The Divergent Series: Allegiant

Plot

Evelyn re-closes Chicago's wall, and puts Jeanine's supporters on trial for plotting a coup. Johanna turns her back on this and is followed by many newly christened Allegiants. Tris and Four free Caleb and escape over the wall with Tori, Christina, and Peter. Edgar leads Factionless guards to catch them, killing Tori.

Edgar catches them in the wastelands, but a group of soldiers with advanced technology rescues the group. They are taken to a city of advanced technology, hidden behind a cloaking shield and serving as the headquarters of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare.

The Bureau's leader, David, explains that society tried to fix human problems through genetic tampering, sparking the Purity Wars that ravaged the planet. The Bureau has been experimenting on people to develop individuals with a naturally pure genome in isolated, ruined cities. Tris is the first genetically pure individual to achieve the desired outcome.

Caleb and Peter monitor Chicago remotely, while Christina and Four train with Nita. Matthew brings Tris to David, the Bureau leader, who gives her a device to view her mother's memories. She learns her mother was rescued as a child and volunteered for the Chicago experiment. Caleb warns Four and Tris about the conflict between Allegiants and Factionless. Tris agrees to help David with the experiment if he asks the council to intervene.

During a military rescue mission to a wasteland village, Four realizes that the Bureau is kidnapping children and wiping their memories. He attempts to warn Tris of the Bureau's intentions, but David interrupts them. Four urges Tris to return with him to end the bloodshed, but she decides to go with David, who agrees to return Four to Chicago with Matthew and some Bureau soldiers.

On the way, Matthew warns Four that David ordered his death. Four kills the soldiers, but the transport crashes. Matthew gives him a device to pass through the cloaking shield as he returns to the Bureau and warns Tris. Disagreeing with the council, Tris states that the pure-versus-damaged divide is no better than the Chicago Factions. She criticizes them for not stopping the violence. The council reveals that David has full authority over Chicago and intends to reinforce the Factions.

Cast

Shailene Woodley as Tris, a Divergent and former Dauntless member

Theo James as Four, a former Dauntless instructor and Tris' boyfriend

Jeff Daniels as David, head of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, an advanced city formed outside of Chicago

Miles Teller as Peter

Ansel Elgort as Caleb, Tris' brother

Zoë Kravitz as Christina, Tris' best friend

Maggie Q as Tori, former Dauntless

Ray Stevenson as Marcus

Mekhi Phifer as Max, former Dauntless Leader

Daniel Dae Kim as Jack Kang

Bill Skarsgård as Matthew, a member of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare who later sides with Tris and Four

Octavia Spencer as Johanna, former Amity Leader

Naomi Watts as Evelyn, Four's mother and the leader of Factionless

Rebecca Pidgeon as Sarah

Xander Berkeley as Phillip

Keiynan Lonsdale as Uriah

Jonny Weston as Edgar, Evelyn's Factionless second in command

Nadia Hilker as Nita

Andy Bean as Romit

Production

Development

Initially intended as a single film based on Allegiant, the producers of The Divergent Series later decided to adapt the novel into two films, similar to what has been done with other young adult novel series adapted into films. The two proposed films were originally titled Allegiant — Part One and Allegiant — Part Two; this was later dropped in favor of assigning the films unique names (Allegiant and Ascendant, respectively).

By March 2015, all of the series cast members had confirmed their involvement, with newcomers Jeff Daniels and Bill Skarsgård added to the cast that April and May, respectively.

Filming

Filming began on May 18, 2015, in Atlanta, Georgia, and concluded on August 23, 2015. From June 11 to June 23, filming took place at the Lindale Mill in Lindale, Georgia, where the set was being built in late May.

Music

In December 2015, it was confirmed that Joseph Trapanese would return to compose the score for the film. The first track for the Allegiant soundtrack, "Scars", written by Tove Lo, Jakob Jerlström, Ludvig Söderberg, and performed by Tove Lo, was released as a single on February 19, 2016.

Promotion

A teaser trailer was released on September 15, 2015, followed by a full-length trailer two months later, on November 12, 2015. Another full-length trailer was released on January 22, 2016.

