The Divergent Series

[Chicken Wing]

These must be typical "first in" reactions. The general YouTube comment consensus for the previous trailers is mainly "WTF is this?" and "Did I read the wrong book?"

[icewolf]

0% on RT for Allegiant after the first 6 reviews

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_divergent_series_allegiant/

Edited March 8, 2016 by icewolf

[Chicken Wing]

0% on RT for Allegiant after the first 6 reviews

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_divergent_series_allegiant/

 

Nine reviews now. Still 0%.

 

I'm going to call 18-20% for the final Tomatoscore, with an average rating in the 4.2-4.5/10 range. This must get some positive reviews. None of the reviews so far make it sound so terrible that no one could at least sort of like it.

Edited March 8, 2016 by Chicken Wing

[benteen]

 

Nine reviews now. Still 0%.

 

I'm going to call 18-20% for the final Tomatoscore, with an average rating in the 4.2-4.5/10 range. This must get some positive reviews. None of the reviews so far make it sound so terrible that no one could at least sort of like it.

 

Is the studio still "smiling" like they were after the opening weekend box office results for Insurgent?

[Chicken Wing]

Oh, you know they are. Crazy knows no bounds.

[BatmanBeatles]

[GaT]

0% on RT for Allegiant after the first 6 reviews

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_divergent_series_allegiant/

My favorite review 'Allegiant' is superior to 'Insurgent' without qualifying as "good." I wonder if they've already filmed part 2 yet?

[Dejana]

My favorite review 'Allegiant' is superior to 'Insurgent' without qualifying as "good." I wonder if they've already filmed part 2 yet?

The last I heard, they were still looking for a new director, with a rumor being the guy who did The Age of Adaline. It would make sense if they were waiting for the opening weekend box office before deciding whether or not to bother with Part 2, but little about Lionsgate's approach to these films has ever made sense, so why start now?

[Chicken Wing]

If anyone's keeping score, we're now at 0-14 on Rottentomatoes.

[BatmanBeatles]

Now it's 11% on Rotten Tomatoes.

[Chicken Wing]

Allegiant made $2.35 million in the Thursday night previews, compared to Insurgent's $4.1 million and Divergent's $4.9 million. If Allegiant follows the same pattern of frontloading those had, it will make over/under $30 million for the weekend. Brava.

[methodwriter85]

Is Lionsgate still smiling? Maybe it's just laughing gas.

 

I knew it was going to flop. I work at a movie theater, and very few people came to the marathon showing of the Divergent series, and nobody came to the premieres on Thursday night.

 

I love that the Part 2 shit backfired on them, with the Hunger Games, and again(with even bigger consequences) with this. I hope this mess finally kills it for good.

[joanne3482]

They have to do the last one, though. I MUST know if they end it correctly. 

[KoBnR]

The book sequels sucked so I'm looking forward to seeing how different it is. I'm open minded about book/movie changes. Doesn't bother me. People should expect it. It's unfortunate it's not doing as good because it looks more fun than the 2nd.

[Chicken Wing]

Deadline's early weekend projections have this opening to $28-30 million. (And I won't be surprised if the official weekend estimates and weekend actuals drop even lower.) Zootopia will reign supreme for the third weekend with an amazing $40-41 million. The Deadline article goes into a long debate over what went wrong with Allegiant and whether splitting the last (highly polarizing) book was a good idea. Spoiler alert: It wasn't.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Chicken Wing

[methodwriter85]

Also, they apparently didn't cut the budget for Allegiant. Further stupidity.

 

Honestly, I hope some executives at Lionsgate are getting fired over this.

[benteen]

I'm sure they'll be fired with a "smile" on their face...

 

Seriously, Hollywood doesn't hold anyone accountable for anything. 

 

They were so desperate to make the next Hunger Games franchise that they completely overrode their common sense and overestimated the appeal of this series.  Even when the box office results weren't high enough and/or diminishing.  Arrogance and stupidity.

[QuinnM]

 

They were so desperate to make the next Hunger Games franchise that they completely overrode their common sense and overestimated the appeal of this series.  Even when the box office results weren't high enough and/or diminishing.  Arrogance and stupidity.

 

I just saw the latest poster for this.  It is shot of Four and Tris and the one word 'Always'.  The mimicry has just become so blatant I expect a new poster with Jeff Danial as President Snow.

Edited March 20, 2016 by QuinnM

[BatmanBeatles]

I got a President Coin vibe from Jeff Daniels. You know, a leader who seems OK at first but...

[Artsda]

Splitting this book into 2 movies with how horrible the book was, was just stupid. It was obvious from since the first movie that buy the 3rd movie book readers would refuse to see it just based on what happens.

[GaT]

It was obvious from since the first movie that buy the 3rd movie book readers would refuse to see it just based on what happens.

I bet that either what happens in the book doesn't happen in the movie, or they make it so ambiguous that you're not really sure what happens.

