The Hunger Games Arena: Where was The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes filmed?
Posted by Ra Moon
Boasting awesome locations, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was filmed in Germany and Poland.
Set 64 years before the events of the 2012 movie, this prequel, like the previous parts in the saga, is based on the book by Suzanne Collins.
Set 64 years before the events of the 2012 movie, this prequel, like the previous parts in the saga, is based on the book by Suzanne Collins.
The story revolves around the younger years of Coriolanus Snow in the Capitol, played by Tom Blyth. Snow becomes the mentor to a District 12 tribute, Lucy Gray Baird, played by Rachel Zegler.
Peter Dinklage, known for his role as Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones, rounds out the main cast as the Dean of the Academy, Casca Highbottom.
Welcome to Panem and our spoiler-free guide to all the filming locations of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes listed in chronological order.
The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes locations
Since much of the movie was filmed in Berlin, the production designers took inspiration from the city's landmarks to create the buildings in Capitol.
Pictured below are the towers at Strausberger Platz and the roundabout on Karl-Marx-Allee, which reflect the architectural style of the socialist era.
(You can open all the locations on Google Maps by clicking on the links below in the captions ↴)
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Google Maps
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Google Maps
The Capitol building, where the reaping ceremony takes place, is modeled after the Altes Museum on Berlin's Museum Island.
Completed in 1830, its neoclassical grandeur houses an impressive collection of ancient artifacts, showcasing Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art and antiquities.
The brief scene in which Coriolanus walks down a columned street is the famous Kolonnadenhof, also on Museum Island.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Ajepbah - Maps: Museum / Kolonnadenhof
The interior was filmed in the Bear Hall of the old city hall of Berlin (Der Bärensaal im Alten Stadthaus).
Built in the heart of the city at the turn of the 20th century, this hall serves as a space for weddings, meetings, and celebrations of all kinds.
The final chess tournament of the series The Queen's Gambit was filmed here.
Image courtesy of Netflix and Lionsgate - Map
The scenes in District 12 were filmed at the Piazza Metallica in the Landschaftspark in Duisburg-Nord, Germany.
This is a remarkable industrial revitalization project that transformed a former ironworks, closed in 1985, into an extraordinary public park.
Approximately 3,000 extras were sought for the shoot in Duisburg.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Markus Becker - Map
According to Reisereporter, the railroad sequences were filmed at the Rhenish Industrial Railway Museum (Rheinisches Industriebahn-Museum) in Cologne.
Founded in 1987, the museum is renowned for its collection of historic industrial railway equipment and locomotives.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate - Map
The Capitol Zoo scene was filmed at the Britzer Garten in the south of Neukölln, Berlin.
This 90-acre botanical oasis features a stunning Japanese garden and a beautiful lake.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate - Map
The Academy lecture hall is the Veterinary Anatomy Theater (Tieranatomisches Theater) in Berlin.
Constructed in the 18th century, this amphitheater now serves as a unique venue for cultural events and lectures.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Gitta Zahn - Map
Several key scenes in the movie were filmed at the Monument to the Battle of the Nations in Leipzig, considered one of the largest monuments in Europe.
Follow the link above to read the in-depth report that Atlas of Wonders created several years ago when we visited this colossal structure.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Atlas of Wonders - Map
Known in German by the long and intimidating name of Völkerschlachtdenkmal, the crypt contains four enormous statues of Herculean proportions representing courage, faith, sacrifice, and fertility.
The dome is often used for concerts and other performances because of its excellent acoustics.
Image courtesy of Crosa
The exterior of the monument also appears in the movie as an establishing shot and in the background of a scene with Coriolanus and Tigris Snow (Hunter Schafer).
Director Francis Lawrence said that in this installment of the popular dystopian film series, they decided to look to the '40s and '50s for the technology, architecture, and some of the aesthetics.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Jojoo 64
When Coryo and Clemensia visit Dr. Volumnia Gaul's bizarre laboratory, the staircase and the lobby in the Department of War were filmed at the James Simon Gallery on Berlin's Museum Island.
Viola Davis plays the head gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul, and Ashley Liao is Clemensia.
The Gaul lab's interior is the modern Krematorium Baumschulenweg in Berlin.
With its minimalist design, this funeral facility was also one of the locations where John Wick 4 was filmed.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Wolfgang Reich - Map
The Hunger Games Arena
The lower section of the Hunger Games Arena exterior is the Olympiastadion, the Olympic Stadium of Berlin.
Some scenes with the tributes were also filmed in the outdoor area, which features a two-story colonnade.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Markus Kolletzky - Map
The upper half part of the arena and the interior were filmed at the stunning Centennial Hall (Hala Stulecia) in Wrocław, Poland.
Completed in 1913, this iconic landmark is renowned for its groundbreaking engineering, notably its pioneering use of reinforced concrete in monumental architecture.
The Centennial Hall features a massive 67-meter dome, one of the largest of its kind in the world at the time of its construction.
The structure provided the basic shape, but the filmmakers had to digitally break open the hole and age and damage all the walls via CGI.
Designed by Max Berg, the complex has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006.
Image Lionsgate and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland
The oval domed hall from which television host Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman) watches the games is the Kuppelhalle or Sportpark Berlin Kuppelsaal.
Designed for the 1936 Olympic Games, this is one of the architectural highlights of the German Sports Forum ensemble in Berlin.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate - Map
The Peacekeeper Headquarters is the imposing Ullsteinhaus in Berlin, which for many years in the 20th century was one of the tallest buildings in Germany.
The Ullsteinhaus, with its Expressionist brick facade, was built in the mid-1920s as a publishing and printing house.
Image courtesy of Dirk Ingo Franke - Map
The train station in the 12th district was built from elements of the blast furnace in the Duisburg-Nord landscape park.
The ThyssenKrupp Meiderich ironworks ceased production in 1985, and almost all but one of the blast furnaces were sold to Chinese manufacturers.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Zoetnet
The garrison barracks in District 12 were filmed at the old Nauen Transmitter Station (Großfunkstelle Nauen) on the outskirts of Berlin.
Although this building was completed in 1920, the complex was founded by the Telefunken Corporation in 1906 and is the world's longest running active transmitting facility.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Vincent Schriel - Map
The hanging tree was a film prop built on a set in the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord.
The local press reported that some scenes were also filmed at the LWL Industrial Museum Henrichshütte in Hattingen.
Image courtesy of Lionsgate and Carschten - Henrichshütte Map
Following this link you'll find our report revealing all the locations where the first The Hunger Games movie was filmed, here for the Catching Fire article, and here for the Mockingjay locations.
Can you help to improve this article about the filming locations of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes? To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info, or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!
NOTICE: If you’re using this information on your website, please credit and link to this page as a source.
*****
NOTICE: If you’re using this information on your website, please credit and link to this page as a source.
*****
Ra Moon
Atlas of Wonders is looking for wonderful Filming Locations all around the world. We are constantly updating and improving our posts with new details and images. Follow us here:
All comments are reviewed prior to publication