Beyond “The Hunger Games”
The Big List: Y.A, M.G and Classic Book to Movie Adaptations 2012-2014
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Getting into the Oscar spirit we’ve put together this awesome list of movies coming soon, straight off your bookshelf. We’ve got an exciting few years of fantastic book-to-film adaptations to look forward to, and ladies and gentleman, it doesn’t just begin and end with “The Hunger Games”. It really is fun to love (or love to hate) how our favorite books get translated onto the big screen; and that’s no secret to the folks in Hollywood either. As long as the YA/fantasy/sci-fi craze continues to have box office strength, the people on the other side of the red carpet will keep mining for their piece of the gold. After all, mega franchise cash cows like “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” have already proven to be gold-mines, so who can blame them for wanting more?! And boy-oh-boy are the studios just eating this up, buying up film rights to bestselling books like kids in a candy shop. They’re just trusting that the super loyal fan base of book lovers will continue on, and frankly, this hasn’t turned out to be so bad for the publishing houses either. With last year’s (almost simultaneous) release of both the book and movie “I Am Number Four”, we saw what is sure to be the first of many stories written for the sole purpose of heading to the big screen. Sure, that one was a flop, but even as the hope of it being the next big franchise went up in smoke, the publishers and studios looked through to the silver lining (…of their pockets). But hey, we’re not complaining! We here at BBTV are part of the guilty crowd helping to fund these franchises, and we’re not ashamed to admit it! We’re big suckers for some good (and sometimes not so good) re-telling of our favorite stories. This is why were so excited to present to you this list, of the most anticipated 2012-2014 Young Adult (YA) books, Middle Grade (MG) books, and some other beloved classic tales coming soon to a theatre near you! (Oh, and P.S- we didn’t bother including “The Hunger Games” or the last installment of the “Twilight” saga in the list. It’s not because we aren’t excited about them… because trust us we are! We just figured you already knew those were coming).
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The Story: Abraham Lincoln at 9 years old, witnesses his mother dying in the middle of a one room cabin. He later discovers that this was the doing of a vampire, which leads him to dedicate his life to one purpose: to hunt them down. That focused devotion will later lead him to the White House, but what no one realizes, he keeps a secret journal that will not be discovered for another 140 years by a certain Seth Grahame-Smith (the author). This is when the hidden story behind one of our nation’s greatest presidents is revealed.
The Movie: Under director Timur Bekmambetov, best known for the thriller “Wanted”, we’re sure to find a fun action packed adaptation of this story. The actor playing Abraham Lincoln is Benjamin Walker who hasn’t done much on the big screen movies as of yet. Other actors in the film include Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Scott Pilgram Versus the World”), Anthony Mackie (“Man on a Ledge”) and Dominic Cooper (“Captain America”).
Franchise Potential: It is based on a stand-alone book, but the filmmakers recently asserted that there were several possibilities for a franchise, with room being left for a sequel. So we’ll see.
The Story: “Beautiful Creatures” is a paranormal romance following the story of two star-crossed teenage lovers. High-school student Ethan Wate, a local boy, meets and becomes bewitched by 16-year-old Lena Duchannes, the mysterious new girl whose family has moved to the small South Carolina town where he lives. The two must confront a curse that has haunted her family for generations as she comes to grips with her extra-ordinary powers.
The Movie: Set to begin filming in April, Richard LaGravenese (of “P.S. I Love You” and “Freedom Writers”) will direct the adaptation of this story. Also, according to Variety, the two young (and rather unheard of) actors, Alice Englert and Jack O’Connell have landed the lead roles. Then there is two-time Academy Award nominee Viola Davis (most recently nominated for her leading role in “The Help”) who has been cast as Amma, a surrogate mother of sorts to Ethan. And finally, big time star Emma Thompson will bring her years of acting experience to play the duel part of the antagonists, Mrs. Lincoln, a small town religious zealot, and Sarafine, the dark witch who possesses her.
