Initially I wanted to see the third Divergent movie when it hit theaters earlier this year, Allegiant, but it was tracking so poorly on Rotten Tomatoes that I gave it a pass. (It has a miserable 13%.) Plus the second one, Insurgent, barely kept my attention when I saw it on demand. The films were good at first and I really enjoyed the first one, but they kind of petered out. Plus from what I heard fans of the book series were not happy that the third book was carved into two movies. Many people skipped the third movie like I did, and it underperformed with $66 million domestically and $113 million on the international market. That’s still an enormous box office take overall, but for a huge franchise like that it’s disappointing. The first two films did much better with $297 million for the second and $288 million for the first.
The distribution company, Lionsgate, is now moving the last installment in the series, Ascendant, (these names are so generic) to television. This is an entirely bold move and they’re hoping to spin the franchise off to television. This could work. It’s still in the planning phase and hasn’t even been pitched to networks yet, according to Variety. Plus we don’t know which of the stars, Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Theo James, etc. will move with the show to television. (Although the stars won’t stay for the series duration, just for the fourth installment, after which they would be replaced by other actors.) It sounds like it’s all up in the air at this point:
Lionsgate is planning to wrap up the “Divergent Series” with a television movie and a spinoff series, Variety has learned.
Negotiations are in the early stages, but instead of having “The Divergent Series: Ascendant” open in theaters next year, the studio wants to wrap up the film series on the small screen, according to an individual with knowledge of the situation. That would then segue into a standalone television series set in the same post-apocalyptic world…
Lionsgate’s television group will handle production. The idea is to finalize the storylines involving the current cast and to introduce a new cast, who would then continue the series on either a traditional or streaming network.
The “Divergent” films focused on a futuristic society where people are broken up into social and personality-related factions. Veronica Roth authored the best-selling series that inspired the movies.
It’s not clear if stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, and others will return for the “Ascendant” television movie. Lee Toland Krieger (“Age of Adaline”) had been tapped to direct the film.
No deals appear to have been made, and sources say that the the studio has yet to pitch the project to networks.
I would watch this. I have low standards, but I also like scifi and dystopian shows and there are so few on network television. (That Halle Berry series, Extant, started off well but soon got bizarre. Yes I know I should be watching Supernatural. I’m still on the early episodes.) It seems like all the good shows end up on the cable networks or on Hulu or Netflix, so maybe one of the subscription services will pick it up.
The Hollywood Reporter quotes a source who says that star Shailene Woodley is open to doing a TV series, but that nothing is settled yet and her decision will be based on the network. What’s more is that all the contracts for the actors will have to be renegotiated when this happens because they were originally based on the fourth movie coming out on theaters and not television.
THR may have been talking out of their butts because E! caught up with Woodley at Comic-Con, where she’s promoting Snowden with Joseph Gordon Levitt, and she said “I honestly have no idea what’s going on with Divergent. I know as much as you do.” She also hinted that the story may have been released to coincide with her appearance at SDCC. “It’s really convenient that we’re doing all these interviews now and I get asked this question.” I just want to know about her hippie bus and if she’s ready to vote for Hillary yet.
Photos credit: Lionsgate and FameFlynet
OUCH. Sorry but that is seriously embarrassing for a supposed tent pole franchise. I don’t envy the actors. There is no way the studio will be able to pay them their promised sequel salary and it is not a good career move for them to drop their quote.. However if they back out they’ll be “abandoning the fandom family” or some other Twitter/tumblr nonsense.
I think the problem is the material. The books were a cheap copy of Hunger Games. I enjoyed the first book, but then it got worse and worse. So when the material is already bad to begin with, you can’t expect anyone to make good films out of it.
I enjoyed the first book quite a bit and I liked the second one. I hated the third one. Absolutely hated it. I liked the first movie and was looking forward to the second one, but then the third book came out and I was done. I couldn’t believe they were going to make the last book into two films. WHAT? What a convoluted mess it all became.
* I don’t think anything I’ve written is a spoiler, but I’ll still say spoiler warning*
From the time it was announced they’d be making Divergent into a movie franchise I’ve said they need to change the last book completely. The first was interesting and a strong start, it slipped a little in the second installment, but the final book was just out of left field, the plot was odd and…. lets just say the ending was not well received by anyone. Had the producers committed to giving the fandom the ending they really (and I mean REALLY) wanted the fans would have stayed with them to the end. The movies aren’t of a fabulous quality either, but the producers were already working at a disadvantage. Lots of people were turned off from the movies just because they knew from friends how it was going to end and that it was a great disappointment to many fans.
