New Movies Mar. 21-23: 'Divergent' and 'Muppets' Storm Theaters

"Need for Speed" had its shot at taking the top spot at the box office last week, but it lost out to "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" and "300: Rise of an Empire." It's not going to get another chance—and the two movies that beat it last week probably won't have a chance at winning the race, either—since this week's top new release is more highly anticipated than any new movie has been in awhile.

The likely winner for the week is "Divergent," the first in a planned trilogy of films based on the young-adult novels by Veronica Roth. Young-adult movies haven't been doing well lately—there hasn't been a bona fide franchise-starter since "The Hunger Games" in 2012—but the buzz says that this one could be the exception. Predictions have it performing about as well as the first "Twilight" film, which brought in $70 million in its opening weekend in 2008.

The other new wide release is "Muppets Most Wanted." The Muppet franchise isn't exactly the hottest property around, but the 2011 reintroduction of the characters took in $89 million in its opening weekend. This sequel, which features Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey, probably isn't going to do that well, but it could easily take second place away from any of the hold-overs.