Franchise Potential: This movie is based on the first book in a four book series, which has already proven to be a bestselling franchise, translated into 30 languages worldwide. So yes, if the movie does well in the box office, it will most likely have a few more to follow.
The Story: Cassandra Clare’s NYT bestselling series, “The Mortal Instruments”, falls onto the paranormal romance shelf; but this time with a little twist. This isn’t another story about vampires or werewolves, but rather the Nephilim (a half-human, half-angel race of beings). The Nephilim in “City of Bones” are trained warriors, or Shadowhunters, who are charged with protecting humans from all the other-worldly creatures out there. Things get complicated when Clary, the 15-year-old main character, witnesses the Shadowhunters murder a kid at a local nightclub. Shortly following this encounter, her mother is kidnapped by the story’s villain, Valentine. Not knowing what to do, she calls upon her new friends for help. So the adventure begins and we find a VERY complicated love story (the strangest I’ve read to date) and, of course, it wouldn’t be a paranormal romance without the classic love triangle.
The Movie: The director who brought us “Legion” and “Priest”, Scott Stewart, will be in charge of the film. I’m trying to hold up my hopes that this one will turn out to be better than his first two films, but even it doesn’t at least we’ll have some beautiful people to look at during the movie. Lily Collins, who recently co-starred with Taylor Lautner in “Abduction”, will play the fiery red-headed Clary. Jamie Campbell Bower, who has already been in films like “Breaking Dawn” and “Harry Potter”, will play the dreamy character Jace.
Franchise Potential: Certainly. Unless this movie bombs in the box office, there will undoubtedly be several more films. Clare recently announced that there will be 3 more books added to this series which means that there could be four or five more movies to follow.
Story: A sci-fi classic following a brilliant young boy, Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin, who lives during a time where aliens are real and have attacked Earth twice. This is how Ender came to be; the government has bred child geniuses, who they train as super soldiers in defense against more attacks. The rigorous military training, battles and the fact that it’s set in space, are all reasons this could be a great movie.
The Movie: Production schedule, preparation and planning began for “Ender’s Game” as of September 2011. Production is set to begin March 2012. The movie has huge potential, with direction and screenplay by Gavin Hood (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine”), we’ll see an amazing cast join together that includes Harrison Ford, Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”), Abigail Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”), Asa Butterfield (“Hugo”), Viola Davis (“The Help”) and Ben Kingsley.
Franchise potential: This movie has a strong franchise potential. This bestselling series has been translated into 28 languages and has a significantly loyal fan base.
The Story: Mary is a girl who lives in a small village bordered by a fence, and in her world there are simple truths; The Sisterhood always knows what’s best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects them from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. The Unconsecrated (savage zombies) are set on destroying the town and everyone in it. When the fence is breached and they descend upon them, Mary must choose between her future and her village.
The Movie: The movie was optioned by Seven Star Pictures and seems to be on the fast track for production. They have also announced that rookie director Peter Iliff will be adapting the film. Other than that, little is known about the details of the movie.
Franchise Potential: Not really. Even though there are three books in this series, the second and third books are break off stories which feature new characters. However, there are a lot of fans out there, so perhaps if it does well enough in the box office, we wouldn’t put it past the folks in Hollywood to push this one further.
The Story: The beloved prequel to the infamous trilogy, “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Hobbit” takes us on an unexpected adventure with a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. In this tale Tolkien introduces the world to his fictional creation the hobbit, “who are little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves”. They are a very simple group of beings that don’t fancy leaving the comfort of their dwelling place. This goes for Bilbo as well, that is until Gandalf the Grey stops by one morning, “looking for someone to share in an adventure,” and before he knows it, Bilbo is on his way.
The Movie: Directed by Peter Jackson, the Academy Award winning director of the three “The Lord of the Rings” movies, the “Hobbit” is bound to be true to the book and produced first class. The movie is starring many of the same actors seen in the LOTR, such as Elijah Woods, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom and Ian McKellen. Bilbo is being played by Martin Freeman from the movies “Love Actually” and “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”.
