In my house, we have February 12 on the calendar circled with a big, red pen. That's the day the first installment of Rick Riordan's* Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, THE LIGHTNING THIEF, hits the big screen. Usually I'm a little wary about well-loved books being turned into movies (because they seldom live up to the book) but the trailer for this one looks amazing. It's directed by Chris Columbus of Harry Potter fame and the casting is fantastic. I never hit any of the midnight openers for the Twilight movies, but if this one as a twelve o'clock screening, I'm so there.
March brings us HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON based on the book by Cressida Cowell. I haven't read it yet, but it sounds like a fun one, so I've added it to my (always growing) TBR pile.In April, it's DIARY OF A WIMPY KID. It will be fun to see how they translate Jeff Kinney's cartoon-infused book. (Fun or tragic. I'm hoping for fun.)
ECLIPSE is coming in June. I have high hopes for this one since the NEW MOON movie was so much better than TWILIGHT. (Quielute boys. That is all.)
Edited to add: BEASTLY, based on the Alex Flinn book comes our way in July. Thanks, Julia.
I
'm really crossing my fingers that they don't mess up Beverly Cleary's RAMONA AND BEEZUS, which will be released in August. One of my favorite little (not so little anymore) Disney actresses, Selena Gomez, is Beezus and that cute little Joey King is Ramona.September has two book-related releases that I know of. FLIPPED by Wendelin Van Draanen and GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE by Kathryn Lasky. I read FLIPPED a long time ago, but I haven't read GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE. It has a cool trailer, though.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS opens in November... but only part one. Agh! We will have to wait another seven months for part two. (mumble, mumble, J.K. Rowling and her blasted long books!)And finally, in December comes the next in the C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series, VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER. (On a totally off topic but kind of related note, my daughter and her friends met Prince Caspian (okay, just a really cute guy dressed as Prince Caspian) at Disney World last month. He actually kissed their hands. Cute guy, if you're reading this, you totally made their day.)
Did I miss any? What do you think about movies made from books? Do you have any faves? Least faves?
*Fans of Rick Riordan, check out his write up in (of all places) The Wall Street Journal - including a mini excerpt from his upcoming book, THE RED PYRAMID from his new Kane Chronicles series.
Posts
15 comments:
Oooh - I had no idea they were turning How to Train Your Dragon into a movie - my daughter and a lot of the other girls who come inot my library will be beyond thrilled. For the pre-teens dragons are definitely the new vampires!!!!!!
I'm looking foward to the third Twilight movie. I hated the first book and didn't read the others but for some reason I really love the movies - can't think why (okay, it's because the boys are all so pretty to look at!!!!)
Great list! Now that I write books I notice just how MANY movies are books first, thankyouverymuch! Love it.
And BEASTLY, based on the YA book by Alex Flinn, is coming in July!
Wow, there's some awesome movies coming out soon. I can't wait.... I LOVE going to the movies!!!!
Ooh. Thanks, Julia. I just looked up the movie trailer and Beastly looks like it's going to be a good one! I have added it to the list!
I am so excited for The Lightening Thief and How to Train Your Dragon movies. I am encouraging parents to read the book before the movie comes out because my greatest joy in life is when a reluctant boy reader tells me that the book was waaay better than the movie. I have a list of Favorite Books for Reluctant Boy Readers with both these books included on my blog: http://pragmaticmom.com
I cannot wait to see SHUTTER ISLAND in February--it's one of my fave books!! And am hoping to see LOVELY BONES (critics be damned!) tomorrow as it's also one of my fave books!!
Mia,that's a fantastic list. Thank you for sharing it. My boys aren't reluctant, but I know plenty who are. I firmly believe that kids need to learn a love for reading by the time they reach middle school or we start to lose them. Boys especially drop off during the MS years.
And if parents aren't reading these books before seeing the movies, they're missing out! Not only because they lose the context of comparison, but also an opportunity to discuss with their kids. My son was very impatient for me to catch up with him in the Percy Jackson series so we could talk about the books. I wouldn't trade that for the world.
Oh... I didn't even look at mainstream fiction, Alyson. That would add a whole lot to the list! I haven't read Shutter Island yet. Guess I should add it to my (huge) TBR pile.
I'm interested to see what they do with The Lovely Bones. Already from the previews you can tell it's going to be a little different than the book - more like a thriller - but I'll go see it, too. I love Stanley Tucci.
Can you believe I've never read The Lightning Thief or Ramona and Beezus? I'm worried my author license is going to be revoked! :-) Am vowing to read them both before the movies come out.
Not sure what I think of HP7 though. The first half of the book didn't have near the action of the other books, so I'm curious to see what they're going to include to make it enough to sustain an entire film on its own... and still leave enough to sustain HP8. Can't wait!
Kay, I really loved The Lightning Thief. I think you'd like it (and enjoy the movie more.)
And Ramona... that's a classic!
Can't wait for The Lightning Thief!
What a list....thanks for the post. I just gave my niece "How to Train Your Dragon". She will be excited to hear it will be a movie.
You should make a list for 2011 and 2012 (:
Post a Comment