--- description: The Divergent franchise proves it’s far from allegiant to its fans with the announcement that the final book in the trilogy will be split into two films title: Divergent Franchise Splitting Allegiant Into Two Movies: Veronica Roth image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8f0df028780d221/698685ce1eebf77cca36fdd1/cbd-00335r.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Hey, Young Adult Franchises: Stop Splitting Books Into Two Movies by [ashley Ross](/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 11, 2014 8:00 PM CUT  Shailene Woodley and Theo James in Divergent Shailene Woodley and Theo James in DivergentJaap Buitendijk—Summit Entertainment by [ashley Ross](/author/ashley-ross/) ## ashley Ross Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 11, 2014 8:00 PM CUT _Note: Major spoilers ahead if you haven’t read_ Allegiant_, the third book in Veronica Roth’s_ Divergent _trilogy._ It made sense that Warner Bros split the final _Harry Potter_ movie into two films: there was a clear break in the plot and far too much happening with Voldemort and Co. to cover in a 3-hour movie. And yes, it worked when HBO split a _Storm of Swords_ into two seasons for _Game of Thrones_ because, again, it made sense for the story. And sure, it could be argued that _The Hobbit_ deserved 3 films as well. But for _Twilight, Hunger Games_, and now _Divergent_, it’s been purely a moneymaking decision — and a cynical one at that. For all three of these YA books-turned-movie franchises, the last book in each series carried the weakest plot, and though fans have yet to see how _Mockingjay_ Parts 1 and 2 will play out, stretching _Twilight’s Breaking Dawn_ into two films made the first part a drawn-out bore — one of many problems with the vampire franchise. The material in the final chapters of these franchises aren’t strong enough to carry the stories that made the books good enough to be adapted in the first place. And the numbers from previous franchises’ split-book success makes it clear it’s a cash-grab. _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2_‘s opening weekend has yet to be beat, making its total intake $475.5 million worldwide; the film actually collected more money on its Friday release ($92.1 million) than the franchise’s first film, _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone_, made in its entire opening weekend ($90.3 million). _Twilight’s Breaking Dawn Part I_ raked in a domestic and international total of $283.5 million in its first weekend alone, while its second installment topped the box office with $340.9 million. If _Divergent,_ which made $54.6 million its opening weekend, follows the same trajectory as _Harry Potter_, the second part of _Allegiant_ could make as much as $287.5 million — and probably more, considering new fans are likely to jump on the bandwagon. The third book in the _Divergent_ series earned its haters, and not entirely without justification. The ending, where **SPOILER ALERT** heroine Tris takes her own life to save her brother, left fans cold, and the text includes little action. Problematic, too, is the off-putting narrative style between its two main characters, Tris and Four; that will mark an unusual departure from the first film’s voice over by Shailene Woodley’s Tris. _Allegiant_ was tough enough to read, so translating it into one film — let alone two — should prove challenging. At least there’s Woodley’s best-crying-in-Hollywood tears to look forward to. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/59612/divergent-splits-allegiant-into-two-movies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/59612/divergent-splits-allegiant-into-two-movies/"},"headline":"Hey, Young Adult Franchises: Stop Splitting Books Into Two Movies","datePublished":"2014-04-11T20:00:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:16:12.769Z","description":"The Divergent franchise proves it’s far from allegiant to its fans with the announcement that the final book in the trilogy will be split into two films","url":"https://time.com/59612/divergent-splits-allegiant-into-two-movies/","keywords":["game of thrones","Hunger Games","Books","Harry Potter","Divergent","Shailene Woodley","Twilight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8f0df028780d221/698685ce1eebf77cca36fdd1/cbd-00335r.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"ashley Ross","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-ross/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8f0df028780d221/698685ce1eebf77cca36fdd1/cbd-00335r.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"DIVERGENT","caption":"DIVERGENT","creditText":"Jaap Buitendijk—Summit Entertainment","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/59612/divergent-splits-allegiant-into-two-movies/","name":"Hey, Young Adult Franchises: Stop Splitting Books Into Two Movies"}}]}] ```