I love watching book adaptation movies. For 2012, I really liked Hunger Games and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I haven’t seen Life of Pi but it looks promising. Here’s a list of this year’s hype-worthy book adaptations according to Publisher’s Weekly.
10. Winter’s Tale (TBA)
Though it’s probably a long shot to be released before 2014 (filming was delayed in Red Hook because of Hurricane Sandy), a lot of people will be very happy when Winter’s Tale, the adaptation of Mark Helprin’s 1983 novel, comes out. The cast includes Russell Crowe, Will Smith, Colin Farrell, and Jennifer Connelly. Set in a mythic, Victorian-style New York City and involving fantasy and time-bending elements, hopefully the adaptation will be more successful than the lackluster Cloud Atlas, another epic fantasy with time-bending elements.
9. A Most Wanted Man (TBA)
Another John le Carré adaptation comes to the big screen, following 2010′s stellar Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy–this time, in A Most Wanted Man, the plot follows a Chechan Muslim who gets caught up in the international war on terror after illegally immigrating to Hamburg, where questions of his true identity lead to white-knuckle le Carré-esque intrigue. Willem Dafoe, Rachel McAdams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Robin Wright star.
8. The Wolf of Wall Street (TBA)
Based on Jordan Belfort’s tell-all about his Wall Street deeds that resulted in a criminal conviction, The Wolf of Wall Street is directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Terence Winter of The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire. Scorsese’s favorite actor Leonardo DiCaprio plays Belfort, a Long Island penny stockbroker who served 20 months in prison for refusing to cooperate in a 1990s securities fraud case involving Wall Street corruption and mob infiltration. The movie also stars Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, and Jean Dujardin.
7. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (August 16)
The first Percy made over $225 million when it came out in 2010, and since then, children’s/YA book-to-film franchises have only gotten hotter at the box office, and author Rick Riordan’s books have likewise grown in popularity. The story here centers on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece.
6. Beautiful Creatures (February 14)
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Based on the fantasy YA novel, Beautiful Creatures is about the mysterious new girl (Alice Englert) in a small town who brings some dark and troubling things along with her suitcase. Though it’ll have to compete with other fantasy YA franchises, it lands in theaters a full month before The Host (see below).
5. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (December 13)
The second installment in Peter Jackson’s needlessly extended trilogy, expect Smaug to have lots more walking, but this time without the excitement of An Unexpected Journey‘s beginning or the closure of the journey in next year’s There and Back Again. If you’re trying to find things to do until December, you could try to eat every item on the Denny’s Hobbit Menu.
4. The Host (March 29)
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No Twilight movie in 2013 means all the attention goes to Stephenie Meyer’s other book, The Host. After Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) is injected with an alien parasite, she’s supposed to help the alien race take over the world, but instead good things like human love and compassion get in the way.
3. World War Z (June 21)
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This one is up so high based mainly on potential, as it has gone way over budget and has gone through extensive reshoots. Max Brooks’s book has sold over 1 million copies; the adaptation stars Brad Pitt and is directed by Marc Forster, owner of one of the weirdest filmographies ever (Quantum of Solace, The Kite Runner, Stranger Than Fiction, Monster’s Ball).
2. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (November 22)
The Hunger Games was 2012′s #3 highest grossing movie ($408 million), and there’s no reason to believe that Catching Fire won’t top that. Historically, sequels gross more than their predecessors, and, combined with the fact that Suzanne Collins’s books are still selling, it’s within possibility that Katniss might take the #1 highest grossing spot in 2013.
1. Ender’s Game (November 1)
The kid from Hugo is Ender and his skills come in handy when aliens invade. Children will probably be imitating the games/tests found in the movie, like they did with Quidditch and like they did with lightsabers. Orson Scott Card’s book has sold millions of copies and it’s still going: in 2012, it was the bestselling science fiction book with over 100,000 copies sold.