Film Friday: 3 Book-to-Film Trends for 2015

Every year, film publications, blogs and fans trot out a most anticipated movies of the year list. While I love reading those as much as the next guy or gal, this is the year those lists seem particularly ridiculous. We're getting a new Star Wars, an Avengers sequel, two Pixar movies and a Jurassic Park reboot? Game, set, match.

However, in the world of book-to-film adaptations, there seem to be three key trends this year.

1) Public domain titles are here again

Hollywood loves books and stories that are in the public domain because no one has to purchase film rights and they have a built-in audience. When studios are consistently making $100 million-plus tentpole event films, movies based off pre-existing stories that have already done well in front of an audience are seen as safer risks. This year, we have Cinderella (March 13), Pan (July 24), Victor Frankenstein (Oct. 2) and The Jungle Book (Oct. 9).

All four of these films have top-notch talent attached, but they also come with some baggage. Early word from both Cinderella and The Jungle Book indicates the previous Disney classics are being used as the film's respective templates, even down to songs and minor characters, rather than the original stories. Not much is known about Victor Frankenstein at this point, except that it stars Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy. Pan is essentially an origin story to The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, Peter Pan, and has great talent both in front of and behind the camera.

2) Young adult adaptations will still be big

Among the headliner films set to debut in 2015, Katniss Everdeen's adventures will come to a close in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (Nov. 20). Other young adult titles next year include The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Sept. 18), the second part of the Maze Runner trilogy and Paper Towns (June 5), a romantic adventure based on John Green's book. The latter film is being made by the same team that made Green's bestseller The Fault in Our Stars into a box-office smash. Of course, Shailene Woodley returns as Tris Prior in The Divergent Series: Insurgent (March 20).

Young adult novels can become pop culture phenomenons (Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Twilight) with big-budget blockbuster adaptations. Word-of-mouth among teens is unbeatable in creating buzz for a film, especially with the advent of social media. Consider that The Fault in Our Stars made about $125 million Stateside and $180 million overseas — all on a $12 million budget. It helps that author John Green has his Vlogbrothers YouTube channel, but teens are one of the strongest demographics in terms of social media engagement, reading and moviegoing at theaters.

3) Survival stories are back in style

In an era where two to three superhero movies are being churned out each year, survival stories are great ways to put ordinary people in extraordinary, and dare I say, super-heroic situations. Director Ron Howard, no stranger the genre, is back with an adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrick's 2000 National Book Award Winner In the Heart of the Sea (March 13), the story of the whale ship Essex and an encounter that would inspire Moby Dick. Later in the year, when Oscar campaigns traditionally start, Everest (Sept. 18), The Martian (Nov. 25) and The Revenant (Christmas) will be ready to hit theaters. Everest, based on Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air, tells the tale of the 1996 Mt. Everest expedition that went horribly awry. The Martian, about an astronaut stranded on the Red Planet, and The Revenant, a Western tale of revenge are both based on fictional works, but have survival themes in them. The former is being directed by Ridley Scott while the latter is being helmed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who is earning raves for his work directing Birdman, a likely Best Picture candidate at this year's Academy Awards.

Admittedly, this group of four is the one I'm looking forward to the most. In the Heart of the Sea is my most-anticipated movie of the spring and the other three are high on my watch and read list. If my best books of 2014 list was any indication, I love stories of people overcoming challenges, whether it be true-life stories like Unbroken and The Boys in the Boat or fictional tales like The Rosie Project.

Other high-profile book-to-film adaptations this year include Fifty Shades of Grey (Feb. 14), The Longest Ride (April 10) and Me Before You (Aug. 21), as well as an untitled Whitey Bulger film based off the book Black Mass (Sept. 18). While they have not been given a release date yet, adaptations of The Light Between Oceans and A Walk in the Woods are expected to hit cinemas. A House in the Sky and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk could also find their way into theaters in late 2015 as well, though those are both unconfirmed.

Is there a book adaptation you can't wait to see on the Silver Screen this year?

