Robert Schwentke has left The Divergent Series
franchise after having directed just two installments (Insurgent & Allegiant)
of the three he had originally signed on to do.
Schwentke's departure from Ascendant, the final movie
in the franchise based on Veronica Roth's series of YA novels, means Lionsgate
and Summit will have to scuttle to find a new director to take the franchise across
the finish line as quickly as possible if they plan to maintain the June 9,
2017 release date.
It is unclear exactly what happened but reports
suggest that the Red and R.I.P.D. director just needed a break to catch his breath
after having directed Insurgent and Allegiant back to back.
Lionsgate and Summit acquired the rights to Divergent with
the expectation that it would become their next The Hunger Games franchise, but
Tris fell short of Katniss' success.
It will be interesting to see who they have in mind to
direct the final installment in the franchise, but whomever they end up with he
or she will probably just machine-gun through without much creative say. Neil
Burger, who directed the first installment, could be an option for the studios,
but he is in pre-production on a couple of different projects.
The current plan is to start filming Ascendant this
summer with Shailene Woodley, Miles Teller, Theo James, Naomi Watts, Ansel
Elgort, Zoe Kravitz, and Jeff Daniels, but things may change if a director
isn't found soon.
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