MUMBAI: Lionsgate, one of the leading global entertainment company, will produce and release Allegiant, starring Shailene Woodley and Theo James and based on the third book in Veronica Roth's best-selling Divergent trilogy, as two separate films.
It was announced on 11 April by Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger. The Company will release a total of four Divergent films on its Summit Entertainment label, with the next film, Insurgent, which begins production next month, slated for an American release on 20 March, 2015 and Allegiant - Parts 1 & 2 scheduled for release on 18 March, 2016, and 24 March, 2017, respectively.
The three books ranked one-two-three on the USA Today best-seller list for 2013.
"Veronica Roth brings her captivating story to a masterful conclusion in Allegiant, a rich, action-packed book with material that is ideally suited to two strong and fulfilling movies," said Friedman and Wachsberger in a statement. "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."
The first film in the series, Divergent, revolves around the story which takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic version of Chicago, where people are divided into distinct factions based on human virtues. Beatrice Prior is warned that she is Divergent and thus will never fit into any one of the factions and soon learns that a sinister plot is brewing in her seemingly perfect society.
After the cataclysmic events in Insurgent, Tris and Four enter a dangerous new world in Allegiant: Parts 1 & 2 that they no longer recognise. As new truths are revealed about the past and future, Tris must face impossible choices about courage, allegiance and love to protect the people closest to her.
Divergent stars Academy Award nominee Shailene Woodley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager), Theo James (Downton Abbey), Academy Award winner Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road), Ashley Judd (Missing), Jai Courtney (Spartacus), Ray Stevenson (Dexter), Zoe Kravitz (X-Men: First Class), Miles Teller (The Fantastic Four), Maggie Q (Nikita), Tony Goldwyn (Scandal), Ansel Elgort (The Fault in Our Stars) and Mekhi Phifer (Lie to Me).
Divergent hit Indian theatres on 11 April.
