New Divergent Poster: Tris and Four

Two new characters posters for Divergent are out putting the leads Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) front and center with a special focus on their tattoos.  In the book, Tris gets her tattoos when she joins Dauntless. Each tattoo represents a member of her family she's leaving behind, her parents and her brother.  Four aka Tobias's tattoos have a little piece of each of the factions with Dauntless right on top.  What do you think of the new Divergent posters?

Divergent Teaser Trailer

Wow, the Divergent trailer brought its A-game by reminding us that Kate Winslet's in it and also by showing the first look of her character Jeanine Matthews, the leader of Erudite.  The dystopian action thriller also shows us the dynamic between Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) and really emphasizes Tris' uniqueness in a world where everyone has to conform.  We've got ourselves a new franchise in hand.  Divergent, directed by Neil Burger, will hit theaters March 2014. 

EW's new Divergent stills

 

Entertainment Weekly has some exclusive new stills from the upcoming Divergent based on Veronica Roth's novel showing us actors Shailene Woodley and Theo James as the lead couple, Tris and Four.  We also get first looks at the supporting cast, Maggie Q, Zoe Kravitz, Tony Goldwyn and Jai Courtney.  The costumes and sets seems mostly minimalistic and opposite to that other dystopian thriller series, The Hunger Games.  However, the makers must surely be hoping that Tris becomes as much a household name as Katniss has.  The only major player who's missing from this first look? Kate Winslet's Jeanine Matthews, the Erudite leader who has a hidden agenda.  I suspect the filmmakers might reveal that information in the trailer whenever that debuts.  Divergent will release next March.

Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) prepare to jump off a moving train as part of a Dauntless initiation.

Tori (Maggie Q) is about to administer Tris' aptitude test.

Tris joins Dauntless.

Tris confronts Al (Christian Madsen).

 

Tris bonds with her instructor Four.

 Tris with her Dauntless friends Christina (Zoe Kravitz) and Will (Ben Lloyd-Hughes).

 Director Neil Burger on set with Jai Courtney as Eric and Theo James as Four

Tony Goldwyn plays Tris' father Andrew Prior.

Divergent: The Next Hunger Games?

Back in 2001 after Warner Bros. launched the Harry Potter books as a successful movie franchise, everyone wanted a piece of the pie as well.  So the next Harry Potter was Twilight, the next Twilight became The Hunger Games and now new kid on the block Divergent looks to be the next The Hunger Games.

 The debut novel of Veronica Roth, Divergent, was first published in 2011 and is set in a dystopian (surprise, surprise) world where society is divided up into five factions: Abnegation (the Selfless), Erudite (the Intelligent), Candor (the Honest), Amity (the Peaceful) and Dauntless (the Brave).  The female protagonist Beatrice Prior is born into Abnegation but struggles to find her true self. After taking her aptitude test when she is 16, Beatrice finds out that she is Divergent and contains traits of different factions.  At her Choosing Ceremony, she makes a difficult path of finding out who she is and instead chooses the Dauntless over the Abnegation.  Thus begins the journey of Tris. 

The book isn't as strongly written as Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games series which pulls you in from the get go but I do feel it is better suited for the big screen.  Summit Entertainment, who is producing the franchise, has already set a release date for March 2014 and I must say, the cast is shaping up nicely which is accentuated by the fact that Kate Winslet is playing Jeannie Matthews, the leader of Erudite.  Winslet has been showing up ensemble pieces like Contagion and Movie 43 in the last couple of years and her last big leading role was on HBO's Mildred Pearce so this is a big get for Divergent.  Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) who's the new Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will be Tris and Theo James is the male lead Four.  (Sidenote: But he will forever be Mr. Parmuk from Downton Abbey for me.)  Aaron Eckhart, Zoe Kravitz, Jai Courtney and Maggie Q round out the rest of the cast as Andrew Prior, Christina, Eric and Tori respectively. The film will be directed by Neil Burger (Limitless).

So if all does go according to plan, we may looking out for the next Divergent in the following years.