SANTA MONICA, Calif. and VANCOUVER, April 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company, will produce and release Allegiant, starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James and based on the third book in Veronica Roth's best-selling Divergent trilogy, as two separate films, it was announced today by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger. The Company will release a total of four Divergent films on its Summit Entertainment label, with the next film, Insurgent, which begins production next month, slated for release on March 20, 2015 and Allegiant -- Parts 1 & 2 scheduled for release on March 18, 2016, and March 24, 2017, respectively.
The first film in the Divergent franchise is off to a fast start, grossing $117 million at the domestic box office in its first three weeks of release, and it continues its international rollout this weekend with openings in France, Germany, Russia, Australia, Scandinavia and other major territories. Book sales of the best-selling Divergent series continue to skyrocket with total sales nearing 20 million worldwide and sales of the three-book boxed set and three-book e-bundle increasing 55% last week. The three books ranked one-two-three on the USA Today best-seller list for 2013.
"Veronica Roth brings her captivating story to a masterful conclusion in Allegiant, a rich, action-packed book with material that is ideally suited to two strong and fulfilling movies," said Friedman and Wachsberger. "The storytelling arc and world of the characters lend themselves perfectly to two films, a storytelling strategy that has worked very well for us on the two Twilight Breaking Dawn films and about which we're tremendously enthusiastic for the two upcoming Mockingjay films of The Hunger Games franchise."
The Company's The Hunger Games and The Twilight Saga franchises have collectively grossed more than $5 billion at the worldwide box office, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the 10th highest-grossing film of all time. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Parts 1 & 2 will be released on November 21, 2014 and November 20, 2015, respectively.
After the cataclysmic events in Insurgent, Tris and Four enter a dangerous new world in Allegiant -- Parts 1 & 2 that they no longer recognize. As new truths are revealed about the past and future, Tris must face impossible choices about courage, allegiance and love to protect the people closest to her.
The first film in the Divergent franchise is off to a fast start, grossing $117 million at the domestic box office in its first three weeks of release, and it continues its international rollout this weekend with openings in France, Germany, Russia, Australia, Scandinavia and other major territories. Book sales of the best-selling Divergent series continue to skyrocket with total sales nearing 20 million worldwide and sales of the three-book boxed set and three-book e-bundle increasing 55% last week. The three books ranked one-two-three on the USA Today best-seller list for 2013.
"Veronica Roth brings her captivating story to a masterful conclusion in Allegiant, a rich, action-packed book with material that is ideally suited to two strong and fulfilling movies," said Friedman and Wachsberger. "The storytelling arc and world of the characters lend themselves perfectly to two films, a storytelling strategy that has worked very well for us on the two Twilight Breaking Dawn films and about which we're tremendously enthusiastic for the two upcoming Mockingjay films of The Hunger Games franchise."
The Company's The Hunger Games and The Twilight Saga franchises have collectively grossed more than $5 billion at the worldwide box office, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the 10th highest-grossing film of all time. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Parts 1 & 2 will be released on November 21, 2014 and November 20, 2015, respectively.
After the cataclysmic events in Insurgent, Tris and Four enter a dangerous new world in Allegiant -- Parts 1 & 2 that they no longer recognize. As new truths are revealed about the past and future, Tris must face impossible choices about courage, allegiance and love to protect the people closest to her.
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"Harry Potter did it, so we must too".
ReplyDeleteHarry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games....any other new YA book movie series that did the same ? Yeah...
ReplyDeleteUnless the book is twice the length is there any point to this habit? Nope. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI was expecting they would do this. But then again, the last book is the longest.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad they're splitting it considering Allegiant is quite longer than the first two
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty much the same length as Insurgent.
ReplyDeleteNo why stretch it out :( but at least it's more Shailene Woodley
ReplyDeleteI was really hoping they wouldn't do this but when Divergent became such a big hit it seemed inevitable..
ReplyDeleteI just wish Allegiant had a strong enough plot to fill two movies. Deathly Hallows and Breaking Dawn had enough going on to easily fill two movies. Even Mockingjay has enough material to fill a movie (the war, Peeta's kidnapping, district 13 etc).
But Allegiant is just a lot of exposition and a few action scenes thrown in. They are going to have to create a lot of new material to keep the Allegiant movies interesting..
Also, just to clarify, I (unlike a lot of readers) didn't dislike Allegiant the book. It could have been better but it was alright. I just don't see how they can expand it without turning it into The Hobbit..
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ReplyDeleteI just read the trilogy after seeing the movie, the books are decent enough the screenwriter & director made huge improvements to Divergent. I found the books lacking, the world bulding & over all plot of the series is very good but Veronica Roth didn't flush it out enough. They took a solid foundation from the first novel & improved upon it & I have no doubt that they can easily flush out/improve the plot of the last two books into 3 more movies
ReplyDeleteOf course.
ReplyDeleteHuh, maybe it looks that way because my copy of Insurgent is paperback and Allegiant is hard cover (could've sworn though)
ReplyDeleteThere's decent reasons for the trend.... a lot of book series seem to get bigger towards the end - and tend to have a lot more detail as the story reaches the conclusion. The first movie had a running time of 139min so even 50% more could be split into two movies easily enough and still be a decent length.
ReplyDelete