This exactly. The source material was terrible. (Potential spoiler alert) I hated Tris so much that I was quite satisfied with the ending even though it made little to no sense. I just wanted the book to be over. I was hate-reading it by the end.
As someone who was never interested (and didn’t) see either of them, yeah. Sounds like a good movie. I don’t remember hearing too much chatter about these films.
Ehhhh, Supernatural isn’t really a dystopian type of show, though it does have some slight sci-fi tendencies…it’s mostly horror / thriller-esque with a dose of world religions thrown in. I loved the first 5 or so seasons, then I gradually lost interest and now I barely even remember that it’s on. I can’t remember the last time I even saw an episode.
As for this movie TV thing, meh. I never saw any of them, though I read the first 2 books. I wasn’t impressed, to say the least.
I thought it was scifi. Admittedly I’ve only seen the first handful of episodes but it reminded me of X-Files in some ways.
The first season at least is definitely more sci-f. Then somewhere along the end of season 2/beginning of 3 the writers discovered they could use the religion angle and never looked back. Now they just bring in the monsters as a way to move the plot along/filler. It’s a good show though, but like Lady MTL says it you can start to lose interest in it if you’re not careful.
Seasons 6-8 are…not great, Bob, but they changed up the writers/producers and got back on track, IMHO. But I unabashedly love the boys, Cas and Crowley too.
I agree with everything that has been said. The first 5 seasons are great! I did stick with it through seasons 6-8, but while it was on I would usually play candy crush or read articles on this site! I have started to fully pay attention again though. I honestly don’t see this show ending soon. It’s like the horror/sci-fi/comedy drama equivalent to Grey’s Anatomy, imo.
I listened to an audiobook of the first book while moving cross country and could not believe how awful it was. It was like somebody wrote Hunger Games/Harry Potter crossover fan-fiction while high on adderall.
The films failed to make big waves due to the paper thin plot and the lack of chemistry between the leads. (I also believe this is why the Hunger Games films were kind of a disappointment in the end. Casting is important!)
I saw the first with my kids. The movie was awful, as was the actress. I held no esteem for her then, still don’t- she’s a garbage actress, IMO.
“It was like somebody wrote Hunger Games/Harry Potter crossover fan-fiction while high on adderall” LOL great description!!
I think authors and movie producers now are are hoping for the same billion dollar movie magic that Lord of The Rings, Harry Potter and the Hunger Games had (and that god awful Twilight) without realising that the books have to be good to begin with. I tried this book too and it sucked, I also watched the Mortal Instruments (nonsense) but it sucked too so I tried the book instead…also nonsense. Same as Fifty Shades, they expected the film to do well and it bombed mostly because the sucky books got a pass but then the casting for the movie was lackluster.
It will be another few years before a book series hits box office gold. I think authors need to take their time an really flesh out every character and storyline (JK style) if they expect it to translate well in print an on a silver screen. Movie makers also have to know what will do well and what won’t and cast actors that will do the story justice.
I’m just going to leave this link here with the warning my sister quite literally spit her mouthful of water out onto my phone at 2:29 so be prepared to laugh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPUZo3dQSEM
@La Ti Da – thanks for that link! I laughed so hard I scared my cat! 😂
So much better than the actual movie
I bought the first book, and I think I read 5 chapters, put it in a drawer and it’s been there since. Saw the first movie on demand for free, the main dude is attractive! All I’ve got to say.
I watch all the movies for theo. That boy does things to me…..
Arggh I stopped watching after the 2nd one, honestly the whole series and hunger games got overwhelming
I have never read the series thanks to a friend who spoiled the ending, but from what I’ve heard and seen it only appeals to the dedicated fanbase. A tv show might work out in the beginning, but unless it manages to attract casual viewers it’ll probably wrap. As for the TV movie, it’ll probably depend on the budget and network, but I don’t see why it couldn’t work for domestic viewers. What are they gonna do for their international ones?
Reminds me of how they tried to do the “City of Bones” franchise as a TV show after the movie bombed and the show did terribly as well and was cancelled.
I remember that! The commercials for it looked interesting, but the actual pilot was too angsty for my taste. That and I only had a peripheral clue about what “The Mortal Instruments” was about… kinda like I do about Divergent now.
Yeah the tv show is gonna bomb.
Actually that show got a second season I believe. Its still terrible and probably won’t go further than that
Regarding domestic viewers, even if it ends up on a network like ABC they can still sell the overseas rights. I see it ending up on cable or streaming, like Netflix or Syfy.
I didn’t hate the books, though I have no intent of reading them again.
As for the movies, I watched the first one, with the subtitles on and on fastforward. It was just boring. Haven’t watched the last two.
I hope this ends, for now, the splitting of book trilogies into 4 movies. I think studios looked at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being split up and thought they can do it as well. Except HPDH had the source material to do that. Even Hunger Games could have stayed three movies. This series definitely didn’t have the material to that, even if they had a better screenwriter.
I agree with you on the 2-part final movie thing. Sadly I think it’s here to stay though, for example I can totally see 50 Shades pulling a two parter. 😢😢😢
So far it appears that the 50 Shades sequels are not expanding, there will only be two. And as they’re filming them now, I don’t see them changing that.
lionsgate throwing shailene under the bus like this by sharing the news the day before she had to attend comic con kind of sealed the fate of her not coming back, im sure
SPOILER ALERT!
If they follow the plot of the books closely, that would have been unlikely anyway.
well, thats true but allegiant (film) didn’t cover THAT moment for the very reason the book was split, so she is still *vital* for the franchise. after all its only shailene the one in the cast who so far opened 3 movies over 45 millions (divergent/insurgent/fault in our stars) and also has a critical acclaim
Perhaps they could make it as if the whole thing were a dream or something and go back to restart from the first book on the tv show. I don’t think it will work, but better that way then beginning from the wildly unpopular ending.
Lionsgate totally threw her under the bus by releasing this right before her Snowden SDDC promo.
I honestly feel bad for Shailene. As someone said, her career is fine but for a while she was being pitched to be the next big thing along the lines of Emma Stone or JLaw. She’s a good actress but it goes to show that Hollywood easily disposes of many “it” girls.
It was terrible since film 1 and it came out too close to the Hunger games franchise plus the story is different from the books. Sometimes i wonder why producers even bother in investing money in projects like this one.
I feel sorry for Shailene because I like her a lot but Divergent, Insurgent and Detergent are a bad idea.
bad bad bad.
If you can’t get people to go for a one time showing of a film you’re not going to get them to show up every week at the same time for a TV show.
I can guarantee it’ll get cancelled, they may as well save their money and declare the whole thing a bust. All the actors involved are still young and I don’t think the death of this franchise will stink up their careers too much.
The first book was okay, the second was meh, and the third was just bad. I can believe the movies would be the same way, so this doesn’t really surprise me.
Totally. I liked the 1st book but I read the second only out of obligation and then couldn’t even get through the third. It was AWFUL. No surprise they couldn’t get 2 movies out of it.
I can’t see any of the main actors following this to TV.
Not sure how Woodley’s character would transition to the small screen considering the ending of the series…………
Haha right? My guess is that they’ll take a side character in the movie, or her boyfriend and start a whole new series about how they deal with the aftereffects of their success and loss in the new world.
Ha! Right! Although I read somewhere that they’re pitching this as a prequel. Still, I doubt it any of the main actors will return for this TV show. The Divergent franchise all fell a bit flat in the end. I’m a fan of the books, but I’ve only seen the first movie.
I’m a fan of the books too and have only seen the first movie so I hear you Shutterbug. Personally I had no problem with the ending and was pleasantly surprised because it didn’t end like a typical YA book. Perhaps that’s why some fans had such issues?
And a prequel? That’s probably the only way they could make it work.
Funny enough, I have the first two movies sitting on my DVR and I was thinking of binging on them tonight. Rethinking that now… LOL
Yeah it’s like the studio execs never asked anyone who actually read the books whether they should make a film adaptation. From the first movie that this was a bad idea, very few people want to invest in watching a movie series/reading a book series with that ending. Especially when it’s marketed to the YA escapist entertainment crowd.
They should have just changed the ending and let fans know they were going to do so. It may not have been a huge blockbuster, but I think it would have been far more successful if they gave readers what they want.
I think this is prob a good move. I read the books, liked the first two and hated the third one. I have never read a series where the writing and storyline completely change, & the third book was a hot mess.Bc of this I had no desire to see the last two installments and couldn’t believe they could get enough material for two movies. When will they stop trying to follow Harry Potter by splitting every series finale into 2 movies?!?! Harry Potter is a world so detailed that they could have split every book into 2 so they could get in all of the story, but obviously that wasn’t practical so they blessed us w a two part finale. No one else has any need to do that! The acting in Divergent was horrible too, Shailene especially, but even supporting was bad. I figure it was half due to the script/half actual actors?
