Divergent
Vs. The Hunger Games
Written by Amanda Koplien
The weekend of March 22nd, consumers
set out to witness the screenplay version of the novel series phenomenon, Divergent,
by Veronica Roth. The story tells of a futuristic city divided into five
groups, determined by a characteristic aptitude test and a female heroine’s
attempt to help make peace among the system when one of the groups rebel. Sound
familiar? The release of the new movie was given harsh reviews, being
continually compared to the recent success series, The Hunger Games.
Will the success of the Divergent series be altered or embraced thanks
to the overwhelming success of The Hunger Games?
Upon opening weekend of new movie, Divergent,
consumer spending totaled to approximately $60 million compared to the
opening weekend of The Hunger Games which brought in about $152.5
million after just the first few showings. When reviewing these numbers, the
new series does not seem to compare to the original phenomenon but that didn’t
stop Divergent from hitting #1 in the Box Office. To look at in
perspective, another popular movie of 2014, Endless Love, brought
in about $30 million revenue it’s
opening weekend—Divergent doubling their earnings entirely and proving that this film is still an
incontrovertible sensation when compared to movies besides The Hunger Games.
While the film was still wildly
successful, the production cost of Divergent had been originally set at
a budget of $40 million—a generous number for the first movie of a series—and
was increased to $85 million after competition arose with The Hunger Games
when producers endorsed about $88 million in production spending on movie
number one in the four part series. On opening weekend alone, Divergent had
not yet made a marginal profit on their sales, being still below the profit
margin by $25 million while The Hunger Games brought in about $70
million revenue on the first weekend alone. With this being said, at the
rate which the new movie is taking off, their profit is estimated to skyrocket
after the first full week of showings.
It is estimated by Hollywood Critic Lucas
Shaw of The Wrap that overall, Divergent will reach “gross close to $350
million” bringing in $265 million marginal profit while it is still in
theaters and will continue to grow once the movie comes out on DVD and hits the
shelves, estimated to arrive in August of 2014. As a film standing on its
own, Divergent is receiving an incredible marginal benefit regardless
of its “competitor” series released before it.
Even with such incredible revenue
coming from the new Divergent series,
The Hunger Games accumulated over $400 million in theaters alone. After
the success of the first movie, the Lionsgate Entertainment production company
brought in over $424 million in ticket sales from the sequel The Hunger
Games: Catching Fire, with a production cost of $130 million—quite a
jump from the first movie budget of $88 million—Lionsgate was left with just
under $300 million in marginal profit, which continues increasing each and
every day.
Divergent is only the first of the 3 part trilogy
series, planned to be released in three movies reflecting each book
individually. Talk has been had as to why the Divergent series is not
planning to split the third book into two movies, in turn, increasing their
gross income similarly to many other recent, successful films such as The
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 and Part 2, Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2, and coming soon, The
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2. Each of these series’
made the executive decision to break the final book up into two separate movies
in order to expand the growth of the phenomenon and continue exponentially
increasing revenue on the already successful series. It seems as though
Lionsgate is in no way worried about the success of the movie and believes that
the following movies in the Divergent
series will do well without the need to force an extension in order to keep
their fans interested.
It is still unclear as to why critics
claim the series to be unoriginal and unsuccessful for their achievement has
created a nationally known phenomenon in a matter of a few weeks, being
compared to The Hunger Games, one of the most successful series of our
generation. The sensation of
the series is expected to expand over the next few years as release dates of
the finale two movies have been revealed and fans continue to rave over the
story of the Divergent.
Works
Cited
This was a really good idea for a topic Amanda considering how many popular movies in series' are coming out increasing the competition. I thought it was really interesting how the budget for Divergent was doubled just to keep up with Hunger Games, but I wonder why that was really necessary or what the money was used for. I also really liked your graph of some of the most popular movies because I never knew how close the Twilight series was in popularity to the Hunger Games. Good job!
ReplyDeleteAmanda while reading your article it brought out many good points about movies these days. Making a point by showing how close in design and characters in the two series where it aloud one to see how close the idea of the books where to each other. I have seen The Hunger Games and have heard great things about divergent but nothing that they are to similar. Each film has its own point to the series; yes Divergent may be along the same kind of movie like Hunger games but has a different take on it. Where now in these times it seems that’s all that a lot of movies have done is put a different take on movies.
