Movie studios have learned that in the post-Twilight universe, young adult audiences won't go see just anything. One successful book franchise, Beautiful Creatures, bombed in February; another, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, is sinking as we speak.
But as The Hunger Games proved, and will prove again in November when Catching Fire comes out, the right material can connect with audiences in an explosive, mainstream way. I'll place a bet now that Divergent, which will be released on March 21, 2014, and is based on the excellent book by Veronica Roth, will be in that category.
As one step down that path, Summit Entertainment has been embarking not only on the usual marketing strategies (casting announcements designed to excite the base, Comic-Con appearances), but on creating an infographic like this one that lays out the world of Divergent:
Because that's the thing about Divergent: It is also complicated! There are some SAT words on that infographic.
Here's the official synopsis of the film:
Divergent is a thrilling action-adventure set in a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities. Tris Prior (Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late.
For fans of the books, the movie's casting has been perfect: It stars Woodley as Tris, Theo James (as Four, her friend and love interest), Kate Winslet (as Erudite villain Jeanine Matthews), Ashley Judd (Tris' mom, who has some secrets), and Miles Teller (as Tris' antagonist, Peter).
On Sunday night during the VMAs on MTV, Woodley and James will debut the first-look footage from the movie. Every fan of the books probably has one thing they want to see. For me? I want to see this!
Divergent is set in dystopic Chicago. And they often jump out of the El.
Actually, I want to see Kate Winslet, too
