‘Divergent’ Earns An Estimated $22 Million At The Friday Box Office

Divergent is well on its way to making a considerable amount of cash from moviegoers in the United States. However, the adaptation might fall short of industry estimates.

Depending on which film guru you spoke to ahead of the film’s release, Divergent was on-track to make approximately $60 million from folks in North America. However, the film’s Thursday evening and Friday totals are painting a somewhat different picture.

According to the folks at Forbes, director Neil Burger’s adaptation of Veronica Roth’s young adult novel earned around $22.8 million from curious film fans in the US on Friday. When you toss in the $4.9 million Divergent snagged on Thursday, this pushes the movie’s total to a healthy $27.7 million. Although that number certainly isn’t anything to scoff at, apparently this figure has fallen short of expectations.

So how much will the adaptation make over the weekend? Variety believes Divergent will ultimately scrape together between $50 million and $53 million during the first few days of release. Lionsgate reported spent around $80 million on the flick, which means the studio shouldn’t have too much trouble recouping the production budget.

While it’s unlikely that Divergent will strike the same chord with moviegoers that motion pictures such as The Hunger Games and Twilight did in the past, there’s still a possibility the flick could catch up to its cinematic brethren. Cinema Blend points out that the first Twilight movie made $69 million on opening weekend, a number that Burger’s endeavor could eclipse. No pun intended, of course.

Divergent definitely found success with moviegoers at the box office on Friday, but the same doesn’t ring true for Muppets Most Wanted. The latest installment of the franchise is struggling against the family-oriented competition still hanging around theaters, namely Peabody & Sherman and The Lego Movie.

The Hollywood Reporter believes the Muppets flick may not cross the $18 million mark once the weekend wraps up. This definitely doesn’t bode well for the future of the series, especially since the 2011 reboot was a pretty successful release for the folks at Disney. This sort of things tends to happen when you have a crowded box office.

Divergent fans can rest easy knowing that the sequel is still on the way. According to MTV News, R.I.P.D. director Robert Schwentke’s Insurgent will hit theaters in March of 2015. Unless interest in the series withers and dies on the cinematic vine, Allegiant should arrive at some point in 2016.

Are you surprised that Divergent is a little off-track this weekend? Do you think the movies are as good as The Hunger Games?

[Image via Lionsgate / Summit Entertainment]