'Insurgent' Starring Theo James, Shailene Woodley Leads Weekend Box Office At $ 54 Million; Lily James' 'Cinderella' Grabs Second Place

The Theo James and Shailene Woodley starrer "Insurgent" was a huge winner at the weekend box-office raking in $54 million and trumping Disney's "Cinderella," which settled second place at $35 million.

"While the second films in both the Hunger Games and the Twilight series boasted opening weekend gains over the first, Insurgent's opening nearly matches that of its predecessor, Divergent, which debuted to $54.6 million just last year," noted Daily Mail.

"Many predicted a bit of growth for this second film based on author Veronica Roth's dystopian world, which saw the return of 23-year-old star Woodley along with Theo James, and Kate Winslet," it added.

Richie Fay, Liongate's distribution chief, told Variety, "Our playability is incredibly strong. We're seeing a few more males than we did on the first one, and we're seeing an overall broadening of the audience."

The article noted that the Theo James and Shailene Woodley starrer "Insurgent" drew 60% female audience and 55% are under 25.

"Hispanics made up 17% of the opening weekend crowd, and African-Americans comprised 11% of ticket buyers. Premium large formats made up $4.4 million of the film's domestic box office, while Imax accounted for $3.6 million of the grosses," it said.

According to Jodi Reamer, senior book agent at Writers House, in an interview with Forbes that the young adult fiction-which includes "Insurgent" and "Hunger Games" among others-has become "a global powerhouse that reaps dollars from page turners and popcorn crunchers alike."

"These books already have great source material and a die-hard fan base," she said. "At most, a publisher is going to spend a million [dollars] on marketing and promotion, but a studio at the very least will spend a million, so there will be a huge audience discovering the books and driving sales."

"Insurgent" stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Ansel Elgort and Ashley Judd. The prequel "Divergent" went on to make nearly $290 million.