Director Francis Lawrence defends the record-breaking runtime for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, proclaiming “I don’t care if the movie is long.” Based on the book by Suzanne Collins, the upcoming prequel film follows a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and the events that led him to become the tyrannical president of Panem – mainly his relationship with tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes runtime is 2 hours and 37 minutes, which breaks the record for the longest film in the franchise.