Franchise Potential: This story is being split into two films, the second which is called “There and Back Again”, which has already begun production and will be released December, 13th 2013.
The Story: Most of humanity has succumbed to the ‘Invaders’ who take over the minds of humans while leaving the body intact. However, Wanderer, the ‘soul’ invading the body of young Melanie, is having trouble gaining control of her mind. While Wanderer tries searching for the last resistance in Melanie’s mind, she becomes bombarded with the images and emotions of Melanie’s love, Jared, who happens to still be out in the wild. Now, unwilling allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.
The Movie: With director Andrew Niccol (“Gattaca”, “The Truman Show” and “In Time”) the adaptation of this story is off to a good start. There is also a stellar cast attached to the film, such as Saoirse Ronan (“Hannah”), Diane Kruger (“Inglorious Bastards”), Max Irons (“Little Red Riding Hood”) and Jake Abel (“Percy Jackson”). It’s shaping up to have some real potential.
Franchise Potential: Possibly. Deadline recently reported that “The Host” is being set up as a trilogy. This may refer to a potential 2nd and 3rd book in the series (tentatively titled “The Soul” and “The Seeker”) or it could mean that they are planning to stretch the one book into several movies (let’s hope not).
The Story: “Jack the Giant Killer” is an old English fairy tale concerning a boy who slays a number of giants during King Arthur’s reign. Various re-takes on the old story have been written, such as the widely known “Jack and the Beanstalk”, which all involve a young boy named Jack who has to face a Giant (or Giants). In this movie adaptation, the humans and giants are living at peace; that is right until a young farmer leads an expedition into the Giant’s kingdom to rescue a kidnapped princess.
The Movie: We’re excited about this movie! At least, we think it has some real potential. With mega-star director Bryan Singer, well known for his work, “House M.D.”, “The Usual Suspects”, “X-Men (2000)” and “Superman Returns”, we’re already off to a good start. Jack is being played by Nicholas Hoult from “X-Men First Class” and who is also attached to the upcoming YA film adaptation “Warm Bodies”. Then we also have stars like Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy (“Underworld”), Stanley Tucci, and Ian McShane (“Pirates of the Caribbean”) who all give us one more reason to look forward to this upcoming adaptation.
Franchise Potential: As far as we can tell no intentions of a sequel have been made.
Story: Written by the same author who brought us the beloved story “Tarzan”, “John Carter” is about a Civil War veteran who mysteriously finds himself on the planet Mars (Barsoom), prisoner of the 12 ft. tall ‘Green Men’ of Thark. Together, with a princess who is also captured by these barbarians, they must fight for their freedom as well as for the whole planet (which is on the brink of mass extinction).
The Movie: Oscar winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton, known for so many beloved Disney movies such as “Toy Story” (1 -3), “Finding Nemo”, “Monster Inc.” and “WALL-E”, is the screenplay writer and director of this adaptation. The main character, John Carter, will be played by Taylor Kitsch (known from the hit T.V series “Friday Night Lights”). Additionally, stars such as Mark Strong, Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, and Ciaran Hinds all come together to make this film something worth getting excited about!
Franchise Potential: Disney is surely hoping that this will be the next big mega-buck franchise. With 11 books in the original series, if this does well at the box office, we can certainly expect more movies to follow.
The Story: Pi is part of the Patel family in Pondicherry, India who run the local zoo. He is a lover of books, has a great curiosity of religion and loves thinking about how the world works. The story gets interesting when the whole family decides to move to Canada, when a massive political movement begins in India, by-way of a Japanese cargo ship. However, when the ship sinks soon after departure, Pi finds himself in the company of a Royal Bengal Tiger, and they have to fight together for their survival.
