The Divergent Series is a feature film series based on the Divergent novels by the American author Veronica Roth. Distributed by Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate Films, the series consists of fourscience-fiction films set in a dystopian society. They have been produced by Lucy Fisher, Pouya Shabazian, and Douglas Wick and star Shailene Woodley and Theo James as lead characters Beatrice Prior(Tris) and Tobias Eaton (Four), respectively. The supporting cast includes Ansel Elgort, Zoë Kravitz and Miles Teller. The first film in the series was directed by Neil Burger, while the second and third films were directed by Robert Schwentke.
Development began in 2011 following Summit's acquisition of the film rights to the Divergent novel in partnership with production company Red Wagon Entertainment.[1] The studios announced production on the sequel following the first film's strong performance in Thursday late-night screenings, where it grossed $4.9 million.[2] They acquired film rights to the Allegiant novel in December 2013, deciding in April 2014 to split the third novel into a two-part film adaptation.[3]
The first installment, Divergent (2014), grossed over $288 million worldwide,[4] while the second installment, The Divergent Series: Insurgent (2015), grossed over $297 million worldwide.[5] Insurgent was also the first Divergent film to be released in IMAX 3D.[6] The third installment, The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016), grossed $29 million in its opening weekend finishing behind Zootopia, an animated film running in its third weekend. The first three films of the The Divergent Series have grossed over $700 million worldwide.
- Wikipedia Synopsis
Movie Reviews:
Hello. I am expecting you are reading this because you are either curious about this situation or you're a fan of Divergent. The Divergent movie franchise is based off the series by Veronica Roth. It was predicted to be "The next Hunger Games." These movies are definitely not the best movies out there I can't deny that, however there is something else that I can't deny and that is that this whole franchise had potential.
When it comes to book-movie adaptations and just films in general, you want an audience and with an audience comes money. Now I'm just going to take a guess and say that a majority of the audience that has seen these movies in theatres are fans of the books. If you didn't know, book fans are crazy. Despite their crazed fangirl/fanboy minds they sometimes know what is best for the series. I don't mean the technical side but when it comes to the content, that's where I think people should listen. We are the people who are watching. Just because we know nothing about making films and movies, it does not mean that you shouldn't listen to what the fans want.
The first instalment in the movie franchise, Divergent was pretty faithful to the books and it remains my favourite out of the series just because it stands out to me more as a film than any of the other movies. (If you would like to hear my opinions on the movies, I have linked all of my reviews in the beginning of this post.) The movies aren't the best, I will admit that. However, if we think about some of the successful movie adaptations, they are not only better in quality but also loyalty. For example, Harry Potter, incredible structure and what do you know? It's loyal to the book. The Twilight Saga is another representation of a not so perfect movie franchise, but from what I know it's faithful to the source material. The Percy Jackson movies....exist. What do all of these films including Divergent have in common? They have a large fan base/following. If the books didn't sell well, they would have never had a film in the first place. I'm just trying to say that if the last movies were a tad more loyal to the books, maybe it would've done better. So many fans didn't see the last two films because they knew it wasn't going to be like the book. That alone will leave a HUGE dent in the sales.
From what I observed of the last two films, they are trying to attract a different audience. That isn't a bad thing, but does that mean we have to erase everything we had built in the first movie? No. A huge part of seeing a film is being entertained or invested in what you are watching. The last films had so much action and a bunch of plot-holes. Even though there was so many action sequences, I was never invested or even enthralled in the last two films. You can read more of my thoughts on the overuse of not only action but CGI in my reviews.
Trying to attract a more varied audience does not mean sticking a bunch of pointless action sequences that distract you from the actual storyline. There are so many ways to make things more appealing to different audiences and unfortunately they chose the wrong route. Although, that is just my opinion. I also heard a rumour that they were trying to attract more of a male audience? Not all guys like guns. So is adding a little bit more of meaningful dialogue that isn't romance or comedy too girly?