ReplyDeleteEven though I have not seen either of the movies, I heard they were spectacular. Throughout all the buzz of the new movies, there has been nothing about how similar they are. But Hunger Games probably had more success because it was the first of the two series to come out and after reading Divergent people thought it was similar. Consumers taste changed after all the different movie series came out, so people have read the book and based off of that, they watch the movie.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Jenny. Although Divergent is experiencing their own success, I believe they're coming second to The Hunger Games simply, because of change in consumer taste. I've seen The Hunger Games, but not Divergent, and that's because I feel that it is too similar. So Divergent is coming in second place, simply because audiences all over feel the same as I do about a very similar series. And as an aspiring director, this post really made me think about my future investments. In order to be successful, I'm not going to be a part of a film that is very similar to an already successful film. It's too risky. It would be like investing in a new vampire movie, which is almost certain to fail considering Twilight has already claimed that spot.
ReplyDeleteThis was such an interesting topic to choose. Like we discussed in class, movie prices and the cost to produce a movie have continually gone up because of inflation but I never took into consideration the increase in costs due to competition and the desire to outshine previous movie's success at the box office. I saw both Divergent and The Hunger Games and I am shocked Divergent was that far behind The Hunger Games because personally I liked it better. Like Marissa said, it is very risky to follow up such a popular film with similar plots and ideas. Granted Divergent is expected to make a great deal of money, it will be nearly impossible for it to make as much revenue as The Hunger Games did before it.
ReplyDeleteThis was an awesome topic. I saw both Divergent and the Hunger Games and I liked the Hunger Games better. However, I read the book for Hunger Games and the movie was very close to the book, and I think that is why Hunger Games came out on top. I didn't read the book for Divergent, but I thought the movie alone wasn't that good. I am sure the book is so much better, but the movie had so much more potential to be better. I do agree that the reason why Divergent's profits isn't increasing at the rate as the Hunger Games is because of the critic's reviews. That obviously causes hesitation among buyers to go see that movie.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to say that I love your topic! I saw divergent last weekend and I thought that it was pretty good. Both Divergent and The Hunger Games have a similar theme but I feel as though they are also pretty different. I will agree that while the hunger games has a certain appeal to it, Divergent brings chemistry into the mix. The chemistry between “Tris” and “Four” is impeccable. I wanted them to be together because they were so perfect; and that does not happen often when I find the guy as attractive as I found Four! I don’t understand why it is not doing better than the twilight series. I think it is way more adventurous, fun and adds an element of danger; living on the edge if you will. Personally I believe that this movie should have skyrocketed when compared to other series. Apparently the demand for this movie just isn’t that high. Although it should be because the actor that plays Four is SMOKIN! Great job with this article; I really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteI like your argument that Divergent is a well made and popular movie. It honestly isn’t fair that people compare the film to previous films that had ground breaking success. For example, what if we compared every film to James Cameron’s Avatar, or Disney’s Frozen(Which just recently crossed the Billion dollar mark) as far as total gross profits? That wouldn’t really be fair. In addition, 6 of the 10 top movies ever are sequels, which only gives more hope to Divergent in its next movie, and also rejects the theory that similar movies aren’t successful.
ReplyDeleteFor those in the music industry, this is something that they constantly look at, but for us, not so much. I thought it was really interesting how much lower Divergent was than the Hunger Games. It also surprised me how much money actually goes back into the industry just within the first week. Like we talked about in class, movie tickets are priced so much higher because the fact that so much money goes into these movies, and clearly it is need. it takes millions of dollars just for these movie producers to actually make a profit off of the movie. In conclusion, I think that no matter the price, people are going to make it happen so that they get to see these movies at least once in theaters.
ReplyDeleteWow, I never knew there was so much competition between each of the movies franchises. I knew they had a similar plots but didn't know consumers wouldn't want to see a second movie with the same sort of plot. As I have only seen Hunger Games I loved it so much that I want to watch all the movies with that type of plot and lets be honest who wouldn't want to stare at Theo James for 2 hours. (if you're a girl) but besides that I think that both futurist movies are good for consumers. It surprises me that Hunger Games has surpassed the Twlight sage just after having had two movies out but I guess because both Hunger Game movies appeal to a bigger audience than just girls. My only problem is how much movies tickets have inflated.