The Movie: Know for movies such as “Hulk” and “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”, Ang Lee’s adaptation of the “Life of Pi” is one of the most highly anticipated book-to-movie films coming up. It will feature stars such as Tobey Maguire, Gérard Depardieu, and Irrfan Khan (“Slumdog Millionaire”) and is sure to be a fantastic family film.
Franchise Potential: Not that we know of.
The Story: “The Magician’s Nephew” is the prequel to the infamous series by C.S Lewis, “The Chronicles of Narnia”. From inside the book flap the story is described as such: “When Digory and Polly are tricked by Digory’s peculiar Uncle Andrew into becoming part of an experiment, they set off on the adventure of a lifetime. What happens to the children when they touch Uncle Andrew’s magic ring is far beyond anything even the old magician could have imagined”. The children find themselves in an in-between place that holds many gateways, to many other worlds. Eventually they find themselves in Narnia, which sets the landscape to all the stories that follow.
The Movie: Since this movie is still in development, nothing is yet known about who will be attached to this film other than the fact that it will most likely feature an entirely new cast.
Franchise Potential: This movie is already part of a franchise. Interestingly enough, each one of the films have earned less money than the previous one, leading to constant rumors that the whole gig would get the plug pulled. Then there’s the fact that nobody knows which of the remaining books would be up to adapt next seeing as there had already been some aging ‘problems’ with the original actors. But, as quoted from Next Movie, “Don’t start clearing your calendars just yet, though, because it’s going to be a while before “Narnia” fans get a chance to see “The Magician’s Nephew” on the big screen. We are starting to talk to Fox and talk to the C.S Lewis estate now about “The Magician’s Nephew” being our next film,” Walden Media’s Michael Flaherty said. “If we can all agree to move forward, then what we would do is find someone to write the script. So, it could still be a couple of years.”
The Book: An epic poem, “Paradise Lost” is a classic story that has been translated into countless languages and found its’ way into the homes of millions of people over more than 300 years. Starring Lucifer, Adam, Eve, several other angels and big characters from the Bible; this is an original take on the story of the fall of Lucifer (God’s favorite angel) from Heaven, and then the subsequently the fall of man.
The Movie: This adaptation is rumored to be action heavy and big on digital affects. With huge names like Bradley Cooper (Lucifer), Casey Affleck (Gabriel), Camilla Belle (Eve), and Dominic Purcell, from “Prison Break” (Jerahmeel); as well as big name director Alex Poyas (“I, Robot” and “Knowing”)… this movie has some real box office appeal. The only hang-up right now is that the movie release date has been pushed back and is still undetermined due to Legendary Pictures asking to trim back the budget. Filming was supposed to begin January, but didn’t.
Franchise Potential: With this one there’s really no telling- there hasn’t been any indication of drawing this story out into more than one film, but who knows what the writers and director have up their sleeves (although we really don’t think so).
The Story: This is the 2nd book in the “Percy Jackson Series” which follows the adventures of a young boy, Percy, who happens to be a demigod (or more specifically the son of Poseidon). The author, Rick Riordan, does an incredible job of bringing classic legends of mythology and weaving them into a modern day setting. The 2nd book is centered around the rescue of Percy’s satyr friend Grover, who has been captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus.
The Movie: The long awaited 2nd film is finally in the making! It’s looking as if the cast will remain mostly the same but the company has hired a different director, Thor Freudenthal (best known for the similarly boy-oriented movie, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”). He’ll pick up where “Lightning Thief” director Chris Columbus left off (Columbus will only produce this new movie).
Franchise Potential: Yes. This is already a franchise. The real question now is about the age of the actors. The main character Percy begins the first of the 5 book series as a 12-year-old boy and ends the series at age 16. However, the young star Logan Lerman is already 19. Perhaps this won’t be a factor to the fan base they already have… or on the flip side, we may see a new Percy in future films.
