Smashing Pumpkins Black Stars Reunites Band With Butch Vig

The Smashing Pumpkins Black Stars release is the kind of drop that makes older rock fans and Hunger Games kids look up at the same time. The band has put out "Black Stars," a brand-new song written for the upcoming film The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, and it reunites Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin with producer Butch Vig for the first time in thirty-three years.

Why the Smashing Pumpkins Black Stars reunion matters

Vig is not just any producer. According to Consequence, he produced and engineered Gish, the band's nineteen ninety-one debut, and came back in nineteen ninety-three for the beloved Siamese Dream. After that, the Pumpkins moved on to other producers, most notably Flood and Alan Moulder for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

That means the Smashing Pumpkins Black Stars session is the first time the core band and Vig have shared a studio since the record that turned them into arena headliners. For anyone who grew up on Siamese Dream, or discovered it through a parent's playlist, that is a genuine full-circle moment.

The reunion was teased months ago. Consequence reports that Corgan said during a Substack livestream in May that the band had recorded one song with Vig and that it was ninety-eight percent done. He did not say what it was for. Now we know.

How the song ended up in Panem

The track did not start life as a movie song. According to Noise11, it began while Corgan was developing material for a solo album. When the band was invited to contribute an original song to the film, Corgan brought Vig into the process, and Vig helped pick the track that best matched the tone of Sunrise on the Reaping.

Recording took place at Chaplin Studios in Los Angeles, with extra sessions in Chicago, the band's hometown. Consequence describes the result as a moody, mid-tempo cut with a siren-like guitar line, layered vocal harmonies, a half-time bridge and Corgan's signature sneer.

The official video leans into the film's look too. According to Deadline, it features purple smoke that echoes the purple and yellow smoke filling the arena in the movie's trailers.

A soundtrack stacked with new music

"Black Stars" is not alone. Noise11 says it is one of twenty-nine new and previously unreleased songs on The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Album), which is executive produced by Dave Cobb. The Pumpkins' track sits at number fifteen on the first disc of the two-disc set.

It follows Noah Kahan's "Draw You Out," the first single announced from the project. Deadline notes that the franchise has a long history of big-name soundtrack moments, from Taylor Swift's "Safe and Sound" in the first film to Lorde's "Yellow Flicker Beat," Coldplay's "Atlas" and Olivia Rodrigo's "Can't Catch Me Now."

The album arrives on November thirteenth, one week before the film opens in theaters on November twentieth. Sunrise on the Reaping is set twenty-four years before the original trilogy and follows a sixteen-year-old Haymitch Abernathy, played by Joseph Zada, through the fiftieth Hunger Games, the Second Quarter Quell.

Where to catch it live

You do not have to wait for the film. The band is currently on its Rats in a Cage Tour, a North American arena run that includes a full playthrough of Mellon Collie and a handful of other hits. Noise11 reports that "Black Stars" has already been added to the live set, so early crowds are hearing it before the soundtrack even drops.

The tour heads to Jacksonville and Tampa this weekend, then rolls through Indianapolis, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Austin, Denver, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. Canadian fans can catch it in Calgary at the Scotiabank Saddledome on November third and in Vancouver at Rogers Arena on November fifth, according to the tour dates listed by Consequence.

What it says about soundtracks in 2026

Movie soundtracks have turned into a place for artists to drop real, new music rather than recycled hits, and this one fits the trend. A band that has been around for more than three decades is using a teen-dystopia blockbuster as the launchpad for a reunion that fans have wanted since the early nineties.

It also hints at something bigger for the genre. Alternative rock has spent years leaning on nostalgia, and a legacy band reconnecting with its original producer is the best case for that nostalgia: it looks backward to find something new. Whether the song lands with younger Hunger Games fans is the open question, but the video, the film tie-in and the live set give it a real shot.

For now, the move is simple. Stream "Black Stars," watch the smoky video, and decide whether the Pumpkins still sound dangerous. You can also browse more of our music coverage while you wait for the full album next month.