The Divergent Series: Allegiant

Plot

Many Chicago citizens run toward the wall, but soldiers under Evelyn (Naomi Watts) are told to shut down the perimeter, and thus, no one is allowed through. Evelyn directs Jack Kang (Daniel Dae Kim) of Candor to hold trials for the Erudite and Dauntless conspirators, in which a number of them become executions, starting with Max (Mekhi Phifer). Evelyn and Johanna (Octavia Spencer) attempt to pressure Tris (Shailene Woodley) and Four (Theo James) into taking leadership positions in the new world order but both refuse. After seeing that the hostile situation within the city is only going to get worse, Tris escapes with Four, Caleb (Ansel Elgort), Christina (Zoë Kravitz), Tori (Maggie Q), and Peter (Miles Teller) to journey beyond the wall that encloses Chicago. However, Tori is killed by Edgar (Jonny Weston) in the attempt.

The group is ambushed by Edgar, who is later disabled by an armed group of individuals and airships. The soldiers take the group to the Bureau of Genetic Welfare, a highly advanced city where they learn that years ago the government believed that society's problems were caused by "damaged genes". In an attempt to create a better society, they began to modify people's genes, with disastrous results. The government set up "experiments" in an attempt to repair this mistake, establishing isolated cities across the remains of the United States. The hope is to raise enough genetically pure Divergent individuals to fix the "genetic damage" left in the wake of the Purity War.

Tris and Four are tested by Matthew (Bill Skarsgård) and Nita (Nadia Hilker) to verify and study their Divergence. Tris is shown to be truly Divergent, but Four's genetic structure indicates that his genes are still "damaged". Caleb and Peter are assigned to surveillance teams that monitor Chicago. Matthew then brings Tris to the leader of the Bureau, David (Jeff Daniels). David gives Tris a device that allows her to view her mother's memories, and sees that her mother was rescued and adopted by the Bureau before volunteering to join the Chicago experiment out of dedication to the project. In return for his help in restoring peace to Chicago, Tris agrees to help David, who claims that only the council he reports to have the power to intervene.

Meanwhile, Four and Christina train with Nita and join the Bureau's military force. They join the military on a rescue mission to a nearby wasteland village, though Four becomes mistrusting of the Bureau's intentions after realizing that they are going there to kidnap and forcefully integrate children into the Bureau's populace. Upon their return, Four discreetly petitions Caleb to keep an eye on the situation in Chicago. Four also attempts to warn Tris of the Bureau's intentions, but she rejects his ideas.

Caleb warns Four of a rapidly escalating conflict back in Chicago between Johanna's group of Allegiants and Evelyn's factionless, with open war becoming an imminent threat. Four appeals to Tris for her to return to Chicago with him to end the bloodshed, but she decides to go with David to Providence to meet with the council. David agrees to reinsert Four back in Chicago, escorted by Matthew and some Bureau soldiers. Once in the air, Matthew quietly reveals to Four that the flight is a trap and he is meant to be killed. A skirmish breaks out and Four defeats all of the soldiers, though the airship crashes as a result. Matthew betrays David by helping Four get through the cloak wall. Four proceeds to Chicago while Matthew remains behind to be rescued by the Bureau and warn Tris.

Meanwhile, Tris and David meet with the council. Tris disagrees with the council's objectives and criticizes how they have done nothing to stop the violence in Chicago. The council responds that David had the power to intervene whenever he desires, revealing that he has lied to her from the beginning. During the return flight to the Bureau, Tris ends their partnership. Upon her return, she gathers Caleb and Christina in David's airship to return to Chicago, and Nita helps them escape.

Four is captured by the factionless and confronts Evelyn to end the violence although she shows no intention of standing down. Tris, Caleb, and Christina arrive to find the city tearing itself apart at the opening stage of a full assault by the Allegiant. David makes a deal with Peter in exchange for Peter's promotion and inserts him into Chicago to convince Evelyn to deploy a hidden Bureau stockpile of gas to wipe the memories of the attackers and force a peace in her favor, to which she reluctantly agrees. Peter takes her to a vault where she can deploy the gas across the city but remain safe herself, making them the only individuals in Chicago who will remember any of those events.

Tris and Christina fight through the factionless and arrive at the vault, having rescued Four along the way. At the vault door, Four convinces Evelyn to stop the gas attack, as he would not remember who she was if she carried it out. She folds and stops the release, and is shot by a frustrated Peter. Peter gloats in his victory until the same gas starts releasing inside the vault as well. Realizing David has betrayed him, Peter opens the vault so Tris and Four can stop the gas release and flees back towards the cloak wall, as Four says he will find Peter.

Caleb arrives and aids Tris in destroying the gas dispersion hub, stopping the release. The group gathers atop the Erudite building as they watch the stolen shuttle fly back towards the Bureau, heavily laden with explosives. Tris transmits a message to the whole city, revealing to them the existence of the Bureau and that Chicago was an experiment of the Pure. Her message to the Bureau is that Chicago is no longer their experiment, but the home of its citizens. Caleb detonates the explosives at the end of the message, tearing a massive hole through the cloak wall and revealing the two cities to each other. The group then gazes at the Bureau in the distance, with David standing behind Tris via his machine, glaring at her.

Production

Initially intended as a final film based on the final book of the series Allegiant It was later decided to split the novel into multiple parts similar to what have been done with other young adult novel series adapted into films Initially donning the subtitle "Part one", this idea was later dropped in favor of each installment donning a unique name

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

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.

Box office

As of June 2, 2016, Allegiant has grossed $66.2 million in North America and $110.7 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $176.9 million. Due to its underperformance, The Hollywood Reporter called it "the second big-budget miss for Lionsgate this year after Gods of Egypt." Many critics have blamed the underperformance of the film on Lionsgate's decision to split the last novel into two pictures. As a result, Lionsgate will cut the budget of the fourth and final movie in the series, Ascendant. Due to the box office struggles of Allegiant, Lionsgate has planned to wrap up the film series with a television movie which it then hopes to continue as a spinoff. Made on a total budget of $183.6 million, including net production budget, advertising and promotion costs, and domestic home entertainment costs, Deadline.com projects the film to make a mere profit of $3.5 million should it earn a net total of $187.1 million from various platforms (including theatrical revenues, TV rights and DVD sales). By comparison, Divergent made a net profit of $71.8 million and Insurgent $30.6 million.

In the United States and Canada, Deadline.com projected the film to make 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 mostly negative reviews by critics, who criticized the lack of originality and character advancement. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 12%, based on 171 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. 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 for 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.

Sequel

A theatrical sequel meant to wrap up the series was planned for a 2017 release. However, after Allegiant underperformed, questions about the series' future began to be raised, with reports hinting that Lionsgate would instead release the final film as a TV movie. In February 2017, it was announced Woodley had backed out of starring in the proposed television project, which is now being planned in lieu of the fourth film.