Analyses of the weekend box office show that Divergent, based on the first book in a YA trilogy by Veronica Roth, came in at a respectable $56 million, a bit lower than expectations of $60 million, but it still a strong enough showing for Lionsgate to consider it “a great start to another franchise.”

Although behind the opening weekends of the first Hunger Games ($152.5 million) and Twilight ($69 million), it brought the official green light for the next films in the series. Insurgent is scheduled for release next March, followed by the final in the trilogy, Allegiant in March 2016.

Shooting is set to begin on Insurgent in May, but the primary location has been changed from Chicago to Atlanta.

Divergent‘s director, Neil Burger won’t be returning, having turned down the sequels  due to scheduling conflicts. The helm will be taken over by Robert Schwentke (The Time Traveler’s Wife, Red). Stars Shailene Woodley and Theo James will be returning. Their on-screen chemistry is the one element critics agreed the movie has going for it. Woodley will next be seen in the film version of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, coming the theaters June 6.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2014 at 8:50 am and is filed under Books & Movies, Childrens and YA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.