The Story: “The Last Apprentice” is about a 13-year-old boy named Tom, who is the seventh son of a seventh son, and because of that has special abilities (like seeing things that other people can’t, such as bogart’s, ghosts, ghast’s and so on). Since Tom is special he is sent away from his farm home to be the apprentice of the ‘Spook’ (every town has one and they specialize in protecting the townspeople from the supernatural). Tom finds himself wrapped up in an adventure with a vengeful Witch who sets out to get him after a couple of unfortunate (almost) misunderstandings.
The Movie: The movie, titled “The Seventh Son” already looks promising with stars like Jeff Bridges set to be the Spook (couldn’t have picked anyone better myself) and Julianne Moore as Mother Malkin. [Although I will take this moment to rant that, as of now, they have THIRTY-YEAR-OLD, Ben Barnes (Caspian from “Narnia: Voyage of the Dawntreader”) cast as Tom- I guess this adaptation is practicing some artistic liberties because the character in the book is only 13!?).
Franchise Potential: If this movie turns out to be a hit, then it will undoubtedly become a franchise. There are currently 8 books in series and two other attached to the story.
The Story: A zombie named ‘R’ wants to be different. He may not have a pulse, an identity or any memories but he has dreams. When he makes the unexpected decision to protect the girlfriend of a victim he devours it changes everything. This choice not only transforms R and his fellow ‘dead’ friends, it changes the meaning of their whole lifeless existence.
The Movie: The movie will be directed by Jonathan Levine (who recently directed the hit movie “50/50”) and star up-and-coming young actors like Teresa Palmer (Number 6 in “I am Number 4”, Becky in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”) and Nicholas Hoult (also to star in this year’s “Jack the Giant Killer”).
Franchise Potential: The book is a standalone. However, since it is a supernatural love story involving a human and a not-so-human person, we’re sure producers are hoping this will be the “Twilight” of zombie movies… even if it is only one.
The Story: Described as the first true American fairy tale, the readers follow the adventures of a young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto. When Dorothy is swept away along with her Kansas home by a tornado, she finds herself in a peculiar place called OZ. She makes unlikely friends on her journey to find a way back home with ‘The Scarecrow’, ‘The Tin Man’, and ‘The Cowardly Lion’. Together they make an unforgettable and dangerous journey to the Emerald City to find the ‘Wizard of OZ’.
The Movie: “Oz: The Great and Powerful” is a prequel to the classic tale “The Wonderful Wizard of OZ”. The star-studded new-spin on the story follows the young pre-Wizard (James Franco). The young magician finds himself cast off into Oz, where he meets a group of sister witches (Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, and Mila Kunis) who are both good and bad. Alongside his assistant (Zack Braff), the young Wizard finds himself further immersed into the world of Oz. With a cast like this, and director Sam Raimi (from both “Spider Man” 2 and 3) $200 Million budget, we shouldn’t be left wanting for much.
Franchise Potential: We’ve done a lot of searching and have found no indication that this is being set up as a franchise. We’ll keep you posted.
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In addition to the above list, there are some other upcoming movies that we’d like to mention. First, there’s an enormous “Snow White” craze going on, and we have THREE, yes three full length feature films heading our way. This year we will see both “Mirror Mirror” and “Snow White and the Huntsmen” in a box office war, and then following sometime after they’ll be joined by Disney’s take on the classic tale in “The Order of the Seven”. We’re going to devote a separate blog entry just to them, as well as the rumored “Little Mermaid” adaptations that are in the works, which is why they aren’t on the list. Also, some other films we’re excited about are the animated adaptations of “How to Train Your Dragon: 2”, “Brave” and “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax”. And last but not least, we can’t forget the next installment of “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” franchise is coming out soon. They’ve always proven to be safe bets for fun, feel good movies. So Zoo-We-Mamma! That’s all we have for now folks! Be sure and let us know if we’ve missed anything and stay tuned because up next is our big list of the next best bets for a franchise (including, but not limited to such books and series as “Matched”, “Shiver”, “The House of Night”, “Fallen”, and many more…).