Award and Film Roundup

The longlists for the National Book Award in fiction, nonfiction, young adult and poetry were announced along with the shortlist for the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. In years' past, I've been more interested in the nonfiction picks, but this year, the fiction list is full of books I would read, led by Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See and John Darnielle's Wolf in White Van. Richard Powers' Orfeo managed to get on the longlist for both the National Book Award and the Man Booker Prize. On the nonfiction side, Ronald Rosbottom's When Paris Went Dark and Walter Isaacson's The Innovators stood out. For a look at the longlists, click here.

As for the Flaherty-Dunnan Prize, which honors excellence in fiction from a first-time writer, there are several books that caught my eye. Smith Henderson's Fourth of July Creek currently sits on my desk waiting to be read while Rene Denfeld's The Enchanted is on my to-be-read list. Tiphanie Yanique's Land of Love and Drowning and Matthew Thomas' We Are Not Ourselves, both of which received a lot of buzz earlier this year, also made the cut. I've heard a lot of good reviews for Yanique's novel. To see all the nominees, click here.

Meanwhile, there have been a flurry of film news stories. John Green adaptations are the rage right now in Hollywood after the success of The Fault in Our Stars. 20th Century Fox announced a reshuffling of its summer 2015 film slate, which included bumping Paper Towns up from July 31 to June 19, a sign of confidence from the studio. Also last week, Variety reported model Cara Delevingne won the lead role of Margo. In related news, Universal landed the film rights to Green's Let it Snow, a book of short stories set on Christmas Eve. Green co-authored the book with Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle.

Fox also greenlit the sequel to The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and set a Sept. 18, 2015 release date after the first film took the top spot at the box office with $32.5 million. Not a bad start at all. The other book adaptations that debuted this weekend, A Walk Among the Tombstones and This is Where I Leave You, did not fare as well given the relatively soft market right now.

Channing Tatum is set to produce a film version of Jason Padgett's memoir, Struck by Genius, which came out earlier this year. The film will be distributed by Sony. The story is of a man who suffers a brain injury but becomes a mathematical genius. More details here.

Deadline had a series of big scoops this past week. First up, Ang Lee will direct an adaptation of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk for TriStar as his next film. Based on Ben Fountain's 2012 novel, the story involves an army platoon at a Thanksgiving football game as part of a PR tour after a harrowing battle in Iraq. Lee wasn't the first name that came to my mind for this book, but he is an excellent director.

Second, Harlan Coben fans may finally see a book adaptation on the big screen. Deadline claims Universal is courting Liam Neeson, who is currently starring in A Walk Among the Tombstones, to take the lead role in Tell No One. Third, I mentioned in an article earlier this month claiming Kristen Wiig and Jessica Chastain were in talks for a role in Ridley Scott's adaptation of The Martian. Apparently, Kate Mara was offered a role in it as well.

Fourth, it looks like Tom Hanks has set his sights on his next HBO miniseries project. After the success of producing From the Earth to the Moon, Band of Brothers, John Adams and The Pacific, Hanks secured the rights to Factory Man, the Beth Macy book chronicling the Bassett (of Bassett furniture fame) family's fight against outsourcing. On a related note, Hanks is also producing the World War II adaptation of Donald Miller's Masters of the Air for HBO.

Disney's film version of Michael J. Tougias' book The Finest Hours added Ben Foster to the cast, joining Chris Pine (Star Trek) and Casey Affleck (The Ocean's Eleven trilogy). The book tells the story of Coast Guard efforts to rescue the crews of two oil tankers wrecked by a nor'easter storm. The film is slated for release next fall and is a project I'm really looking forward to. More details from Variety here.

Film Friday: Fall Movie Preview

The fall movie season has historically been one lined with awards contenders, but this year, the autumn months will also be stuffed to the brim with book-to-film adaptations.

The Maze Runner (U.S. theatrical release: Sept. 19)
The era of young adult dystopian adaptations continues with this adaptation of the James Dashner novel, starring Dylan O'Brien from MTV's Teen Wolf series in the lead role. The plot is more solitary than Divergent or The Hunger Games, though, as a group of teens try to escape from the middle of a giant maze they've been trapped inside. According to reports, the film only cost studio 20th Century Fox $30 million for its budget. For comparison, Fox's summer adaptation of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars has gone on to gross more than $280 million worldwide on a $16 million budget, crazy low by summer blockbuster standards. The producers of "Stars" are also shepherding this project and seem to have their finger on the pulse of these young adult adaptations in what I'm sure Fox is hoping becomes a franchise. The newest trailers show a lot of promise.

