Divergent is the latest best-selling young adult novel to be turned into a movie with the hopes for it to become a success like Twilight or The Hunger Games.
And while critics and pundits are saying that it may fall short of the success of those two, they agree that it will do better than recent attempts like Vampire Academy, The Mortal Instruments and The Host.
Divergent is set in a futuristic Chicago, where people are divided into five distinct factions based on their personalities. After the movie’s protagonist, Tris Prior learns she is Divergent, meaning that she does not fit in to any one group, she discovers a conspiracy by a faction leader to destroy all Divergent, Tris must team up with another to find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it’s too late.
The young stars are Shailene Woodley (TV’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager), Theo James (TV’s Golden Boy), Zoë Kravitz (X-Men: First Class and daughter of Lenny Kravitz) and the veterans include Academy Award-winner Kate Winslet, Maggie Q (TV’s Nikita), Mekhi Phifer (TV’s E.R.) and Jai Courtney (TV’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand).
Expectations are high enough for Divergent that plans are already in the works for the next two books, Insurgent and Allegiant to be released as movies over the next few years.
After the success of The Muppets reboot two years ago, director James Bobin and writer Nicholas Stoller were rehired to do the same on a sequel. Muppets Most Wanted takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out theatres in some of Europe’s most exciting destinations.
However, where the Muppets go, mayhem ensues and they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine, who is not only the top criminal in the world, but also a dead ringer for Kermit the Frog. The sequel stars Ricky Gervais, Ty Burell and Tina Fey as well as the usual array of celebrity cameos. Included in the price of admission is a new animated short from Pixar called Party Central.