Reception

Box office

Allegiant grossed $66.2 million in North America and $113.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $179 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross around $28–30 million in its opening weekend from 3,740 theaters, which would make it the lowest opening among the franchise. It earned the lowest previews among the series, with $2.35 million from 2,800 theaters. On its opening day, it made $11.9 million (including previews), down 43.6% from Insurgent, becoming the first film in the series to fail to open with over $20 million. Scott Mendelson of Forbes compared the decline in opening day to the third installment of The Chronicles of Narnia film series, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which had a similar amount of drop. In comparison, the third Hunger Games film, Mockingjay – Part 1, fell only 21% from its previous film. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $29 million from 3,740 theaters, finishing second at the box office behind Zootopia. It was the first film of the franchise not to finish in first at the box office, and its opening was 46% below Divergent's and 44% behind Insurgent's. Lionsgate president of domestic distribution Richard Fay labeled the opening "pretty solid". As a result of the poor opening, Lionsgate's stock fell the next day, on Monday. Due to Allegiant's poor box-office resulting in Lionsgate's stock declining 3.3% by 72 cents to $21.13 in trading, Moody's Investors Service lowered Lionsgate's Speculative Grade Liquidity rating from SGL-2 to SGL-3.

The Divergent Series: Allegiant also struggled internationally where Lionsgate does not have operations in most countries and sells distribution rights to partners. It opened in 45 international markets a week ahead of its US debut, from March 9, and will receive a scattered release worldwide. Unlike its predecessor Insurgent, Lionsgate decided not to have a day and date release for Allegiant, instead intending to take advantage of various school holidays in international markets, and at the same time avoid competition with Walt Disney's animated Zootopia. Allegiant took the top spot in its opening day in France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden. In its opening weekend, it earned $25.2 million from over 7,000 screens in 45 countries. It added 32 markets in its second weekend, earning a total of $22 million from 77 countries, which is down 13%. The top openings were in France ($5 million), Brazil ($2.7 million), the United Kingdom and Ireland ($2.6 million), Mexico ($2.5 million). In the United Kingdom, it posted the lowest opening in the series, opening at No. 2 behind Kung Fu Panda 3 including previews, which is 37% behind the opening of Insurgent. It had a very unsuccessful opening in South Korea with $523,000 from 392 screens. In China, it opened in third place behind The Angry Birds Movie and Captain America: Civil War with $10.8 million. As a result, it helped the film cross the $100 million mark internationally and immediately became the film's second biggest market behind Italy only. In terms of total earnings, its largest markets are China ($18.7 million), France ($15.1 million), followed by Brazil ($6.9 million), the U.K. ($6.5 million), Russia ($6 million) and Spain ($5.1 million).

Critical response

The Divergent Series: Allegiant was met with negative responses by critics, who criticized the lack of originality, character advancements, visual effects and the decision to split the film into two parts. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 11%, based on 195 reviews, with an average rating of 4.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Allegiant improves on previous entries in The Divergent Series on a few superficial levels, but they aren't enough to counteract a sense of growing boredom with a franchise that's gone on too long." Metacritic gives the film a score of 33 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Writing for IGN, Max Nicholson, awarded Allegiant a 4/10, stating that "Allegiant is a prime example of everything that's wrong with modern YA sequels. Instead of embracing or building upon its core themes and constructs, it tears them all down with a wrecking ball of CGI and nonsensical storytelling". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film a 1/4 stars, stating that "The Divergent Series: Allegiant is another one of those cynical Hollywood cash grabs that takes the third book in bestselling juvie-lit trilogy (see Twilight and The Hunger Games) and stretches that last book into two movies so audiences are tricked into paying twice for egregiously padded piffle".

Shailene Woodley expressed disappointment with the quality of Allegiant, claiming that she almost quit acting following the decline of the franchise; co-star Zoë Kravitz voiced similar concerns about the direction of Allegiant and the direction of the series as a whole, saying, "I think as we went on, the story really kinda got lost and nobody really knew what we were doing anymore".

Producer Neil Burger (who directed the first film in the franchise) criticized Lionsgate's decision to split the film into two parts.

Future

Canceled fourth film

A theatrical sequel titled The Divergent Series: Ascendant, based on the latter half of the Allegiant book, was originally meant to wrap up the series and was originally set to be released on March 24, 2017, before being pushed back to June 9, 2017, with Lee Toland Krieger directing after Robert Schwentke backed out.

Canceled television series

In July 2016, after Allegiant underperformed at the box office, it was reported that Lionsgate would instead release Ascendant as a television film that would serve as a lead-in for a television spinoff series, in which both projects would add new characters to the story, moving beyond the books.

In September 2016, Shailene Woodley stated on Today that the film versus television decision was not finalized, and that it was "a limbo waiting game". In the same interview Woodley spoke despairingly of the chances of her returning to the project in a television format, although noting that she would be open to returning to it as a theatrical film. In February 2017, Woodley said she backed out of her starring role.

In August 2017, Starz and Lionsgate Television announced that they were beginning to develop the television series, with director Lee Toland Krieger and writer Adam Cozad remaining attached from the original project. In December 2018, Starz announced they were no longer seeking to develop a television series, citing the lack of interest from the cast and network executives.