[methodwriter85]

I'm sure they'll be fired with a "smile" on their face...

 

Seriously, Hollywood doesn't hold anyone accountable for anything. 

 

They were so desperate to make the next Hunger Games franchise that they completely overrode their common sense and overestimated the appeal of this series.  Even when the box office results weren't high enough and/or diminishing.  Arrogance and stupidity.

 

What kills me is that despite the fact that the box office gross for Insurgent dropped by 20 million, they STILL went ahead and didn't cut the budget for Allegiant. That is beyond stupid. (Although apparently they sold off the overseas box office to make up their production budget.) When it's all said and done, they'll be lucky to break even at the end of this.

[icewolf]

Why The Divergent Franchise Just Needs To End Immediately

[benteen]

If they hadn't decided to split the third book into two stories, despite the fact that the box office numbers didn't justify it and despite the fact that it was a thin and awful book, this charade would finally have reached its conclusion.  But they are continuing this exercise in embarrassment.

 

But they learn nothing. 

 

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/ascendant-release-date-divergent-allegiant-1201735448/

 

Probably too busy smiling...

Edited March 22, 2016 by benteen

[absnow54]

To be fair, Allegiant is a really long book (not Harry Potter long, but almost twice the length of Mockingjay) and the decision to split it was made before Insurgent's underwhelming performance. They were probably well into Allegiant's production by then, and since they couldn't do back to back filming like they did with Mockingjay Part 1 and 2, they were sort of stuck with the two movies. I think had they seen the returns on Insurgent, and the drop in box office for Hunger Games, they would have reconsidered their decision.

 

The studio has no excuse for splitting the film after the polarizing reaction to the final book though. If that wasn't a giant red flag, I don't know what is.

[GaT]

The studio has no excuse for splitting the film after the polarizing reaction to the final book though. If that wasn't a giant red flag, I don't know what is.

This is what I don't understand, once they knew what the ending was, why did they continue with splitting the last book?

[Raja]

This is what I don't understand, once they knew what the ending was, why did they continue with splitting the last book?

The book didn't matter the movies before had already failed but they went all in and fast to guarantee the cast would remain stable

[Pixel]

The book sequels sucked so I'm looking forward to seeing how different it is. I'm open minded about book/movie changes. Doesn't bother me. People should expect it. It's unfortunate it's not doing as good because it looks more fun than the 2nd.

i have no problem at all with changes from the book, especially this book, because it wasn't great and definitely would have been a snooze fest onscreen. However, I just saw Allegiant an hour ago and the changes were bizarre. I felt like it wasn't even part of the same series.

[Chicken Wing]

i have no problem at all with changes from the book, especially this book, because it wasn't great and definitely would have been a snooze fest onscreen. However, I just saw Allegiant an hour ago and the changes were bizarre. I felt like it wasn't even part of the same series.

 

That was the feeling I got from reading that book in general -- Roth veered so far from the original premise and plot, it's like she accidentally started telling a different story with the same characters. With this new director and the focus on special effects and visual technology above silly unimportant things like competent storytelling, the feeling is multiplied as they basically turn the whole series into a completely different kind of story than what it's supposed to be. A large part, if not a majority, of the consensus among critical moviegoers feel that they went overboard on that aspect in this movie. Too much emphasis on sci-fi visuals, too many (really shoddy) visual effects and CGI.

 

I don't have an issue with changes in an adaptation, and I agree that this book -- as well as the others, to an extent -- needed changes like nothing ever needed changes before. I mean, the storyline in this book is terrible Just freaking awful. The problem with the filmmakers behind these movies is that while they make big changes from the book's plot, the storyline they come up with in its place is just as stupid, just as illogical, just as bad. I'm amazed that from a book with as many plot holes in the actual story as this, they managed to outdo it with new plot holes of their own. These screenwriters suck. I mean, the plotline they invented for this movie is actually dumber than the one in the book. They deserve a freaking medal for that.

[Guest]

I bet that either what happens in the book doesn't happen in the movie, or they make it so ambiguous that you're not really sure what happens.

 

Except that I think the problems with the last book went WAY beyond the polarizing ending.  The whole thing just made no sense. My impression was always that Roth spent a lot of time on the first book, and it was a big success, so she was pressured to finish the series quickly.  And then it all unraveled.  

[absnow54]

Yeah, if anything, the end of Allegiant makes the series somewhat unique. It was all the conflicting thematic elements she threw in as a jumbled mess and then hastily resolved instead of finishing the story she had started that I found to be the biggest problem with Allegiant. And the morality behind it was all really confusing.

In order for the "good guys" to stop the "bad guys" from resetting the social experiment and erase their subjects' memories to prevent a war, the good guys erase the memories of the people outside the fence? And for some reason the thought of erasing someone's memories is WAY WORSE than the destruction Tobias's dad is planning? And the scientists were the ones providing Jeanine with the supplies for her war on Divergents, when THE POINT OF THEIR EXPERIMENT WAS TO BREED DIVERGENTS? And the entire war between the factions and factionless was resolved because Tobias asked nicely?

