iWorld
Trailer of ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ is out
Mumbai: The odds are in favour of every Hunger Games fan! Lionsgate has officially launched the highly anticipated trailer of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Releasing in theaters worldwide on 17 November, the prequel starring Tom Blyth, Hunter Schafer, Rachel Zelger, Peter Dinklage, Viola Davis, Josh Andrés Rivera and Jason Schwartzman brings fans a brand new cast, one that definitely rivals the original. The film will follow 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow during the tenth annual Hunger Games as he reluctantly mentors Lucy, a tribute from District 12. When an unlikely factor turns the tide in their favor, will Snow sing the sweet song of hope or slither into darkness with no chance at redemption?
Headlined by Emmy Award winner Peter Dinklage and Academy Award winner Viola Davis, the film will continue to raise the bar of the franchise with the exceptional acting prowess of the star-studded cast, large-scale production and grandiose performances. The lead, Tom Blyth is not only a treat for the eyes but also has worked on multiple mega projects in the past and is set to take over the mantle from Donald Sutherland, to embody a younger Coriolanus Snow. Known for her stellar performances, Zegler too, brings added charisma to the role of the fearless Lucy Gray Baird. One can simply not ignore her soulful singing voice.
In conversation with the ‘Happy Sad Confused’ Podcast, Zegler opened up about how she initially turned down the role of Lucy, “Let me tell you because it’s such an embarrassing story for me. I was offered the role in January of last year after wanting it so badly. I didn’t audition, it was just, I got a call from my agent that was like ‘Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games franchise director) wants you to do this.’ And I met with him for like three hours at the Soho Hotel in London. And then he told me that they were filming in Germany and in Poland and I had just gotten to London and I wanted to disappear because I was so far away from home for the first time ever. And I was away from everybody that I knew and loved, and I said ‘no’.”
Talking about the release of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes trailer, Lionsgate vice president Gayathiri Guliani said, “Fans worldwide have been waiting with bated breaths for the new installment of The Hunger Games to hit the big screens, and we are thrilled to announce that the trailer of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is finally here! The date announcement alone created a ripple of excitement across viewers and fans can be rest assured that the trailer is going to give them everything they’ve been waiting for.”
Lionsgate and PVR Pictures 2023 will release The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in theaters in India on 17 November.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
