The Divergent Series: Insurgent Pitch Meeting

Nearly a decade after it first hit theaters, The Divergent Series: Insurgent has become the target of the latest episode of Screen Rant‘s Pitch Meeting series. The 2015 sequel adapted the second novel in Veronica Roth’s YA book trilogy as Shailene Woodley’s Tris and her friends are on the run from the Erudite leader Jeanine as she tries to hunt them down in order to unlock the secret to wipe all Divergents out. Grossing just shy of $300 million, the movie was considered a box office success, but garnered largely negative reviews from critics.

As the YA genre continues to enjoy a resurgence on screen, Screen Rant‘s own Pitch Meeting series is looking back at The Divergent Series: Insurgent. The video, as seen at the top of this article, pokes fun at the various plot issues behind the 2015 sequel, namely its incoherent plot surrounding Jeanine’s plans for the Divergents and the lore established by the previous movie. The episode also humorously the movie’s final act, largely set in Tris’ head, and sequel-baiting ending.

How Insurgent Began The Divergent Franchise’s Downfall

While every book-to-movie adaptation is subject to some changes from its source material, the Divergent franchise is one of the more infamous for its various deviations from Roth’s book trilogy. The first movie was not without its flaws, particularly in its faithfulness to the book, but it was ultimately Insurgent that began the film series’ downfall as it learned the wrong lesson from its predecessor and further leaned into the derivative YA formula that saw many other genre efforts fail amid its dominance on screen. Check out how the Divergent franchise fared with critics and the box office below:

The biggest difference between the Insurgent movie and book was the core crux of its plot, in which Jeanine looks to round up Divergents to unlock a mysterious box she believes will wipe out said population. Roth’s source material not only didn’t include said box, but also found Jeanine aware of the same secret it held in the form of a hard drive, in which Chicago’s faction system was simply an experiment. Jeanine’s fate was similarly changed in which she was killed in the book by Tori, who subsequently labeled Tris a traitor to Dauntless, whereas the movie saw Tris hailed as a hero and Factionless leader Evelyn killing Jeanine.

Though Allegiant‘s further source material deviations ultimately led to further audience disinterest and a lackluster box office that resulted in the final movie and TV show spinoff being cancelled, it remains clear that The Divergent Series: Insurgent was the beginning of the franchise’s downfall. While the YA genre is enjoying something of a resurgence thanks to the likes of Disney+’s Percy Jackson show and Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the Divergent franchise’s tarnished reputation may be too much for it to ever get another shot on screen.

Source: Pitch Meeting