With the release of "Insurgent," Lionsgate and Summit have found yet another franchise to bank on.

Over the past few years, a number of distributes have looked to YA books to begin a new series and make the next successful movie franchise. The trend took off after "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter." Distributors believed that if these popular novels could become huge worldwide successes then any other popular book franchise could, as well. However, few have succeeded including the "Twilight" series and "The Hunger Games."

The rest have been moderately successful or flat-out flops. Among the recent flops were "Ender's Game," which was based on a popular book. Lionsgate even had plans for a sequel. However, after spending $110 million and only grossing $61 million, the sequel was cancelled. "The Giver," which was also a popular and respected book under performed.

One of the other big flops was "The Golden Compass." Released in 2007, New Line Cinema spent $180 million on the movie expecting to make a new franchise out of the film. However, when the film was released, reviews were mixed and it ended up making $70 million domestically. Sequel plans were immediately cancelled and New Line went out of business.

Other start up franchises that also flopped included "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" and "Beautiful Creatures."

One of the few exceptions was Fox, which had some success with "The Maze Runner" and is hoping to garner the same results in the second installment, which already has a release date.

With "Insurgent," Lionsgate is banking to make more than $154 million "Divergent." The film is currently on track to open with $60 million but reviews are terrible and production budget on the sequel is reportedly higher than the original film.

"Divergent" can be considered a success especially since it hit the $100 million but its gross is below the successful franchises like "The Hunger Games," "Harry Potter" or even "Twilight."

Part of the reason for the lower grosser has to do with a smaller fan base and the fact that "Divergent's" plot line confused many who were not initiated. There were also complaints that the series copied from "The Hunger Games" and "Harry Potter."

"Divergent's" reviews were also not as high as "Harry Potter's" or "Hunger Games'." "Twilight" received horrible reviews but the films came out immediately after the books, which meant the excitement for the books was still very much present. The first "Divergent" book was published in 2011, which was three years before the first movie. Hype on the books had lowered and that meant people had forgotten about the books.

Whatever the result may be, "Insurgent" has to make more than "Divergent" if it is to continue to be a profitable series for Lionsgate and Summit. If the film is unable to meet the standard, then it will follow in the footsteps of "Narnia," which started off well but eventually died out when audiences became tired of the series. It would also follow last year's trend of underperforming sequels and franchises.

"Insurgent" was directed by Robert Schwentke and tells the story of Beatrice Prior, who must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart with the help from others on her side.

The film stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Kate Winslet, Naomi Watts, Miles Teller, Octavia Spencer and Jai Courtney.

"Insurgent" opens on March 20 in 3D and IMAX.

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