Five months after its release, Divergent remains one of the year’s biggest hits. Although it did not reach the heights of any Hunger Games or Twilight titles, it made a strong $151 million in North America and another $125 million overseas. Those are solid, if not spectacular results, and with the books continuing to sell well, could a fifth title in the Divergent series be on the way? If Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. CEO Jon Feltheimer has any say, we just might get one.
Feltheimer credits “skyrocketing book sales, a stellar home entertainment launch and stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Ansel Elgort generating ever-increasing online buzz” as indicators that another film in the series could head into production. The fifth film would be based on the short stories from Veronica Roth’s series spin-off Four, told from the perspective of Theo James’ character. Many of these tales are prequels to the events of her best-selling trilogy.
Speaking of that trilogy, the trailer for Insurgent will appear in front of another Lionsgate title: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. Feltheimer confirmed the trailer’s appearance at a company conference, as well as his passion to keep the franchise going. When asked about adapting the Four stories to screen, he said, “We certainly hope so.”
Divergent‘s box office take showed that there was room in theaters for another franchise based on a beloved series of young adult books. However, the first film did not get overwhelming approval from readers, critics and general audiences. We Got This Covered writers had differing opinions about the film, with Isaac Feldberg praising Divergent as “polished and progressive” and yours truly wishing it could have “benefitted from more dauntless filmmaking.” Meanwhile, after more than 120,000 votes on the IMDb, Divergent has a decent but far from re-assuring rating of 7.0 out of 10. Box office returns could certainly dip below the first’s final tally, at least in North America.
Pre-production on Four, which could confuse some if it is the fifth film in the franchise, might begin if Insurgent performs better than its predecessor. Insurgent opens in theaters on March 20, 2015, so I guess we’ll know at that time if this series will see a fifth film.