The Hunger Games film franchise is based on Suzanne Collins’s popular trilogy of novels about a dystopian world called Panem, where the rich and powerful live in the Capitol, while the poor and starving in the 12 surrounding Districts, where they are forced to participate in an annual pageant called The Hunger Games. This competition, which was created to remind the districts of their failed uprising, finds two children&mdashone male and one female—chosen as tributes to represent each District in a battle to the death, until there is just one sole survivor—all televised for entertainment purposes.
To celebrate the recent theatrical release of the new prequel film, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Lionsgate has released a new Walmart-exclusive 4K SteelBook collection containing all four of the original films. This is not the first time the franchise has been released on 4K disc. Lionsgate previously released each film on an induvial standard-packaging 4K disc, as well as a box set in 2019. There was also a Best Buy-exclusive 4K SteelBook collection released last year, with each film in its own SteelBook Case. The new Walmart-exclusive SteelBook release finds all 4 films together in a more space-saving single SteelBook case. This is detailed further below.
Here’s a rundown of the four movies:
- The Hunger Games (2012)
It’s Reaping Day for the 74th annual Hunger Games, and Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) has arrived in District 12 to perform the selection ceremony. Hunter and bow and arrow expert Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) becomes the district’s first-ever volunteer after her younger sister Prim is the one selected as the female tribute. She is joined by male tribute, baker Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Serving as their mentor to train them for the games is former District 12 victor—and now constantly drunk—Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson). President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is the ruthless leader of Panem, and suspects that Katniss will be a handful. He wants to make an example out of Katniss, eliminating her early on, and puts head gamemaker Seneca Crane (Wes Bentley) in charge of the games. Providing colorful commentary for the televised event is the flamboyant Caesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci). Some of the more recognizable actors playing other tributes in the games include Alexander Ludwig and Jack Quaid. - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Peeta and Katniss go on their victory tour across the districts, but President Snow is still upset about the situation, telling Katniss that her act of defiance could cause other districts to rise up, and that she and Peeta better make their love for one another believable to the other districts. However, Snow knows that Katniss has become a beacon of hope for the rebellion, and needs her to die. The 75th Hunger Games are coming up, and he has hired new head gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to make this third Quarter Quell something special. He announces that this year, it be an All Star tournament, where the tributes will be chosen from among the previous victors from each district. Being the only living female victor of District 12, Katniss knows that she’ll be thrown back into the arena, and the only two male options are Peeta and Haymitch—she won’t be able to get away with her same trick to save them like last time. Many of these former victors have known each other for years and have become friends, so it is impetrative that Katniss and Peeta make some alliances with some of the other teams—like young Finnick Odair (Sam Claflin) and his elderly mute partner Mags (Lynn Cohen), or the tech savvy Beetee (Jeffrey Wright) and his partner Wiress (Amanda Plummer), or Johanna Mason (Jena Malone)—if they stand a chance against some of the more-seasoned career killers like Gloss (Alan Ritchson) and Cashmere (Stephanie Leigh Schlund). However, these Games are far deadlier than the previous year, with the new gamesmaker throwing in lots of devious and dangerous twists. - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
After Katniss’ display in the games, several of the districts have started to rise up. Snow has had District 12 leveled to the ground, but Katniss and her family are in hiding in an underground compound in District 13. The rebel government, led by President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and her general Boggs (Mahershala Ali), need to unite all of the districts against the Capitol. President Coin needs Katniss to be the Mockingjay, the face of the revolution. But she only agrees to go along with this if they make finding and rescuing those being held hostage in the Capitol a priority. However, Peeta and some of the other captured tributes are being used by President Snow to try to quell the revolution by having them publicly denounce it. - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
The group has finally been reunited, but Peeta is not quite the same, seemingly brainwashed by Snow to try to eliminate Katniss and the revolution. However, the war for Panem is in full swing, and President Coin rallies up the troops to bring their fight to the Capitol. Katniss has one mission, and that is to assassinate President Snow.
