The New York Times published their holiday movie guide over the weekend, and after giving it a thorough read, I am very excited for the upcoming movie season. . . especially because some of the best-looking picks are based on great books.
“Precious,” based on Sapphire’s 1996 novel, Push, will be in theaters tomorrow. The raw story of an abused African-American girl from Harlem is #1 on the NYT’s paperback trade fiction bestseller list, and the movie version received the 
prestigious Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The cast includes stars Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz.
Roald Dahl is one of my all-time favorite authors, and I have rarely been disappointed by the movie adaptations of his books – from Matilda, to The Witches, to both versions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. On Nov. 13, you can bet I’ll be in line to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, a stop motion film directed by the great Wes Anderson. George Clooney voices Mr. Fox. See trailer below.
When The Lovely Bones came out in July 2002, BookPage reviewer Becky Ohlsen wrote that Alice Sebold found an “inventive way of expressing the universal alienation and powerlessness we all feel, trapped in our own small worlds apart from each other.” This bestseller will be on the big screen Dec. 11. Saoirse Ronan (nominated for an Academy Award in “Atonement”) stars as Susie, the murdered 14-year-old narrator.
These three are just a few of the upcoming literary adaptations. The biggest blockbuster of all needs no introduction: The film version of Stephenie Meyer’s New Moon hits theater Nov. 20.
Which books-to-movies are you going to see in the coming weeks?
November 4, 2009 at 5:00 pm |
I am looking forward to The Road which has been pushed about 6 times now. It is currently scheduled for 11/25. I sure hope it makes it this time.
November 4, 2009 at 5:02 pm |
BTW there is a free download of Fantastic Mr. Fox on iTunes this month.
November 10, 2009 at 9:53 am |
Thank you for the tip! I am excited about this one.
November 4, 2009 at 9:22 pm |
I enjoyed the NYTimes Holiday movie guide this weekend and was really excited about Roald Dahl’s movie, as you so aptly said, he never disappoints. I have seem some previews for Precious and it looks amazing, a really intense emotional roller-coaster and very well done. I am looking forward to Nine, too, and hoping it’s good!
November 16, 2009 at 3:42 pm |
[...] couple weeks ago I blogged about upcoming movies based on books. In anticipation of the film adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox [...]