The YA Countdown: New ‘Hunger Games’ Posters, Plus: ‘The Maze Runner,’ ‘Frostbite’ and More

Welcome to the YA Movie Countdown, our resident expert’s biweekly guide to young-adult book-to-film adaptations.

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1

With The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1’s November 21 release date coming up, Lionsgate just released a brand new set of character posters. That last batch primarily stuck to familiar faces, like Finnick and Effie, but this time we’re getting a closer look at some of the film’s new characters, namely Katniss’ camera crew, which includes Cressida (Natalie Dormer), Pollux (Elden Henson), Messalla (Evan Ross) and Castor (Wes Chatham). We also got a poster for Katniss’ personal protector, Boggs (Mahershala Ali), and Gale, too. You can check them all out below.

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The YA Countdown: ‘Frostbite’ Fundraising Underway, First Clip from ‘Maze Runner,’ and More

Not only are the releases for The Giver, The Maze Runner and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 fast approaching, but there’s also a slew of YA-to-film material flooding the Web courtesy of Divergent’s DVD and Blu-ray release. On top of that, the Vampire Academy series is still clamoring for attention and if it doesn’t get it this time around, perhaps the film franchise really will be dead.

The Frostbite Crowd-Funding Campaign Is a Go

The producers of Vampire Academy are about to take another step towards making Frostbitehappen. We’ve already told you about their plan to get a little crowd-funding going and now it’s about to happen. Leading up to today’s launch of the Frostbite IndieGoGo campaign, the producers tried to rile up some hype by teasing the initiative over at MTV and Teen.com.

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The YA Countdown: Comic-Con, ‘The 5th Wave’ Release Date, ‘Frostbite’ Fundraising and More

Vampire Academy, Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars have already come and gone, but there’s still quite a bit coming up in the YA movie realm. Not only is The Giver due out in just about a month with The Maze Runner arriving soon thereafter, but both of those movies and more are mere days away from showing off what they’ve got at San Diego Comic-Con.

YA at San Diego Comic-Con

Last year was a big year for YA at SDCC. Even though there won’t be as much going on this time around, there are a few young-adult entries worth keeping an eye on.

Thursday, July 24: The Giver in Hall H at 1:30 p.m. with stars Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites, Odeya Rush, director Phillip Noyce, author Lois Lowry and some brand new exclusive footage.

Friday, July 25: The Maze Runner in Hall H at 4:20 p.m. as part of the 20th Century Fox panel.

Saturday, July 26: Entertainment Weekly: Women Who Kick Ass at 4:10 p.m. with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1’s Natalie Dormer.

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Meet the New Cast Members of the ‘Divergent’ Sequel ‘Insurgent’

There were a lot of famous faces in Divergent and only a select few got a significant amount of time in the spotlight, but that’s not stopping director Robert Schwentke and his team from sticking to the source material and throwing even more major players from the book into the adaptation of Insurgent, due out on March 20 of next year.

At the end of the first film, Tris, Caleb, Peter, Four and Marcus flee the city and board a train heading for the perimeter. Dauntless is compromised and Abnegation was devastated by Jeanine’s simulation, so now it’s off to find allies in new places from different factions. On top of that, there was a whole class of Dauntless initiates that got axed from the first adaptation, but now they’re coming back. Find out who they are and who’s playing them below…

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10 Reasons Why We Love Shailene Woodley

At the age of 22, Shailene Woodley has already accomplished quite a lot, but between Divergent and The Fault in Our Stars, 2014 is bound to mark her biggest year yet. Here are 10 reasons to love this breakout star.

She Worked Her Way Up

After scoring short runs on shows like The O.C. and Crossing Jordan, Woodley led The Secret Life of the American Teenager for five seasons, received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for The Spectacular Now and earned a Golden Globe nod for her work in The Descendants.

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The YA Countdown: All the Latest News About ‘Divergent,’ ‘Hunger Games,’ ‘The Maze Runner’ and More

With one 2014 young-adult book-to-film adaptation out and doing quite well and four more on the way, there’s an abundance of promotional material and news flooding the Web. There’s loads to sort through and quite a bit that’s worth knowing and seeing in the mix, so we’ve narrowed it down so that you can check out the best of the best.

