'Divergent' sequels get release dates, director Neil Burger not returning

The film adaptation of the young adult novel Divergent will hit theaters on March 21, 2014 and will be the latest in a long line of such book-to-movie projects like The Hunger Games, Twlight and even Harry Potter. But months before the first movie even releases, Lionsgate has decided to green light two sequels.

Variety reports that the studio has set release dates for Insurgent and Allegiant on March 20, 2015 and March 18, 2016, respectively. The films will be respectively based on the second and third books in Veronica Roth's trilogy.

Variety also notes that director Neil Burger, who helmed Divergent, will not return for the second film, Insurgent. Burger is currently in post-production for Divergent.

The three movies are each spaced almost exactly one year apart, so it will be interesting to see how the new director handles such a tight production schedule. Variety points out that the March 2015 release date for Insurgent requires the movie to go into production this spring.

Divergent, the latest in a long line of young adult franchises handled by Lionsgate, stars Shailene Woodley as Beatrice Prior, a teenage girl in a dystopian future version of Chicago. As a 16-year-old, she is about to officially enter society as one of five factions, each of which represents and maintains a particular beneficial human trait. Abnegation is for the selfless, Amity for the peaceful, Candor for the Honest, Dauntless for the brave and Erudite for the knowledgeable.

But Beatrice does not fit into any of these categories and thus is "Divergent." Unfortunately, that means the rest of society fears her and would probably want her dead, so she decides to go undercover in the Dauntless faction.