Totally off topic here…I feel like Shailene’s outfit is straight out of Ally McBeal and I kind of love it.
This might not be good news for her but I’m very excited for Big Little Lies on HBO. That’s going to really remind people she can act.
My first thought was Rachel Green. It’s so 90’s.
well yeah obviously the movie is bombing, has anyone read the books?
SPOILER ALERT:
the main character dies at the very end! with no purpose at all! i heard the readers were super upset with the author, and i was too! why make us go through so many books just to have the protagonist die?! can you tell i’m bitter?
Also, switching perspective back and forth suddenly? What was that about? I actually really liked the first two books. I’m not saying they are amazing writing or anything like that but I liked them. I was intrigued with the story. The third book was awful. Even before I got to the ending. Just awful. After I read the third book, I had to hurry and tell all of my friends that I had been pushing to read the series to FORGET IT!! Ugh. It was very frustrating and it was like she couldn’t figure out what to do with her characters and that was the easiest way to handle it. Lazy. Lazy and it just didn’t make sense. And again, suddenly switching perspective back and forth on the third book when the first two books were all from your protagonist’s perspective? No. No. No. Bad. Very bad. I had quite a few people ask me if I was going to see the remaining films (the first one came out before the third book) and I had a hard time not shouting, “NO!” I had talked about the books because I found them interesting and I enjoyed the first film. Once I read the last book, I was so done with it all.
You aren’t the only bitter
Read the books way back when and the third book was TERRIBLE. Just truly awful. And not because of the ending (although the ending made no sense from a narrative stand point, just seemed like the author wanted to do something totally unexpected). I refused to even see any of the movies because I hated that last book so much. So I am not surprised the movies have bombed, the source material was not great to begin with. They should have made the movies “loosely based” on the books and had them completely rewritten by someone competent at story telling.
Great idea! I thought the premise was decent and the fist book interesting but the author completely dropped the ball. Another story in the same world could have been much better.
I had already seen the first movie because it came out before the last book? Or maybe not. But whatever the timeline, I read the last book after the first movie. I’m so bitter that I spent my money on the first movie (which I enjoyed) because after the last book, I wanted nothing to do with that franchise at all. That last book was so bad and it made me so angry even before the ending. I hated it the whole way through.
Really not surprising. I’ve only seen the first movie so far. I read all the books and the first one is the strongest. Once the society implodes and the revolution starts at the end of the first book, Veronica Roth tried to write a story too big for her to properly plot involving government experiments, genetically pure people, the collapse of society and she relied on the worst plot device of all: serums. There had to be 20 different serums in the storyline and plot development heavily depended on it which convoluted the story into something that no longer resembled the first book.
So not surprising the movies got worse with each installment because the source material did too. Not the actors’ fault at all. Veronica Roth destroyed her own franchise by trying to outdo The Hunger Games.
Couldn’t even watch rhe 3rd one. Turned it on and the green screen.was soooo annoying i sropped watching. Read the books and those werent even all that either.
People always love when there’s a 21 year old writing a book, I remember everybody talked about how young Roth was, like it was amazing she wrote this book at 21. But there’s a reason JK had the idea for HP at 25 and published on her 30’s, after like almost 7 years of writing and planning. Writing is not just about having an idea, it’s a craft one needs practice. Now a lot of films are made based on books written by young authors, and I wonder if those authors themselves won’t regret that later? I mean, I would. I think Gillian Flynn said that she is grateful she only published her stories later in life because she isn’t proud of stuff she wrote in college, had she published those stories they would have damaged her career for life.
I have not been published at all, but that is my experience…I started what I thought was going to be a “quick and easy” romance/erotic novel three years ago (while still working full time/overtime, so I’m no Stephen King with his 1000 words a day), and just developing the backstories of everyone, making sure everything that happens in the plot flows and makes sense, making sure all my locations/history/etc are accurate, and then going back and re-writing in connections after actually seeing where the story has ended up…not to mention literally seeing my writing improve over the years as I’ve honed and edited…it’s taking a really long time!!! But I want to make it right so that no one has any of these types of criticisms if and when I do publish…
I love sci-fi and dystopian stuff as well, but there doesn’t seem to be much of it around on TV at the moment.
Does anyone have any recommendations, aside from The 100 etc.?