Divergent

DVD and Blu-ray Release: Divergent is still killing it at the box office, but it’s already gearing up to rock the home-release charts, too. On August 5, Lionsgate will make the film available to own. If you’re gunning for a copy, you’ll have three options – purchasing it digitally on VOD, picking up a DVD or going big and snagging a Blu-ray combo pack. Of course the combo pack is the pricier of the bunch, but you get the most stuff. Not only does it come with the film on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD, but it also includes the making-of documentary “BringingDivergent to Life” and the featurette “Faction Before Blood” in addition to the deleted scenes and two audio commentaries featured on the DVD. You can preorder a copy right here, but if you just can’t wait, Lionsgate will unleash Divergent on Digital HD two weeks earlier on July 22.

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The YA Countdown: The Latest Buzz on ‘The Fifth Wave,’ ‘Allegiant’ and ‘The Fault in Our Stars’

Clearly the young-adult book-to-film adaption craze isn’t slowing down anytime soon, but it seems as though the success of Divergent may have triggered a few major steps forward because we’ve got new details on three high-profile projects.

First Clip from The Fault in Our Stars

If you thought the chemistry between Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort in the trailer for The Fault in Our Stars was palpable, just wait until you catch the first clip from the Josh Boone adaptation.

In the film, Woodley leads as Hazel, a 16-year-old cancer patient. She manages to survive with stage four thyroid cancer with metastasis forming in her lungs, but Hazel still has a tendency to keep to herself and that’s why her mother insists that she attend a support group. Even though Hazel isn’t thrilled with the idea, she changes her tune after meeting Elgort’s Augustus Waters, an osteosarcoma survivor. The connection is instant and profound. She’s never felt this way about someone before, let alone have that person feel the same way back, but even though their bond feels so right, she often struggles and wonders, is it wrong to pursue it given her condition?

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7 Things We Want to See in the ‘Divergent’ Sequel ‘Insurgent’

Even though Summit Entertainment gave both Insurgent and Allegiant release dates months ago, the first sequel didn’t get its green light until Divergent managed to lock in $4.9 million in Thursday late-night screenings. Now, with $56 million in the bank, Insurgent is heading towards a May start date, and there are quite a few things the filmmakers should consider that could make the second adaptation a hit.

Warning! There are Divergent spoilers below.

Uriah

Uriah is a Dauntless-born initiate that makes an impression on Tris a handful of times throughout Divergent. Even though Uriah’s name did make it onto the Dauntless initiate ranking board and someone who fit his character description did pop up during the zip-line scene, essentially, he wasn’t in the movie. It’s disappointing because he is a fan favorite, but the first film adaptation was likely better off without him considering he spends most of his time with the Dauntless-born initiates and doesn’t have a significant impact on the flow of the narrative.

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20 Things You Need To Know About ‘Divergent’

It’s finally here! Divergent is due in theaters on Friday, March 21 and while the movie certainly stands on its own, there are a few elements of this world worth learning or revisiting. Here is everything you need to know to experience Divergent to the fullest.

The State of the World

Well into the future, long after an unnamed disaster, Chicago is in ruins. The large majority of the city is crumbling save for certain buildings in the downtown region. The tallest of them all, The Hub, was formerly the Sears (or Willis) Tower.

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‘Divergent’ Fan Review: How Does the Movie Compare to Veronica Roth’s Book?

The first film in a potential young-adult book-to-film franchise is always a challenge. Not only do you have to convey a compelling narrative, but you also must establish an entire world around it, and in Divergent’s case, that’s quite the undertaking. The concept of a society being divided up into five factions is a strong starting point, but what makes the book a particularly engaging read is how that lifestyle sparks interfaction rivalries, family strife, personal problems, ethical issues and more. Director Neil Burger and the folks behind the screenplay do a standout job building this world and then filling it with meaningful details that newcomers can understand, appreciate and enjoy, but what about those who are already familiar with the ins and outs of this realm?

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