It's been years since I read the book, and the ridiculous plot points still give me rage blackouts.

Tris's death

was the lowest offense on my "Well screw this book" list.

Edited March 28, 2016 by absnow54

[GaT]

Except that I think the problems with the last book went WAY beyond the polarizing ending.  The whole thing just made no sense. My impression was always that Roth spent a lot of time on the first book, and it was a big success, so she was pressured to finish the series quickly.  And then it all unraveled.  

Oh I agree. I thought it felt like she rewrote the entire story between Insurgent & Allegiant, it didn't seem to have much to do with the 2 books before it & what she did to Four's personality was a crime.

[Pixel]

Oh I agree. I thought it felt like she rewrote the entire story between Insurgent & Allegiant, it didn't seem to have much to do with the 2 books before it & what she did to Four's personality was a crime.

Well, when you're flipping points of view and Four's inner monologue sounds exactly like Tris' inner monologue, it's impossible to not completely destroy his personality.  I can't even tell you how many times I was halfway through a chapter before I realized we'd swapped viewpoints.

Edited March 28, 2016 by Pixel

[benteen]

Yeah, there were chapters in Allegiant where I couldn't tell the difference between Four and Tris and had to check several times.  Between that, Four's antics in the book and him being more terrified of Daddy than ever, it was a total mess.

[absnow54]

Or how we'd have to sit through both characters learning the same information at different times, as if Roth copied and pasted the scenes and just changed the character's names. God that book was tedious. I'll watch the movie when it shows up on HBO.

[GaT]

Yeah, there were chapters in Allegiant where I couldn't tell the difference between Four and Tris and had to check several times.  Between that, Four's antics in the book and him being more terrified of Daddy than ever, it was a total mess.

He stopped being Four in Allegiant & went back to being Tobias, the mommy's boy. It was pathetic.

[methodwriter85]

Four seemed less whiny in this as he was described as being in the book, so I guess that worked?

 

Of course, it's really hard to buy into Four wanting his Mommy when said Mommy looks like she should have been his babysitter, not his mother.

[methodwriter85]

I ran across this article that tried to figure out how Allegiant can possibly turn a profit.

 

Basically, the absolute bare minimum this movie needs to make is 69 million in domestic for it to not be in the red. Right now, at 3 weeks in, it's standing at 61 million.

Edited April 11, 2016 by methodwriter85

[manbearpig]

Is the next movie still happening?

[GaT]

5 hours ago, manbearpig said:

Is the next movie still happening?

Yep

[VCRTracking]

Yikes.

‘Divergent’ Finale to Skip Theaters, Launch as a TV Movie and Spinoff Series

[manbearpig]

Oh dear. I think it is kind of cool that they're still trying to wrap the series up, but none of this is exactly reassuring. They apparently don't have the cast locked down for the TV movie according to the article you posted, which is unfortunate since I think Woodley is one of the few things really going for the series. I still haven't seen Allegiant though, so I'm not that invested anymore. What a weird situation. I'll be curious to see what actually happens.

[Artsda]

It's their own fault. They never should have split the final book into 2 to begin with.

The final book was always going to have a drop off of fans based on the content and what happens. The book was horrible and to split into 2 was a dumb idea, based on greed that they thought they had The Hunger Games or Twilight here and they had nothing close.

[GaT]

I'm surprised they finally admitted defeat. The incomprehensible changes they made to the story, & the stupid decision to keep the final book as 2 movies even after Allegiant was so widely hated pretty much guaranteed failure. And now they want to do a series? Who is making these decisions? What possible reason could they have for thinking this is a good idea?

[Chicken Wing]

Oh, how far we have fallen. Oh, how low. How did it ever come to this? Oh, right.

[benteen]

The most important question out of all of this...is everyone at the studio still smiling?

This is what arrogance and stupidity got them.

[Dejana]

Ha ha!

Lionsgate bought Starz, maybe they're angling for a different audience not covered by their current lineup, but their shows tend to have good production values, at least. A Divergent series seems like something that will be super cheap and on Freeform, back to back with The Mortal Instruments show. 

[GaT]

Looks like Shailene Woodley didn't know anything about it until it was announced. You would think that they would want to keep the stars of the movie around for the final one, even if it's going to be a TV movie & talk to them before the announcement. Unless they're replacing all the movie actors in the final movie with the actors that will be in the series.

http://deadline.com/2016/07/shailene-woodley-divergent-ascendant-lionsgate-comic-con-1201789917/

[methodwriter85]

God, talk about schadenfreude. They had so many opportunities with this franchise to elevate it, and they chose wrong at every turn.

[Artsda]

If they're going to do the TV series they should do it the same as Shadowhunters. Start from scratch with a whole new cast and I'm sure the tv series won't be killing off the lead either.