It feels like it was just yesterday that Divergent was setting up shop as the young adult movie franchise to beat in the first half of the year, but in truth we are now closer to the release of its sequel than we are to the original. What's more, today we have both our first look at the movie, Insurgent as well as news that the debut trailer will be arriving online this Friday.
As you can see above, the Divergent/Insurgent Twitter account has posted a rather cryptic message on their timeline - but it's pretty obvious that it's a hint at when the first footage from the new movie will be arriving. The message also comes with the first still from the movie, which features the likes of Tris (Shailene Woodley), Four (Theo James) and Caleb (Ansel Elgort) seemingly running for their lives:
Divergent was released on March 21st of this year, and Insurgent will be arriving almost exactly one year later - the film currently dated for March 21, 2015. Seemingly regardless of the movie's box office performance, Summit Entertainment has already announced that they will be charging ahead with two more sequels after that, with Allegiant: Part 1 dated for March 18, 2016 and Allegiant: Part 2 scheduled for March 24, 2017. Interestingly, Variety is reporting that Insurgent director Robert Schwentke is contracted to come back for Allegiant: Part 1, but isn't yet signed on for Part 2. This is partially interesting if not just because most split finales (Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games, etc.) have been filmed as one movie and then split in half for release.
Summit has been putting big bets on Divergent, and thus far the gamble has paid off. Divergent wasn't a big hit with critics and it didn't quite bring in Twilight money, it did manage to make $288 million worldwide based on an $85 million budget. Insurgent has a bit of advantage now, as audiences have had time to get to know the sci-fi world. Currently its only direct box office competition is Pierre Morel's The Gunman, starring Sean Penn, Idris Elba and Javier Bardem.
Based on the book series by Veronica Roth, Insurgent is set in a dystopian society where individuals are split into five factions (which in turn are based on personality types). The first movie saw the world fall into chaos as factions began destroying other factions, and the sequel will find Tris and her fellow band outsiders working to destroy the corrupt system for good. In addition to Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Ansel Elgort, the movie will so star Miles Teller, Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer and Zoe Kravitz.
