The third installment in the popular “Divergent” trilogy, “Allegiant” will be produced and released as two separate films, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group announced Friday.
“Divergent” has already grossed $117 million at the box office in its first three weeks of being released in the US, and sales for the best-selling book series from Veronica Roth continue to increase, nearing 20 million dollars worldwide. The trilogy took the top three spots of USA Today’s bestseller list last year.
“Allegiant” will be the third book Lionsgate has split into two films, along with “Breaking Dawn” and “Mockingjay.”
All four “Divergent” films will be released on Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment label.
This trend of dividing the final book of a series into two films started with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” parts 1 & 2 and continued with Lionsgate’s own “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games” series.
“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,” Lionsgate Co-Chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger said.
In the last three films of the “Divergent” series, Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) will find themselves in an unfamiliar and dangerous world. Tris has to make difficult choices about allegiance, courage and love while trying to protect those closest to her.
Production for “Insurgent” begins next month and is set for release on March 20, 2015.
“Allegiant” parts 1 & 2 will be released March 18, 2016 and March 24, 2017.
