Watch the trailer for Divergent here:
The movie version of Veronica Roth’s book Divergant hit cinemas yesterday after a less than favourable reaction from the critics. But despite the reviews, Roth says she’s pleased with the movie adaptation of her popular novel, which – it has recently been announce – will get a sequel.
The cast of Divergent discuss the bad reviews
“My anxieties were just the standard anxieties of any author who hands over their work to be adapted. But, I know from the second the book hits the shelf, it stops belonging to the person who wrote it. It starts belonging to everyone who reads it. So I was pretty well practiced in letting it go a little bit, which is a good thing,” Roth said.
It was director Neil Burger - the writer and director of “The Illusionist” - who allayed Roths’ feats. “The challenge for me was fitting all that story into a movie because we loved the story and all of the different characters and all the different events,” explained Burger. But the movie is a different beast than the book. It has different dramatic needs. There are a lot of events in the movie and they are compressed. It has kind of a crazy pace because of that." (Seattle Times)
Financially, the film seems to be doing okay – not brilliant, but okay - which is everything to the studio. But for Roth and Burger, the critical panning won’t have gone down easily. Divergent has accumulated a pretty rotten score of 40%, earning a slew of negative reviews.
MORE: Kate Winslet did Divergent stunts while pregnant
The sequel to the adaptation – ‘Insurgent’ - was previously scheduled for a March 2015 release date with director Robert Schwentke taking over for Burger as director, with a script from Brian Duffield and Akiva Goldsman.
"We're off to a great start with strong numbers from all regions of the country, urban, suburban and rural alike," said Jon Feltheimer, the CEO of Summit's parent company, Lionsgate, in a statement. "We're confident that 'Divergent' is on its way to becoming another important franchise for us, and we have just greenlighted the second film, 'Insurgent.'"
Watch the trailer for Divergent here:
Here's another remarkable biopic from Oliver Stone, who has used all-star casts and intensely pointed...
Edward Snowden always knew he wanted to serve his country and, as most young men...
After the more thrilling Insurgent, this saga reverts to the talky style of the original...
In the third instalment of the Divergent series Allegiant, Tris and Four find themselves plunged...
In June 2013, a high-flying 29-year-old government employee named Edward Snowdon suddenly found himself the...
A sharp improvement on the original, this second entry in The Divergent Series has a...
There's an unusual honesty to this film, which is an odyssey into the inner life...
Following on from the events of 'Divergent', the mysterious government has discovered a magical maguffin...
Following the revelation that she is Divergent and not specialised for any of the dystopian...
It is a time for sexual awakening for Kat Connors (Shailene Woodley). The 17-year-old is...
Based on the beloved novel by John Green, this film is so squarely slanted toward...
Teens tackle yet another dystopian future in this well-made but derivative franchise-launcher. Filmmaker Neil Burger...
Hazel Lancaster is a bright 16-year-old girl suffering from terminal cancer who is forced to...
Author Veronica Roth and the cast of her book's film adaptation 'Divergent' talk about the...