The young adult franchise Divergent, and why it’s a four-film boxset with only three films in. Plus the tale of 2009’s Adventureland. Twilight and The Hunger Games set the bar high for young adult movie adaptations in late 2000s/early 2010s, and when Veronica Roth’s Divergent series of books came onto the market, a deal was ... Podcast | The entire Divergent saga (2014-2016) and Adventureland (2009)
The young adult franchise Divergent, and why it’s a four-film boxset with only three films in. Plus the tale of 2009’s Adventureland.
Twilight and The Hunger Games set the bar high for young adult movie adaptations in late 2000s/early 2010s, and when Veronica Roth’s Divergent series of books came onto the market, a deal was soon struck. The plan? A trilogy of movies, which soon expanded to four films.
The challenge? Making them to hit an annual release slot, against a backdrop of overlapping schedules and keeping the audience interested. Things would not go to plan.
Kristen Stewart meanwhile would take a day in the midst of the schedule for 2009’s Adventureland to basically audition for the first Twilight film. But Greg Mottola’s sort-of-autobiographical comedy drama would be release afterTwilight – and it was a production that faced the peril of making winter in a theme park look like summer.
Stories of both are told in this episode.