This is Where I Leave You (Sept. 19)
Writer Jonathan Tropper wrote the screenplay and produced this adaptation of his 2009 bestseller about a family sitting Shiva, a Jewish mourning ritual, in the wake of the death of the patriarch. With an all-star cast led by Jason Bateman, Jane Fonda, Tina Fey and Adam Driver among others, the film has made some alterations from the novel (the family's last name is now Altman, not Foxman like in the book), but with Tropper writing the script I wouldn't expect any dramatic changes from the source material.

A Walk Among the Tombstones (Sept. 19)
Based on a 1992 book by Lawrence Block, the film follows private detective Matthew Scudder as he tries to find the missing wife of a drug dealer. According to reports, Block has said star Liam Neeson is an ideal choice to play Scudder, even going so far as to tell The Wrap, "My book's in good hands." However, the trailer has already framed the movie as a "Taken"-style revenge thriller. At a recent movie screening, a friend of mine who is unaware of the book turned to me after watching the trailer and said, "That one's a renter." Judge for yourself and take a look at the trailer:

Gone Girl (Oct. 3)
The cast of this film is outstanding (Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris), the script is being written by Gillian Flynn herself, and David Fincher is directing. Sounds like an awfully good combination. Given the book's narrative structure of bouncing back and forth between the perspectives of husband Nick and wife Amy, it isn't surprising that the film will deviate from it, though rumors are swirling that the ending is being re-tooled as well. Any way Flynn does it, the book is in very capable hands and it wouldn't surprise me if the movie is both a box office hit (budget of only $50 million) and an Oscar contender.

Left Behind (Oct. 3)
I admit it, I read most of the Left Behind series when I was in junior high and early high school. I lasted to book 9, Desecration, out of the initial 12 books before I opted not to continue. When the first film adaptation came out, starring former Growing Pains star Kirk Cameron, it was a cheeseball movie. Given that the premise of the series, two authors' fictionalized opinions about how the Book of Revelation could unfold, can be seen by some as cheesy or goofy to begin with, enlisting Nicolas Cage as Rayford Steele was probably not the best call. Having said that, the supporting cast is a bit better than I thought it would be.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Oct. 10)
In what figures to be a heavily reworked version of Judith Viorst's 1972 classic, Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner star in a comedy about a boy's horrible day. In the book, Alexander wakes up with bubble gum in his hair and his day gets progressively worse, but in the film's trailer, the hijinks are leveled on the other family members. I remember reading the book as a child and have been split on whether or not to see this one.

Big Hero 6 (Nov. 7)
Very loosely based on the Marvel Comics team that debuted in 1998 and was later the subject of a 2008 miniseries, this animated film has already garnered a following online with its trailers and clips. A boy and his robot companion venture into a world of superheroes as a villainous figure tries to take over San Fransokyo, a colorful mashup of San Francisco and Tokyo. If you're going into this film with the hopes of an Avengers cameo, the director told Total Film this summer that the universe of Big Hero 6 would act as a stand-alone world separate from the other Marvel films. The movie is one of the top five films I'm most looking forward to for the rest of the year. Here's the latest clip, which debuted Sunday during a "Frozen" special on ABC:

Rosewater (Nov. 7)
Based on the 2011 memoir Then They Came for Me by Maziar Bahari, the film tells Bahari's story of being held captive by the Iranian government for more than 100 days after the 2009 election. The film has been getting buzz for being directed by Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" fame, but the film's crew and subject matter suggest a good movie as well and apparently critics have given it generally favorable reviews after debuting last week at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado (current Rotten Tomatoes rating is 89%).

The Theory of Everything (Nov. 7)
Despite the title, the movie is not necessarily based on Stephen Hawking's 1983 book, but rather on his wife's memoir Travelling to Infinity. Starring Eddie Redmayne, who was last seen by most audiences as Marius in the excellent 2012 adaptation of Les Miserables, and Felicity Jones, the film will show Redmayne as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking during his time studying at Cambridge, falling in love and being diagnosed with a motor neuron disease. The movie is set to debut this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival. Here is the trailer, which debuted to big Internet buzz last month:

Is there a film based on a book you are most looking forward to this fall?