ReplyDeleteI really like this topic since I have read both of the series before. I never thought about the competition between the two movies before, but it does make sense that since they do have a similar underlying plot, that there would be competition. I personally didn't like the movie Divergent as much as the book since they left so much out, but I'm hoping that this was the feedback that the company got from many other people too and that Insurgent will be more comparable to the book. It was interesting to read about how much money they send and receive from one movie in just one weekend. It's a good way to get people to spend money though.
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome topic to pick, because these movies and books are so widely popular in our generation and even beyond our generation. I have yet to see divergent, however I heard it was great. More partial to the hunger games I don't know how it will compare. Having read both books the hunger games kept my attention more and I think that's why The hunger games was more successful. But over all awesome topic!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic. I saw the commercials for the movie divergent and thought it looked so similar to the hunger games movie, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Many people could wanna see it because it does look similar and many could not want to watch it because of that fact. looking at how much it made when it hit theaters compared to how much the hunger games made you can tell that it was as big as a hit as the hunger games movies. Which I didn't think it would make as much because of how popular it has already become. Great topic and Article!
ReplyDeleteI really like this topic that you picked! It's so relevant, and because I loved all of the movies you talked about. It's truly amazing how a book turns into a hit movie then all the sudden it just changes the way the economy is. Its incredible at the amount of money these movies bring in. The millions and millions of dollars that these movies pull in would definitely change the economy at least a little bit. I honestly would have thought that Divergent would have made more than The Hunger Games did. But I guess we will just have to see how the second book in the Divergent series, compares to Catching Fire.
ReplyDeleteYes! I love how you picked these two topics to compare you never really hear of it. I agree how the number came out in the end for revenue because hungergames is a better series all together. The thing about hunger games as well is that they promoted way more than divergent did, that’s how they got all of their sales. But the reason why Catching fire so much better than divergent is because they kept the movie the same as the book and ecacuted it so well. It’s all about quality over quantity when it comes to making books into movies.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting how the demand for dystopian style media has risen due to the larger demographic created by audiences of The Hunger Games. Personally, I don’t believe that the comparison between the two, The Hunger Games and Divergent, will harm the possible growth for Divergent, but help it. If someone reads a book and hears about another series that shares certain elements you like, you’ll read that too; the same situation can help this new trilogy significantly.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting topic for a blog post on economics. One never really considers the financial aspects of the entertainment industry. Although the capital that these films were able to produce is astonishing, I am sure that their effect on the economy as a whole is comparatively inconsequential. That is not to discredit your research, as I'm sure everything you say it true. I just remain skeptical on the true effects of this competition between movies. Once again, very interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the topic you chose! Going off of what Julia said I totally agree that the marginal profit had a lot to do with the amount of advertising done. I knew about the Hunger Games series all the way back when I was in middle school, however I just recently heard about the Divergent series. I believe that if Divergent were to be advertised more that it could have influenced more people to read the books and therefore see the movies. I feel like the importance of advertising isn't only large in the film industry but in basically every industry. The businesses that advertise well and often are usually the ones that do better. If more businesses advertised well to their appropriate customers I think that there would be a lot more competition in certain industries.
ReplyDeleteBoth extraordinary are expected to make a huge amount of revenue. but the fact that hunger games was released first is going to play a large part on how well the series does because now even if divergent is completely original people will still call divergent a copy because of how similar they are.
ReplyDeleteI love this topic! On your comment, "their profit is estimated to skyrocket after the first full weeks of showings", I would have to agree. Divergent was not an overly advertised production in comparison to the Hunger Games, some people still don't even know what it is about. I would agree that the tickets sales will not pick up into the movie gains more publicity through viewers or the media talking about it. I also enjoyed your take on the movies marginal profit, I also agree, that even though as of a opening week the movie did not cover the full marginal cost, however after Divergent ticket sales skyrocket the producers and cast of the Divergent movie will gain all their money back and more.
