Neil Burger may direct adaptation of teen franchise, 'Divergent'

I guess teen on teen violence is the new thing, eh? With The Twilight Saga coming to a close(thank goodness!!) this November, Summit Entertainment is in dire need of a new tween franchise to fill in the gap. That's a lot of loot they'd be leaving on the table, otherwise. Last year they picked up the rights to Divergent, the first of a planned trilogy of teen sci-fi novels by Veronica Roth. And after a lengthy search for somebody to direct it, it appears they've found their guy.

Variety reports that Neil Burger(The Lucky Ones) is in talks to direct the film, which bears some obvious resemblances to The Hunger Games. It follows 16-year old Beatrice Prior, who lives in a future version of Chicago where society is divided into five factions dedication to a particular virtue: Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). At the age of 16, all must decide which of these virtues they will dedicate their lives to, followed by a very competitive initiation process. 

Summit also has the rights to the sequel, Insurgent. The third book won't be released until fall of next year. Burger's seen his profile raise significantly after scoring his biggest hit directing Bradley Cooper in Limitless. He was also up for directing that video game adaptation of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. If all works out well, production is set to kick off next March for release in early 2014.