Hollywood’s on the hunt for its next teen smash
And with ‘Divergent,’ box office may have found just the ticket
In the search for the next Hunger Games, Hollywood has entered one of its own.
Studios desperate to capture the next young-adult franchise have offered a spate of cinematic tributes recently, only to be met with collective adolescent shrugs at the box office.
Analysts say that could change Friday, when the adaptation of the novel Divergent hits screens. According to online ticketing service Fandango, the Neil Burger film is seeing early sales that rival the first Twilight, which opened in 2008 to $69 million, earned $192 million overall and spawned four sequels.
But since The Hunger Games arrived in 2012, the young-adult genre hasn’t seen its expected growth spurt — puzzling for an industry ruled by teens.
Several big-budget franchise wannabes couldn’t capture the teen spirit:
The Host. Despite boasting Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, this Andrew Niccol story about alien parasites barely bugged the box office, crawling to $27 million last year.
The Mortal Instruments:
City of Bones. The first book in the best-selling series had demons, werewolves and “mundanes.” But very little dough: The fantasy film crumbled at $31 million last summer.
Ender’s Game. Based on the 1985 novel by Orson Scott Card, the Harrison Ford picture about the next great leader of the International Military was to be the next great international smash. Alas, last year’s Game ended with $62 million, a portion of its $110 million budget.
Divergent, though, may have solved the young-adult riddle, says Fandango columnist Dave Karger.
“Divergent comes closest to The Hunger Games in terms of subject matter, characters and tone,” he says. “Already, there’s a frenzy for this one that’s only been matched by Twilight and Hunger Games.” The secret? Romance. “Twilight and Hunger Games had it,” Karger says. “That alche- my of excitement and romance isn’t easy, but that’s the strike zone with young-adult fans.”
Divergent fans are also largely girls, a demographic missing in recent young-adult films.
Karger says other teen-geared films, such as comic-book movies, have a simpler recipe. “So much of that is getting the look of the book right,” he says. “And with a comic-book movie, you can have five great action pieces, and people will forgive bad performances.”
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“‘Divergent’ comes closest to ‘The Hunger Games’ in terms of subject matter, characters and tone. Already, there’s a frenzy for this one.”
Fandango’s Dave Karger
Veronica Roth’s trilogy, Divergent is set in a dystopian future Chicago, where teens must choose to live in one of the city’s factions, dedicated to one of five virtues: selflessness, peacefulness, honesty, bravery and intelligence. When hero Beatrice “Tris” Prior (Shailene Woodley) refuses to be categorized, she becomes a threat to authority.
“At this point, it’s pretty clear that Divergent isn’t destined for the same fate” as its failed predecessors of late, says Ray Subers of Box Office Mojo. “Divergent won’t be the next Hunger Games, but it could be the next Twilight.”