Sunrise on the Reaping: First Trailer?

I thought it was a fan creation, but it’s from Lionsgate’s YouTube channel.

The Hollywood Gamesmakers are hard at work, it seems, to prepare us for their re-writing Sunrise, the way they have recast every one of the films to make themselves into the action figure heroes rather than the agents of the regime’s hijacking of everything good and meaningful in Panem.

See ‘Gamesmakers Hijack Story: Capitol Wins Hunger Games Again’ for more on that. Or ‘Hunger Games’ Theme Park in China.

Oh, well! Here’s more Gamesmaker takes on the Sunrise movie…

Meanwhile Back in the Rowling Universe

It has been two weeks since the publication of Sunrise on the Reaping and almost all posts here at Hogwarts Professor have been about the second prequel novel of Suzanne Collins, her fifth Hunger Games effort.

What has happened in the world of J. K. Rowling, also known as Robert Galbraith, in that time?

Judging from her twitter feed, not very much — except for victory laps and scalp taking in the Trans Wars, as that conflict winds down. Her Gender Critical views, once considered radioactive and the height of bigotry, are now sweeping the Public Square. There has been little to no news about Harry Potter or Cormoran Strike for weeks but there have been tweet after tweet about the remnant resistance to “Reality Based” medicine, especially on the political left, about abuse of women in Islamic countries (not to include ‘Asian’ grooming gangs in the UK), and even a little support for Ukraine in response to the United States telling Zelensky the free ride is over (TDS? Check).

There is good news in this. The best of that good news is Rowling’s claim on 3 March (above) that her activity on Twixter is a very, very small part of her day’s labors, 90% of which is dedicated to writing her novels.

The almost as good news in her communication this month with her 14 million+ followers is that her battle with Gender Theory Extremists has largely been won, in no small part due to her sacrificial efforts of resistance to the nightmare that was “transgenderism” at its peak. Her tweets on this subject are now bold, brassy, and largely unforgiving with respect to those who rode the wave of popular opinion and scientistic propaganda.

One tweet that touched on friends from the Potter franchise who threw her under the Knight Bus in conformity with the TWAW Herd caused a grand kerfuffle: [Read more…]

Sunrise on the Reaping: #1 Best Seller

If you had any doubts about the continuing popularity of the Hunger Games franchise, sales of Sunrise on the Reaping should put those concerns to rest. I don’t think that the Panem Trilogy and prequels have any chance of supplanting the Harry Potter novels as the ‘Shared Text’ of the early 21st Century; I cannot think of a fictional work by a living writer, however, that has a greater following and appeal than does Suzanne Collins. Dan Brown may sell a lot of books but his work hasn’t become part and parcel with rebellions around the world:

Sales for Sunrise have been spectacular, not to mince words.

It’s #1 on Amazon.com, the world’s largest bookstore:

No big deal? According to one source, not only is Sunrise #1 today but it is the best selling book on Amazon for the first quarter of 2025 though it has only been in circulation for ten days.

It’s #1 by a large margin, too, at Publisher’s Weekly:

Hungry for More

Suzanne Collins has the #1 book in the country—by a factor of 10—withSunrise on the Reaping, her second Hunger Games prequel. It’s set 40 years after the events of the first prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which has sold 1.8 million copies in hardcover since its 2020 publication. (Two trade paper editions have sold another 860K copies.) Sunrise is a “brutal tale of compassion and rage,” per our starred review, “and a frank examination of propaganda and tragedy.”

The New York Times, per its Harry Potter Panic Policy that created in 2000 a separate Best Seller list for ‘Children and Young Adult Series’ to keep the Boy Wizard from dominating the Fiction category’s four top places, does not list Sunrise anywhere on its several Best Seller lists. Folded into the Hunger Games series, however, it is #1 on the YA Series list, and, though, invisible, I think can safely be assumed to be #1 in all hardcover fiction (Scholastic does not publish an e-Book simultaneously with its Hunger Games new releases.

 

Lionsgate no doubt is pleased and I suspect sales of Sunrise in various formats will continue strong, sustained by the aiding winds of periodic announcements of casting choices for the second prequel’s more important roles. Do you think they’ll put Jennifer Lawrence under a blonde wig to play her 16 year old mother, Astrid? The Gamesmakers have probably already made her an offer, though she’d be better suited to play Willamae Abernathy, Haymitch’s long-suffering Ma.

Even the conjecture stories will boost book sales, which, as of today, don’t need a lift. The legend continues to grow, as does the pressure for at least one more prequel, presumably the Plutarch Heavensbee story.

Will the Real Sam Barclay Please Stand Up?

J. K. Rowling has been remarkably reticent to acknowledge real people who have inspired characters within her works. There is of course Gilderoy Lockhart, who she has admitted is based on someone she knows, but has never revealed who that person is. Speculation will continue as to whether the inspiration is our beloved Headmaster (it isn’t), until Rowling finally lets the cat out of the bag. (He really isn’t…) 

The only character who is deliberately based on a real person is Gilderoy Lockhart. [Laughter]. Maybe he is not the one that you would think of, but I have to say that the living model was worse. [Laughter]. He was a shocker! The lies that he told about adventures that he’d had, things he’d done and impressive acts that he had committed… He was a shocking man. I can say this quite freely because he will never in a million years dream that he is Gilderoy Lockhart. I am always frightened that he is going to turn up one day. He is just one of those people from your past whom you feel you have never quite shaken off. I will look up one day at a signing and he will say, “Hello, Jo”. [Laughter]. Other people have contributed the odd characteristic, such as a nose, to a character, but the only character who I sat down and thought that I would base on someone is Gilderoy Lockhart. It made up for having to endure him for two solid years.

J.K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival, in response to a question from the audience, through Accio Quote.

It was big news to fellow Rowling obsessives, when a few weeks ago, J. K. Rowling stated that Strike contractor Sam Barclay was 100% inspired by a friend of hers. In this case, I think we know enough about the character and looks of Sam Barclay to hazard a guess. Check out mine after the jump!

[Read more…]

Audible Full Cast Recording – Draft Cover Art

Just a few moments ago, Audible sent me an email asking for my feedback on some proposed cover art for their full cast recordings due to be released starting later this year. My feedback was a little mixed. None of the covers really emphasise the full cast nature of the recordings, and the styles range from manga to comic cartoon. Let me know what you think in the comments!