #5 (Mockingjay 1). The variance is real, but his ceiling is the highest of any director in the franchise and the Quarter Quell setup mirrors Catching Fire structurally — 48 tributes, a high-concept arena, and a returning-victor mentor arc. Suzanne Collins' 2025 novel sold 1.5M copies in its first week, which is the strongest book launch of the series since Mockingjay (2010) and a leading indicator that the built-in audience is intact.

Upside Case → #2

If Lawrence delivers a Quarter Quell film with the discipline of Catching Fire and the prequel risk pays off the way Songbirds did with audiences, Sunrise lands at #2 — possibly tying or unseating the original Hunger Games. The Haymitch backstory has the strongest single emotional hook of any prequel material the franchise has tried.

Downside Case → #4

If the studio over-extends a single-book story (the way Mockingjay was split) or the 48-tribute arena collapses into spectacle without character, Sunrise lands at #4, ahead of the Mockingjay films but behind the original trilogy. The prequel-fatigue risk is real — Songbirds already softened the audience for a second one.

Early Data Points

First-week book sales: 1.5M copies; Scholastic press release, Mar 2025
Release date: Nov 20, 2026 (Thanksgiving window); Lionsgate, confirmed Mar 2025
Director: Francis Lawrence (5th HG film); Variety, Apr 2024
Casting: Joseph Zada as Haymitch, Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove; Lionsgate casting announcement, May 2024

Section 03

How I Actually Scored These

Most "ranked" lists are just Rotten Tomatoes sorted descending, which gives you a 90 / 84 / 70 / 70 / 67 tie at the bottom and tells you nothing. Here is the framework I used instead.

1. Tomatometer is the floor, not the verdict. Critic scores get you into the right neighborhood — Catching Fire at 90% genuinely is better than Songbirds at 64% — but they cannot break the Mockingjay tie at 70-70 or explain why Songbirds posts the franchise-best 91% audience score with the franchise-worst critic score.

2. Critic-audience gap is the most useful signal. Songbirds has a 27-point gap (64% critics, 91% audience). Mockingjay Part 2 has a 4-point gap running the opposite direction (70% critics, 66% audience — the only film where audiences scored it lower than critics). That divergence tells you what kind of disappointment each film delivered: Songbirds disappointed reviewers, Part 2 disappointed fans.

3. The half-movie problem is unforgivable. Splitting the final book in two was a studio decision and it hurt both Mockingjay films — Part 1 absorbed the dead air, Part 2 had to do double duty. Part 2 lands at #5 because it carried every cost: lowest audience score in the franchise (66%), $94M gross drop from Part 1, and the only critic-audience gap in the series that runs the wrong way.

4. The single-scene test. Every film in the franchise has at least one scene that justifies its existence. Catching Fire has the wedding-dress reveal. The original has the reaping. Songbirds has Lucy Gray singing the Hanging Tree. Mockingjay Part 2 has the sewer mutts. Mockingjay Part 1 has the District 8 hospital strike. The question is whether the rest of the film earns those scenes — Catching Fire earns its highlight; Mockingjay Part 1 has highlights with no connective tissue.

5. Franchise context counts. The original Hunger Games (2012) gets graded on a curve because nothing else in YA cinema looked like it in 2012. The shaky cam looks worse in 2026, but the cultural-impact reading still pushes it above Songbirds and the Mockingjay halves.

Section 04

Ranking FAQ

The ranking at a glance

Catching Fire (90% RT)

The Hunger Games (84% RT)

Songbirds & Snakes (64% RT)

Mockingjay – Part 1 (70% RT)

Mockingjay – Part 2 (70% RT)

Bar width = Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. Scores accessed May 2026.

Which Hunger Games movie is the best?

Catching Fire (2013) is the consensus best — 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest audience CinemaScore in the franchise (A), and the highest worldwide gross at $865M. It is the only Hunger Games film that critics, audiences, and cast members regularly agree is the franchise peak. Francis Lawrence directs the next three films but does not match Catching Fire again.

Which Hunger Games movie is the worst?

Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015) is ranked last on this list and on the majority of major SERP rankings (Collider, Screen Rant, Loud and Clear, Looper, The Mary Sue). It has the franchise's lowest audience score (66% Rotten Tomatoes), the lowest worldwide gross of the original four films ($661M), and the only critic-audience gap in the series where audiences scored a film lower than critics. Part 1 has the same 70% Tomatometer and a higher audience score (71%), which is why it lands one slot above.

Is Songbirds & Snakes a good movie?

Depends entirely on whether you ask critics or fans. The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023) has the franchise's lowest Tomatometer (64%) and its highest audience score (91%) — a 27-point critic-audience gap that is the widest in the series. Critics flinched at the 2h 38m runtime and the third-act District 12 detour. Fans loved Rachel Zegler's Lucy Gray, the Hanging Tree origin, and the Snow heel-turn payoff.

Why is Catching Fire considered the best?

Three reasons. First, Francis Lawrence took over directing from Gary Ross and immediately upgraded the visual craft — the Capitol opulence has texture and the clock-arena is the franchise's tightest action set-piece. Second, the supporting cast (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone) hits at a level the franchise never recaptures. Third, the source novel is the strongest in the series — the victory-tour political tension and the Quarter Quell twist give the adaptation more material to work with than any other entry.

Where does Mockingjay – Part 2 rank?

Fourth on this list. Part 2 has the franchise's lowest audience score (66%) — the only film where general audiences scored it lower than critics. The Capitol invasion, the mutt sewer sequence, and the Coin-vs-Snow final reveal all land. But Part 1 + Part 2 was always one and a half movies stretched across two tickets, and the math catches up with Part 2 in the second act.

Should I watch Sunrise on the Reaping if I have not seen the others?

No. Watch the original four films first (release order: The Hunger Games → Catching Fire → Mockingjay Part 1 → Mockingjay Part 2), then Songbirds & Snakes, then Sunrise. Sunrise is a Haymitch backstory and lands harder if you already know Haymitch as the alcoholic mentor from the originals. The reverse-chronological route is technically watchable but strips the emotional payoff out of every prequel reveal.

Will Sunrise on the Reaping be better than Catching Fire?

Unknown — it releases November 20, 2026, and no review embargo has lifted. The structural setup is favorable (Francis Lawrence returning, Quarter Quell mirrors Catching Fire, 1.5M first-week book sales). The structural risk is also real (prequel fatigue, the danger of expanding a single book the way Mockingjay was expanded). Our prediction: top three, competing with the original Hunger Games for the #2 slot. Catching Fire stays #1 unless Sunrise overdelivers.

Are all the Hunger Games movies on streaming?

Yes, but the home rotates by region and contract. In the US the original four have circulated between Peacock, Netflix, and Starz; Songbirds & Snakes premiered on Starz and is currently on Lionsgate-owned platforms. We do not maintain real-time streaming availability — check JustWatch for your country.

Section 05

Sources

Every box office figure, Tomatometer score, and Metacritic number in this guide is linked to its primary source. All URLs accessed 2026-05-26.

Box Office Mojo — Hunger Games franchise page: boxofficemojo.com/franchise/fr239570693
Rotten Tomatoes — Hunger Games Movies Ranked by Tomatometer (editorial): editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/hunger-games-movies-ranked
Rotten Tomatoes — Catching Fire: rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hunger_games_catching_fire
Rotten Tomatoes — Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes: rottentomatoes.com/m/the_hunger_games_the_ballad_of_songbirds_and_snakes
Rotten Tomatoes — Mockingjay Part 1 + Part 2 (70% tie): Part 1 · Part 2
Metacritic — full franchise critic-review pages: metacritic.com/…/catching-fire
Scholastic — Sunrise on the Reaping 1.5M first-week sales (Mar 2025): scholastic.com/newsroom/…/sunrise-on-the-reaping
Lionsgate — Sunrise on the Reaping casting and release date confirmation (2024–2025 announcements, aggregated via Variety): variety.com/t/the-hunger-games

Editorial note: I have watched all five released films multiple times — most recently a full rewatch ahead of Sunrise on the Reaping's November 2026 release. The ranking, the framework, and the single-scene picks are mine. The numbers come from the sources above; if you spot a stale figure, the “accessed 2026-05-26” date is your tell.

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