1. 4 MARCH 3, 2014
lot of money. “That’s what makes
these such risky endeavors,” says
Bock. If a movie bombs at the box
office, a sequel may not even get
made. When last year’s The Mortal
Instruments: City of Bones flopped,
production on the sequel halted.
Bock says one reason many
adaptations flop is that the studios
rush to release them, not taking
care to make sure that the script,
the cast, the director, and the
look of the film match viewers’
expectations. Other factors can
also contribute to a flop, like
a star’s off-screen scandals or
plain old bad acting.
Divergent, however, seems
to be on track to be the next
big thing. Based on the book by
Veronica Roth, it’s set in a future
in which society is divided into
four factions based on people’s
personalities. Lionsgate, the
studio that’s producing the film,
made faithful movie adaptations
of the Hunger Games series,
which is a good sign, says Bock.
—LINDA BUCHWALD
Harry Potter, Bella Swan,
and Katniss Everdeen
are all book characters
whose stories have made it big
on the big screen. Last year, eight
movie adaptations of young-adult
books were released—the most of
any year. However, only The Hunger
Games: Catching Fire was a hit.
That’s not stopping studios from
continuing to make these movies.
Five more are scheduled for release
this year, including Divergent, which
comes out this month.
Movies based on young-adult
novels date back to 1939’s A Little
Princess, which is based on the
novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
But they weren’t always the
blockbusters they often are now. “It
all started with Harry Potter,” says
Jeff Bock, an analyst for Exhibitor
Relations, a company that provides
box-office statistics. “The movies
were received with just as much
passion as the books, with lines
around the corner.” However, only
the Twilight and Hunger Games
films have come close to that kind
of success, says Bock.
When a movie studio buys the
rights to a young-adult novel today,
it usually means buying the rights
to an entire series, which takes a
Are your favorite
books always a hit
at the box office?
Divergent
TEENSTAKE OVER
HOLLYWOOD
Catching Fire
Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince