Biggest Dystopian Franchises Of The 21st Century Are Caught In All-Out Streaming Battle

Lionsgate Published Sep 17, 2026, 4:48 PM EDT Maggie Dela Paz is a News and TV writer at ScreenRant. She has nearly a decade of professional experience in writing entertainment articles about a wide range of topics, including movies, television, music, anime, streaming, and more. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Lionsgate’s most popular sci-fi franchises are dominating streaming charts worldwide. Both franchises have maintained a strong influence on audiences throughout the years, especially on young adults who grew up watching these movies. Lionsgate led the box office during the 2010s with these properties, filling the massive void left behind by Summit Entertainment’s The Twilight Saga, which ended its four-movie run in 2012. Following Lionsgate’s success with the genre, many studios tried to replicate it by releasing their own high-profile dystopian movies. Examples of these are The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Mortal Engines, and The Darkest Minds, which all had disappointing box office runs. The only one that managed to catch up with Lionsgate during the 2010s’ YA phase was 20th Century Fox, as the studio found success with The Maze Runner trilogy. Over a decade later, the company's The Hunger Games and Divergent franchises are still leading the YA dystopian genre, as they now top streaming charts. Divergent & Hunger Games Are Battling It Out On Streaming Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Divergent, and Insurgent movies are performing very well on Lionsgate+, reaching the streaming platform’s top ten chart worldwide. Taking the fifth spot is the Jennifer Lawrence-led 2013 sequel, while the Shailene Woodley-led 2014 and 2015 movies claim the streamer’s number three and number eight spots. In addition to Catching Fire and Insurgent, Divergent has beaten popular titles like Halloween II (1981), John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019), and Zero Dark Thirty (2012). The Hunger Games and Divergent franchises were based on bestselling books by Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth, respectively. While both properties center around a fierce female protagonist leading a rebellion against an oppressive government, they are very different in terms of themes and narrative styles. The Hunger Games takes place in a world where poor districts are forced to send off their two tributes to participate in a survival-of-the-fittest game. Meanwhile, the Divergent movies introduced a class system where people are divided into different factions based on their personalities. There Was One Clear Winner In Cinema History Lionsgate Even though The Divergent series has outperformed The Hunger Games in streaming, the latter has clearly enjoyed a better run than the Theo James-led movies. So far, the latter have delivered a combined gross of over $3.3 billion worldwide. Leading stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Liam Hemsworth were able to wrap up the main Hunger Games franchise, while Woodley and James weren’t given a chance to complete their series. Divergent's final installment, Ascendant, was canceled after 2016’s Allegiant underperformed at the box office. Today, Lionsgate continues to find success with its Hunger Games franchise, despite its conclusion in 2015. Thanks to the positive reception of the 2023 prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, the franchise has been receiving renewed interest from audiences. The studio is currently preparing for the upcoming November 20 release of its next prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping, which revolves around Haymitch Abernathy’s origins. As for Divergent, the studio has been quiet about its status since canceling its plans to transition the franchise into television. First Film The Hunger Games Cast Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Willow Shields, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman Created by Suzanne Collins Movie(s) The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes First Film Divergent Cast Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Zoë Kravitz, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Ray Stevenson, Maggie Q, Kate Winslet, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney Created by Veronica Roth Movie(s) Divergent, The Divergent Series: Insurgent, The Divergent Series: Ascendant Character(s) Beatrice Prior, Tobias Eaton, Christina (Divergent), Peter Hayes, Caleb Prior, Marcus Eaton, Tori Wu, Jeanine Matthews, Natalie Prior, Eric Coulter