The Hunger Games is a thoroughly entertaining film franchise. The first film sets up this very interesting dystopian world, where this young woman finds herself drafted into a horrific situation, fighting for survival and ultimately becoming the face of a revolution. She quickly becomes enemies with President Snow, who wants her eliminated. The second film, Catching Fire, starts off a bit slow, taking nearly an hour to get to the actual games. However, once it does, it quickly supersedes the excitement of the first film, taking on many interesting twists and turns, and the alliances give the games a new feeling—it’s not just Katniss out for herself anymore. This film ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, where Mockingjay – Part 1 picks right up. This third film has a very different feel, more of a political thriller. I very much missed the games aspect in this installment, though it does have some action-packed moments. However, in the fourth film, Mockingjay – Part 2, we go back to form a bit. While there isn’t another Hunger Games, it still has a similar feeling as the rebels make their way to the Capitol but face a series of traps arranged by a games maker. The films flow nicely into one another, and make a really great weekend binge.
As mentioned above, the only thing new about this Walmart-exclusive SteelBook collection is the packaging. The discs themselves are identical to those from the previous 4K releases. That said, the technical presentation is quite good. The audio presentation on all four films is excellent, with clear dialogue throughout, an excellent score, and an immersive sound that is constantly shaking the room during the more action-packed sequences. The picture quality is generally clean, with a solid level of detail in faces and textures, and with a pleasant amount of grain. The first film makes use of a lot of shaky cam, which can affect the picture a bit, and there are scenes that are a bit too bright and faded out, but this feels like the look that the film was going for. The latter 3 films are a lot better in this regard. While the Blu-ray release of Catching Fire switches to an IMAX ratio for the Hunger Games scenes, unfortunately the 4K disc maintains the cinematic ratio throughout. I did have one playback issue on the fourth film on the 4K disc. Just over an hour into Mockingjay – Part 2, the disc froze up twice and would skip ahead a minute both times. The disc itself did not appear to have any physical defects, but I tried cleaning the disc and playing in both an Oppo and a Samsung 4K player and saw the same issue on both. Since these are likely the same discs that have been used in the previous 4K releases, I don’t think this would be a release-wide production issue, and is likely just a problem with my copy. I have contacted Lionsgate about the issue, and will update if I get a response.
Update (12/23): Today I received a replacement disc from Lionsgate—a retail copy of the Mockingjay: Part 2 4K release, and the disc plays back without issues.
This new Walmart-exclusive franchise collection SteelBook includes all 4 films on both 4K and HD. The release includes 8 discs, a 4K disc and a Blu-ray disc for each movie, which are placed on pegs on either side of the beautiful SteelBook case (which can be seen below)—the first 2 films stacked on one side, and the second 2 films on the other. The SteelBook case is placed inside a clear slipcover. An insert provides redemption instructions for a 4K digital copy of the 4-film bundle via Vudu or Google Play (the films are not Movies Anywhere compatible). For the first film, all bonus material can be found on the Blu-ray disc, while for the other three films, both the 4K and Blu-ray discs contain pretty much the same bonus material, with one exception. There are hours of entertaining bonus material, with commentaries and extensive 2+ hour making-of documentaries for each film, along with many other features—all of which is detailed below. Howeber, there is nothing new or exclusive to this new SteelBook release.
What’s Included:
Films: (2:22:30, 2:26:16, 2:02:50, 2:16:55)
4K UHD:
- HDR10
- 2160p / Widescreen 2.40:1
- Audio: English Dolby Atmos, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1 (1.78:1 for Catching Fire‘s IMAX Hunger Games sequences)
- Audio: English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (Films 1-2), English Dolby Atmos (Films 3-4), English 2.0 Dolby Digital (Optimized for Late Night Listening), English Descriptive Audio (Films 2-4), Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, DTS Headphone X Audio Track (Film 3)
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
Digital (Code subject to expiration, may not be valid after 11/7/2024):
- 4K Digital Copy of the four-film bundle redeemable via Vudu or Google Play (not Movies Anywhere compatible)
Extras:
All bonus material is identical to previous 4K franchise collection releases.
- THE HUNGER GAMES
Only available on 4K disc. Missing some of the featurettes included on the original 2012 Blu-ray release.- Audio Commentary with Editor Stephen Mirrione, Visual Effects Supervisor Sheena Duggal, and Supervising Sound Editor Lon Bender (2:22:30)
- Game Maker: Suzanne Collins and The Hunger Games Phenomenon (14:05)
David Levithan of Scholastic Books talks with author Suzanne Collins. - The World Is Watching: Making The Hunger Games (2:02:00)
Extensive 8-part documentary covering the making of the film. Play All, or select from:- Countdown (11:16)
- Casting (20:24)
- Design (14:43)
- Arena Ready (13:29)
- On Location in Panem (15:21)
- Effects (9:47)
- Post Production (22:10)
- May The Odds Be Forever In Your Favor (14:12)
- Letters from the Rose Garden (9:08)
Interview with star Donald Sutherland.
- THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
Available on both the 4K and Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray also includes a “Sneak Peek” of the film Divergent (6:43).- Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson (2:26:16)
- Surviving the Game: Making The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2:24:55)
Extensive 9-part documentary on the making of the film. Play All, or select from:- A New Kind of Hunger: Continuing the Saga (11:07)
- Visual Vocabulary: Building a World (13:03)
- Stirring Things Up: The Cast (10:01)
- Fashion Forward: Costume, Make-Up & Hair (16:46)
- Let It Fly: Production in Atlanta (15:19)
- Moves and Countermoves: Stunts & Weapons (19:52)
- Tick Tock: Production in Hawaii (14:36)
- Threading the Needle: Post Production (27:41)
- The Revolution Lives: Reflections & Looking Forward (9:09)
- Deleted Scenes (4:35)
Collection of 5 deleted scenes play back-to-back—”The Hob Sc 8″, “Train Station Sc 62”, “A Wrinkle Sc 81”, “Switching Envelopes Sc 84” & “Finnick Ties Knot Sc 119”.
- THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY — PART 1
Available on both the 4K and Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray also includes a “Sneak Peek” of the film Insurgent (4:11) and some Lionsgate trailers.- Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson (2:02:50)
- The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of Mockingjay Part 1 (2:14:19)
Extensive 8-part making of documentary. Play All, or select from:- Hope and Rebellion: Continuing the Saga (12:04)
- Designing Dystopia: Visual Aesthetic (13:21)
- Rebels and Warriors: The Cast (13:56)
- Fusing Form and Function: Costume, Make-Up and Hair (22:54)
- Fighting the System: Shooting on Location (16:52)
- D13: Rebellion Tactics: Stunts & Special Effects (16:36)
- Perfecting Panem: The Post-Production Process (29:45)
- Taking Back Our Future: Reflections and Looking Ahead (9:28)
- Straight from the Heart: A Tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman (11:03)
- Songs of Rebellion: Lorde on Curating the Soundtrack (8:10)
- Deleted Scenes (11:18)
Collection of 9 deleted scenes. Play All, or select from:- Katniss & Boggs Walk Though District 13 (:35)
- Katniss Leaves District 12 (:51)
- Beetee Reaches District 8 (1:07)
- I’m Not Asking (3:05)
- Hummingbirds (2:17)
- Face of a Revolution (:52)
- We’re Still in the Game (1:11)
- Snow Sees Propo (:27)
- Cressida Preps Katniss & Gale (:47)
- Lorde “Yellow Flicker Beat” Music Video (4:05)
Available on both the 4K and Blu-ray discs, with one exception noted below.
- Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence and Producer Nina Jacobson (2:16:55)
- Pawns No More: Making The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 (2:21:45)
Extensive 8-part making of documentary. Play All, or select from:- Walking Through Fire: Concluding the Saga (13:55)
- Real or Not Real: Visual Design (10:31)
- High value Targets: The Acting Ensemble (17:24)
- From Head To Toe: Costume, Makeup & Hair (14:21)
- Navigating the Minefield: Production in Atlanta, Paris & Berlin (13:48)
- Collateral Damage: Stunts, Special Effects & Weapons (19:00)
- Tightening the Noose: The Post-Production Process (30:05)
- A Different World: Reflections (23:32)
- The Hunger Games: A Photographic Journey (10:17)
Photographer Murray Close provides an introduction to this collection of production stills. - Cinna’s Sketchbook: Secrets of the Mockingjay Armor (9:22)
Costume designers Bart Mueller and Kurt Swanson talk about creating the sketches for Cinna’s Sketchbook. - Panem on Display: The Hunger Games: The Exhibition (1:57)
- Jet to the Set (41:58)
Only included on the Blu-ray, this episode of the Jet to the Set series takes viewers to the franchise’s filming locations.
Final Thoughts:
All four of the original highly-entertaining, action-packed Hunger Games movies are available together in 4K in this Walmart-exclusive SteelBook collection. The audio and video presentation is top-notch, and there are hours of bonus material to enjoy. While there is no new content added for this release, it gives folks who don’t currently own any of these films in 4K, a version to buy in a single space-saving and stunning SteelBook packaging.