ReplyDeleteLOVED the topic! Really great way to incorporate something so many people are into and talking about with this class! Something that really stuck out for me was the idea you touched on regarding producers splitting up their final movies into two seperate movies to gain more revenue. Why is it, do you think, that movie producers don't do this to the first book or the second or third... but only the last? I know that for Twilight, "Breaking Dawn" (the last book) was just as long as "Eclipse" (the second to last book) so size of the book has less to do with it then we all think. Some believe cutting the last books of series in half help to show every detail that the book provides in the movie yet why only the last books? Soon, I personally believe, each book for upcoming novels turning into movies (if they're long enough) will be split into two just to gain profit no matter 1st, 3rd, or 7th book. At one point, spliting a book to 2 films seemed funny and unheard of but now it's a trend and all the big series do it! Who knows... that could be the next trend for all book to movie movies....
ReplyDeleteIt is quiet amazing how much money is made off of some books while many authors are broke. This is a great example of how people can become rich off of any profession if they are good enough. I have not read these books but most of them are in my opinion some run off of the harry potter book. Also when they create the films for these books they will generate so much more income off of all the box office sales and downloads. Great writing tho.
ReplyDeleteI loved that you chose this topic especially with the recent craze many students have with Divergent. I can easily see how Hunger Games and the Divergent series are similar. I think a major reason Hunger Games is showing more success is because its series was produced first. Also, in my opinion, the Hunger Games novels seem to have been more popular than Divergent so perhaps more readers are going to the movies. Having read some of both series, it is hard to tell which is better. I enjoy both!
ReplyDeleteI do admit there is similarity between Divergent and Hunger Games, as they are both quite successful examples of the recent flood of dystopian-set movies and in reality their plots are both remarkably similar to those of their precursors in novel format, such as Fahrenheit 451 and The Giver in terms of tropes and occasionally symbolism. Anyhow, I believe that the reason Hunger Games was so much more successful than Divergent was the fact that the Hunger Games book series was far more successful than Divergent's, elevating consumer expectations and thereby increasing demand. Additionally, compared to Divergent, Hunger Games has more to differentiate it from a run-of-the-mill dystopia, making it a more compelling story and therefore superior product at the same price, causing it to be more successful.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting put into perspective with other movies, especially the hunger games since they're similar. Even though the revenue is far less than hunger games the marginal revenue is still a very large amount of money. The movie industry provides a great stimulation for the economy and has a big impact on culture. Although divergent may not have come close to the success of the hunger games it is still considered a very successful movie and as the trilogy continues will probably continue to rise as it gains popularity. Overall the movie industry brings in gross amounts of revenue no matter the movie and it's popularity.
ReplyDeleteI’ve never seen the new Divergent movie but I have seen the Hunger Games. Both movies do sound like they have a similar plot line but clearly they have their differences. I think that once the other Divergent movies come out, then they will make more revenue. It does surprise me however how they don’t want to split the last book into two movies. I find that really smart for the Hunger Games, Twilight movies, and Harry Potter movies to do this because people will for sure see both of them in theaters so it’s a great way to make more money. Overall I think that over time, the Divergent series will be successful just like other movie series.
ReplyDeleteCompetition is a big part of our economy today, especially in the entertainment factor, but Divergent appears to not have put up as much competition as they had hoped against the widely popular Hunger Games. Still accumulating a lot of money and eventually making a profit, it is pretty baffling how much money Hunger Games made during the release of their much anticipated films. I have seen the two Hunger Games movies but have not seen the Divergent movie, and I do not plan on it. It is still pretty amazing to see how much more money Hunger Games made just because the concept of the story line had already been thought of.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea how much money was made from the release of The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. It's clear that the plot lines are similar but that happens with a lot of movies. Hollywood is running out of ideas. I think Divergent could be huge but it was released at the wrong time. Since the booming success of The Hunger Games is so recent, it's obvious it must've stole some of Divergent's thunder. I can speak for our age group when I say that, with movie prices rising, we wouldn't want to spend that kind of money on, what appears to be, the same experience twice.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I saw Divergent and was immediately hooked and fell in love..so I agree completely! But it is really interesting how timing is everything when it comes to movies. You can release a great movie, but if it's coming out while other great movies are premiering too, then you may have some issues. The Hunger Games is a very successful series, but it also premiered when no other new movies had been coming out, giving it no real competition. Divergent on the other hand, has a similar plot to Hunger Games immediately giving it competition. But if Divergent had been released first, Hunger Games would have been given the same poor reviews Divergent is getting! Consumers are too wrapped up into the ratings of movies because it looks at factors that take away from the actual quality of the film.
