“The Divergent Series: Insurgent” made $4.1 million on Thursday night at the box office.
Shailene Woodley stars in the sequel based on Veronica Roth‘s bestselling novel of the same name as a young rebel in a dangerous post-apocalyptic dystopian Chicago. The “Insurgent” Thursday night figure is down a bit from the original film, “Divergent” which made $4.9 million overnight its opening weekend one year ago.
That figure was high enough for Lionsgate to immediately greenlight an adaptation of the second book, “Insurgent.” The second film is expected to open at #1 over the weekend and potentially reach $60 million, which would be higher than “Divergent.”
“Insurgent” has also opened internationally in 52 markets, landing at #1 in 49 of them, and topping “Divergent” returns in countries including Brazil, France, Italy and Malaysia.
With Woodley, Kate Winslet and co-stars Miles Teller, Theo James and Ansel Elgort front and center, “Divergent” opened to $54 million last March and went to take in $158 million domestically and $289 million worldwide.
In April of 2014, the studio said that the finale, “Allegiant,” would be split into two films, and released in March 2016 and March 2017.
The films opening opposite “Insurgent” are Open Road’s “The Gunman” starring Sean Penn and faith-based indie “Do You Believe?” from Freestyle Releasing.