When the rights to Veronica Roth’s new novel “Divergent” was purchased, in was in the midst of the young adult phenomenon. “Harry Potter” had just wrapped, “Twilight” was going strong, and the “Hunger Games” was poised for greatness. By the time the film was ready to be released, however, the young adult genre was over-saturated and well past its heyday. Yet “Divergent” may be the film that injects some life into the faltering genre.
Almost a year ago exactly, cast members and crew involved with the “Veronica Mars” television show posted a campaign to Kickstart a film based on the show. Fast-forwarding to today, that movie is hitting theatres, stirring up old allegiances and sparking new questions in Hollywood about the costs of producing a hit.
After the unexpected success of “300,” filmmakers were poised with the impossibility of making a sequel when all the main characters were dead. However, this problem was solved with Frank Miller producing a companion story in “Xerxes,” and opening another door to the writers.
