DANNY MOLOSHOK
If you were lucky enough to be cognizant in the post-aughts greatness of the 2010s, you probably recall being inundated with promotion for the Divergent and Hunger Games movies in tandem. Both of these franchises bowed less than a decade ago, but it feels more like it’s been centuries, when we factor in that sweet nostalgia. These post-apocalyptic, young-adult novel adaptations were as sticky and delicious as the self-serve frozen yogurt we all mass-consumed at the time, as if they weren’t laced with toxic chemicals that will only be discovered by labs in 2078.
The blockbuster stars of those franchises, Shailene Woodley and Jennifer Lawrence, spent the earlier part of the decade awash in limelight. After racking up hundreds of millions of dollars for studios, Lawrence and Woodley had their next moves studied carefully. And after some successful—and fiercely unexpected—original projects, both actors seemed to feel the pressure of the world’s microscope pressing down on them.
Woodley and Lawrence have stepped back from big projects as of late, but they will both return this summer, with wacko new movies to boot. After having spent some time shaking off Big Hollywood, it seems as though JLaw and ShayWood are ready to have a little fun again.