YA book fans rejoice. Lionsgate announced today that principal photography has commenced in Atlanta on the feature film adaptation of INSURGENT, the second installment of the blockbuster DIVERGENT action adventure franchise, starring Golden Globe nominated Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Academy Award winner Kate Winslet. Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer joins returning cast members Jai Courtney, Ray Stevenson, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q and Mekhi Phifer. Based on author Veronica Roth’s New York Times best seller, the film is being directed by Robert Schwentke from a screenplay by Brian Duffield and Akiva Goldsman. Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing the film through their Red Wagon Entertainment banner along with Pouya Shahbazian. Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman are executive producing through their Mandeville Films banner along with Neil Burger and Barry Waldman. Lionsgate will release INSURGENT theatrically in North America through its Summit Entertainment label on Friday, March 20, 2015.
INSURGENT raises the stakes for Tris as she searches for allies and answers in the dystopian ruins of a futuristic Chicago.Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) are now fugitives on the run, hunted by Jeanine (Winslet), the leader of the power-hungry Erudite elite. Racing against time, they must find out what Tris’s family sacrificed their lives to protect, and why the Erudite leaders will do anything to stop them. Haunted by her past choices but desperate to protect the ones she loves, Tris, with Four at her side, faces one impossible challenge after another as they unlock the truth about the past and ultimately the future of their world.
“Divergent” was written by first time author Veronica Roth and has topped The New York Times Best Seller list since being published in April 2011 by Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins Publishers. Book sales of the “Divergent” trilogy have surged to nearly 22 million copies worldwide, up from 17 million at the time of DIVERGENT’s March 21 release.
DIVERGENT has already grossed more than $260 million at the worldwide box office, making the film Lionsgate’s highest-grossing domestic box office release outside THE HUNGER GAMES and TWILIGHT franchises.
The third and fourth installments in the series, ALLEGIANT – PARTS 1 & 2, are slated for release on March 18, 2016 and March 24, 2017, respectively.
Erik Feig, Co-President of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and Gillian Bohrer, Lionsgate’s EVP of Production & Development, are overseeing the project for the studio.
To stay connected with all updates related to the film, follow the official Twitter handle (www.twitter.com/Divergent)
and like the movie’s Facebook page
(www.facebook.com/Divergent).
The current cast for INSURGENT is as follows:
“Tris” – Shailene Woodley
“Four” – Theo James
“Jeanine” – Kate Winslet
“Johanna” – Octavia Spencer
“Christina” – Zoë Kravitz
“Caleb” – Ansel Elgort
“Peter” – Miles Teller
“Eric” – Jai Courtney
“Max” – Mekhi Phifer
“Marcus” – Ray Stevenson
“Tori” – Maggie Q
Additional casting announcements are forthcoming.
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is a leading global entertainment company with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, family entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms and international distribution and sales. Lionsgate currently has 34 television shows on 22 networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as the multiple Emmy® Award-winning Mad Men and Nurse Jackie, the comedy Anger Management, the network series Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show and the critically-acclaimed series Orange is the New Black.
Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent successes as the blockbuster first two installments of The Hunger Games franchise, The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the first installment of the Divergent franchise, Now You See Me, Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain, Warm Bodies, The Expendables 2, The Possession, Sinister, Roadside Attractions’ Mud and Pantelion Films’ breakout hit Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.
Lionsgate’s home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rate. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 15,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company’s core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.
About Author
J. Luis is the current Editor-In-Chief here at GAMbIT. With a background in investigative journalism his work encompasses the pop-culture spectrum here, but he also works in the political spectrum for other organizations.