ReplyDeleteIt was awesome to read this article! I went to see Divergent after opening night and personally I thought it was better then the books. As mentioned in your article, many are wondering why Hunger Games was so successful and why Divergent wasn't as much. And I think it has a lot to do with the books. I think many weren't as impressed with the books as Hunger Games lovers were which is why the movie didn't make as much money. Also, many talk about how they didn't like the next two books in the series as much which may keep them from seeing the movies. Overall nice job!
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing Divergent and reading the first part of your article I was shocked that it didn't bring in that much money because I loved it! Then reading on and see how the money sky rocked I saw why and how it just takes time for movies to make the big dollars. I absolutely loved Divergent and it doesn't surprise me how much money they made, I ended up seeing it twice in theaters. There's no doubt the second and third movies won't make as much as the first because of how good it was and I will definitely go see the other ones. Compared to all the other movies out there I would have to say Divergent was my favorite action one and I can't wait for more of those movies to come. Great article Amanda!
ReplyDeleteThis was an awesome article because I actually saw Divergent twice in theaters! I am a much bigger fan of Divergent than I am of Hunger Games and Harry Potter. I think it didn't sky rocket right away because it is a newer series and Twilight, Hunger Games, and Harry Potter which had much more time as popular books before a thought of a movie came out. I am really looking forward to the next movies from Divergent to be released!
ReplyDeleteIt definitely seemed as though the success of Divergent was much less than the success of the Hunger Games movie. Since there were many fans of the Hunger Games series, the consumer taste suddenly reached everyone in the nation so the demand to see the movie increased in everyone. With Divergent, the hype did not seem to be so much so the demand for it wasn't so high, making the marginal revenue much lower than that of the Hunger Games. Maybe now that the first Divergent movie has come out, the second one will bring in more revenue.
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ReplyDeleteThe first time I saw the Divergent trailer I thought that they were doing the whole Hunger Game's situation, but then again I'm only judging that from the 30 second trailer because I have not seen the movie. From what I have heard from my peers and online, Divergent seemed to be a really good movie. So that's why I am surprised as to why it did not receive more money opening weekend than all of the Twilight movies. Even though it didn't receive as much money as the Hunger Games or the Twilight series, it still brought in over $50 million opening weekend which is still higher than a lot of other movies out there. From reading your blog, I realized more how competitive the entertainment business actually is, because they all want their movies to be #1 and bring in the most money.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the Divergent book I was so hooked. I agree completely with everything that was stated in your post, it's crazy to think that the time that the movies come out means more than the actual movie itself. Divergent picked a bad time to come out into theaters due to all of the new movies that are coming out in theaters right now. I agree with your statement, and I believe that if Divergent would have come out before The Hunger Games it would have brought in more revenue and most likely have better reviews than The Hunger Games had.
ReplyDeleteThe Divergent hype seemed to be a lot less than The Hunger Games hype I believe this is because more people were familiar with The Hunger Games book before they ever hear it was to be a movie because the book had been out a while. The book for Divergent hadn't been out as long before they made it into a movie so people weren't as familiar with it therefore they weren't as excited for the movie.
ReplyDeleteI was not one of those people to instantly judge the movie and compare it to the Hunger Games and after seeing it, I don't think they are the least bit similar. The hype about Divergent was definitely not as big as when both of the Hunger Games movies came out therefore the income was not going to be as big either. The more advertising there is for a movie, the more money it is going to make. The nonstop Hunger Games commercials and poster were what drew me to the movie, so more of that for Divergent could have bumped up the marginal profit. After continuing through your article, I saw that it eventually brought in more money because it takes time for the word to spread about the reviews!
ReplyDeleteThere are a few factors as to why the Divergent movie didn't bring in the same profit as The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games book had been written at least three years before the release of the movie if I remember correctly, whereas Divergent was around for about two. Veronica Roth is also a younger author compared to Suzanne Collins, so there were plenty of critics who thought Roth's writing was very basic. I think some people have gotten tired over a female heroine and the possibility of her love interest. I'm sure a number of people were skeptical or weary as to whether or not a love triangle would come into play (which has been highly overplayed by author's these days). Also, the advertisements didn't really show up on television as much as The Hunger Games, so that might affect the number of people in the audience and the profits.
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