I hate to get into a whole rant about being loyal to the book, but I am a book blogger. I am going to provide an example. Shadowhunters has kind of strayed away from the books. However, they are somewhat staying to the major plot points also the world is still there. There is still a fragment of the books we love. They also marketed the show well. With the last two Divergent films, it was like watching a movie I knew nothing about. There are still ways to enhance things that are from the book. Since the storyline was so different from not only the books but also the first film (some of the little things such as the factionless did not connect whatsoever) they created this new storyline that had so many plotholes. Not only were there plot holes but it was predictable.
I don't know about you, but I like leaving the theatre with some sort of impact. Divergent did that for me, it made me feel all the feels. With Insurgent and Allegiant I left with nothing. It had just felt like I had watched a really action filled action movie.
Trying to attract a more varied audience does not mean sticking a bunch of pointless action sequences that distract you from the actual storyline. There are so many ways to make things more appealing to different audiences and unfortunately they chose the wrong route. Although, that is just my opinion. I also heard a rumour that they were trying to attract more of a male audience? Not all guys like guns. So is adding a little bit more of meaningful dialogue that isn't romance or comedy too girly?
I hate to get into a whole rant about being loyal to the book, but I am a book blogger. I am going to provide an example. Shadowhunters has kind of strayed away from the books. However, they are somewhat staying to the major plot points also the world is still there. There is still a fragment of the books we love. They also marketed the show well. With the last two Divergent films, it was like watching a movie I knew nothing about. There are still ways to enhance things that are from the book. Since the storyline was so different from not only the books but also the first film (some of the little things such as the factionless did not connect whatsoever) they created this new storyline that had so many plotholes. Not only were there plot holes but it was predictable.
I don't know about you, but I like leaving the theatre with some sort of impact. Divergent did that for me, it made me feel all the feels. With Insurgent and Allegiant I left with nothing. It had just felt like I had watched a really action filled action movie.
I could get into a whole other thing about respecting a directors work or creation when it comes to continuing a movie franchise, but I won't.
So the movie franchise flopped... Yet they still want to continue the story but on the small screen AKA TV. The creators want a TV movie and also possibly a spin off series. The only time I think that this works is when the author is involved because this is their world and their characters. Or if the adaptations of the books were done well... For me, I am not really angry that they are not making Ascendant because I already have so many problems with the last two films. One of the things that makes me angry is that we don't get to see Tris's death... Another thing that I'm not a huge fan of is that they want to continue this series when it has clearly failed. They also want to create a spin off series which doesn't make sense to me, at all. If it were up to me, I would've just ended the entire thing. It's not like the ending of Allegiant was so open, I mean I really couldn't see how they would continue it. This is like the whole Shadowhunters thing all over again, but instead of a redo they are continuing it. Redoing something that didn't go so well is very different than continuing something that has failed.
Why do I think that this franchise has failed? For one thing, they kind of lost the opportunity to become something better with the sequels. Also, the loyalty aspect. Another thing is that it was kind of marketed as "The Next Hunger Games". Even though they never said that word for word, you kind of just get that feeling with how it was promoted. For example, if something was hinting at being the next "Twilight" how appealing would that be to you? Also, I don't know if it's just me but when ever I watched the trailers I always got the feeling that it was saying "NEW POPULAR TEEN SERIES!"
Honestly, it's such a shame that this franchise didn't do well because I love the books and I think that the actors were perfect for their roles.
Overall, I'm not mad that they aren't continuing the movies. I'm more angry about the things we never got to see adapted onto the screen and the fact that they want to continue a flopped franchise. I don't want them to touch it, we have had three films and that is great. I'm not interested in a spin off or a TV movie.
Honestly, it's such a shame that this franchise didn't do well because I love the books and I think that the actors were perfect for their roles.
Overall, I'm not mad that they aren't continuing the movies. I'm more angry about the things we never got to see adapted onto the screen and the fact that they want to continue a flopped franchise. I don't want them to touch it, we have had three films and that is great. I'm not interested in a spin off or a TV movie.
What are your thoughts? Tell us!
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