Every year, numerous books are re-imagined as movies.  2007 has not been lacking in book-to-movie adaptations, including The Bourne Ultimatum, 1408, 300, and Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix.  A regularly updated list of movie adaptations, organized by year, is available at the website of the Mid-Continent Public Library.

 

Here are some of the upcoming book-to-movie releases that you should know about:

 

December Boys :  Based on Michael Noonen's novel of the same name, December Boys stars Daniel Radcliffe in his first post-Harry Potter film role.  The story follows four boys who get to leave behind their ophanage home for a birthday holiday in the 1960's.  When they realize that one of them might be adopted by a local couple, tensions grow and friendships are tested.  The book and film are both set in Australia.

 

 

Gone, Baby, Gone : Remember how depressing author Dennis Lehane's novel Mystic River was?  Clint Eastwood directed that adaptation, and now Ben Affleck is giving Lehane's work a try.  Afflect wrote the adapted screenplay for Gone, Baby,Gone, making this the first time he's written for film since his Oscar winning Good Will Hunting.  This is another Boston-based movie, the story of two detectives (one played by Affleck's brother Casey) in search of a kidnapped 4-year old girl.  

 

The release date for the movie is Friday, October 19th.

 

 

 

The Kite Runner:  Khaled Hosseini's first novel turned out to be a huge success, both critically and financially.  When it was released in 2005, The Kite Runner became the third best seller in the United States for that year.  Marc Forster (Stranger Than Fiction, Stay, Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball) directed the film adaptation, which tells the story of Amir and Hassan, two friends growing up the peaceful Afghanistan of their youth.  When their lives are uprooted by personal tragedy and then by war, Amir escapes to the United States with his father while Hassan is left behind.  Years later, Hassan's son is in trouble, and Amir returns to Afghanistan in hopes of helping him.  The book is a complicated story that fits together in unexpected, beautiful ways.  Forster is a great director, and the story is safe in his hands.

 

Martian Child:  People may complain about movies never being as good as books, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that any time you actually get to see John Cusack playing a part, that part gets richer.  Here, Cusack stars as a widowed man who wants to adopt Dennis, a little boy who believes that he is an alien from Mars.  The short story Martian Child was written by David Gerrold, who has tons of experience writing science fiction for television.  One look at his filmography shows that he's the perfect guy to have written a book about a boy who thinks he's a Martian.   

 

 

There Will Be Blood: Anyone who loves Paul Thomas Anderson's previous movies (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love) is going to be excited about There Will Be Blood, his first movie in five years.  This is the first time that Anderson has ever directed something that he didn't write himself, which means that fans are venturing into new territory.  Will he direct someone else's work as well as he has directed his own?  The movie is based on Upton Sinclair's novel Oil! and follows an oil tycoon (played by Daniel Day-Lewis!) and  a captivating young preacher (Paul Dano from Little Miss Sunshine) in 1920's Texas.  

Comments (0)