The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes hit theaters last weekend, eight years after we last visited the dystopian world of Panem. The introduction of Rachel Zegler’s Lucy Gray Baird in the Coriolanus Snow origin story drew mixed results from critics, who said it failed to sidestep the common prequel problem of weaving a compelling tale when we already know at least one of the character’s fates. Fans of the franchise, however, still showed up, making The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes the No. 1 movie at the box office, and their feedback suggests they liked the movie way more than critics did.
While early reactions to The Hunger Games prequel had many calling it the best of the series, other critics pointed out some of the film’s flaws, including “rehashing many of the same plots and themes” as its predecessors, according to one assessment. The audience, however, either doesn’t agree or doesn’t care, because despite the movie pulling a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 63 percent from the critics, its Audience Score is a certified-fresh 91 percent. One fan, Madeline T, rated the movie 5 out of 5 stars writing:
