All five Hunger Games films to stream free ahead of new prequel

All five Hunger Games films will stream free, on demand, with ads for the first time.

Fandango and Lionsgate announced the offer for Fandango at Home, The Hollywood Reporter reported on Oct. 15. It puts the full series in one free place just ahead of the next cinema release.

The free window runs starting Friday through Oct. 31. On-demand means you choose when to press play, rather than joining at a set time. The streams will play with limited commercials, so there are short ad breaks but no rental fee or subscription needed.

The line-up covers the whole story so far. It includes The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2. It closes with the prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

The timing is no accident. The next entry, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, is due in cinemas on Nov. 20, The Hollywood Reporter reported. The franchise has earned $3.3 billion at the global box office to date.

Sunrise on the Reaping turns the clock back. It is set 24 years before the story of Katniss Everdeen. It begins on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Hunger Games, according to Fandango. The focus is a young Haymitch Abernathy, the character known in the earlier films as Katniss and Peeta’s mentor.

There is an extra hook for people who rewatch. Listings on Fandango say each of the five films will feature new sneak peeks at Sunrise on the Reaping. That gives viewers a reason to start from the beginning rather than jump straight to the most recent prequel.

This is also a change in how the films have been offered free. They previously played together on an LG pop-up channel, which works like live television on a fixed schedule. This is the first time all five are available together, free and on demand, where each viewer controls the start time.

For fans, this means a simple catch-up plan. Five films fit neatly into the two weeks before the new release arrives. You can watch in release order and follow how the story expanded from one contest to rebellion and then to an earlier prequel.

What makes this stand out is the ease of access. The films have lived across rentals, purchases and subscription services over the years. For two weeks, newcomers and returning viewers can meet in the same free place before the arena opens again in November.