The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping opens in Malaysia on 19 November, a day before America

The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping reaches Malaysian cinemas on Thursday 19 November, a day before its American release on 20 November. GSC, TGV, FST and Paragon have announced it, and GSC's listing gives it a running time of 2 hours 38 minutes, in English with Malay and Chinese subtitles.

Haymitch's Games

The Star's preview calls it the sixth entry in the franchise, following Haymitch Abernathy's run in the 50th Hunger Games. The Numbers sets it 24 years before the original films, beginning on the morning of the reaping for the 50th Games, the Second Quarter Quell. Joseph Zada plays the young Haymitch, with Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Ralph Fiennes as President Snow and Elle Fanning as Effie Trinket, according to The Numbers. The Numbers also lists Rachel Zegler, who played Lucy Gray Baird in the previous film, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee. Screen Daily reported that Kieran Culkin plays Caesar Flickerman, the host Stanley Tucci played in the first four films, that Lili Taylor and Ben Wang are in the cast, and that Francis Lawrence directs from Billy Ray's screenplay, with Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson producing. GSC's synopsis puts it in a line: it explores Panem 24 years before Katniss's saga.

Why the running time matters

At 2 hours 38 minutes, it is a long evening: a 9pm show ends after 11:30pm. The sources differ slightly here. GSC and Box Office Mojo give 2 hours 38 minutes, while The Numbers, working from the American rating bulletin, lists 150 minutes. Box Office Mojo credits Billy Ray, Suzanne Collins and Michael Lesslie as its writers. The Numbers puts the production budget at US$185 million and records the American PG-13 rating as being for strong violence, gory images, disturbing material, and brief smoking and teen drinking. No Malaysian classification has been published yet; it will appear on this site with the sessions.

When to expect sessions

The chains have not published sessions or formats yet, though The Numbers lists an IMAX release in the United States. This site's listings usually carry a film's sessions about a week ahead of opening, so expect them around 12 November.

Before you book

The Sunrise on the Reaping page shows the chains that have announced it and will list every cinema, format and session as soon as they are published, with links to each chain's booking page.