Jimmy Kimmel to welcome four ‘Divergent’ stars on four nights
The movie may be called “Divergent,” but for the cast members of the upcoming young-adult action-romance, all roads lead to “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
As the promotional beat grows louder ahead of the film’s Friday opening, a different “Divergent” cast member will appear on Kimmel’s couch each of the next four evenings, beginning with Jai Courtney on Monday and continuing with Ashley Judd, Zoe Kravitz and Tony Goldwyn in each of the next three nights. (“Jimmy Kimmel Live” does not air new episodes on Fridays.)
For those wondering about the absence of the movie’s two lead actors, Shailene Woodley and Theo James, they appeared on the show a month ago, ziplining in (!) and unveiling a new trailer.
Though it’s not unusual for a movie’s stars to hit the talk show circuit — indeed, the “Divergent” cast members are in the middle of a veritable blitz — it is a unusual to have so many people from one movie on the same show on consecutive nights. (A spokesperson for “Jimmy Kimmel Live” did not immediately provide comment on the reasons behind or mechanics of the bookings.)
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The publicity barrage underscores the high stakes of “Divergent” for studio Lionsgate, which is releasing the film under its Summit Entertainment banner. In recent years, Summit parlayed Stephenie Meyers’ YA book series “Twilight” into massive success, and Lionsgate has done the same with the first two “Hunger Games” movies (based on the books by Suzanne Collins), with two more installments to come, demonstrating executives’ ability to reach elusive young-adult audiences.
Still, Veronica Roth’s three “Divergent” books, which tell the story of a dystopian future in which people are divided into factions based on their personality types, haven’t quite had the same cultural traction thus far as the “Twilight” and “Hunger Games” franchises. Meanwhile moviegoers’ appetites for new YA adaptations may be waning, as recent films such as Sony’s “The Mortal Instruments,” Warner Bros.’ “Beautiful Creatures” and Summit’s “Ender’s Game” all failed to connect with mainstream audiences.
Hoping to, well, diverge from that trend, Lionsgate already has two “Divergent” sequels slated, for March 2015 and 2016.
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oliver.gettell@latimes.com
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