With the recent releases of Cosmopolis and not one but two Snow White movies (and because my husband is a bit of a film geek) I got wondering about what other books that have been made into movies are set for release before the close of 2012. Here’s a little list of some of the big hitters coming up…
Out now
Cosmopolis
Director: David Cronenberg
Following its premiere at Cannes Film Festival, David Cronenberg's new film has been praised as ‘a triumph’ (Indiewire) and “a look inside a brilliant mind, but also a voyeuristic insight into what it might be like to lose it all” (Moviefone Canada). The film is an adaptation of Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis and tells the tale of Eric Packer (played by Robert Patterson of Twilight fame) as a self-made millionaire whose life unravels completely across the course of one very eventful day…
Tuesday 03 July
The Amazing Spider-Man
Director: Marc Webb
The fourth Columbia Pictures film of the amazing webbed crusader sees Andrew Garfield replacing Toby Maguire as our superhero. Audiences will be treated to another portrayal of Parker as his super powers evolve during high school and will explore how he tries to discover the truth behind his parent’s death. For Stan Lee Spider-Man geeks the film should be more in keeping with the original comics with Parker inventing artificial webs this time round rather than having the use of organic webs as in previous Hollywood outings. If the trailer is anything to go by this is going to be an epic and enjoyable 2hrs of 3D titillation.
Friday 20 July
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
Director: Christopher Nolan
Steady yourselves for the third and final installation in Nolan’s Batman films after Batman Begins and The Dark Knight wowed audiences with their sinister, edgy and damn-right thrilling take on the caped crusader. The Dark Knight Rises is set eight years after Batman (Christian Bale) took the fall for Two Face's crimes and there is a new terrorist leader, Bane (Tom Hardy), in town overwhelming Gotham's finest. A warning from Catwoman (played by Anne Hathaway) prompts the Dark Knight to come back out of his cave to protect a city that has branded him an enemy. Adam West this is most-definitely not! (eek I’m a bit excited already).
Friday 27 July
Dr Seuss' The Lorax
Illumination Entertainment
Danny DeVito is providing the voice of the Lorax in this CGI animated version of Dr Seuss' classic book, The Lorax. Published in 1971, the book tells the story of a tree-loving little guy who takes on a big issue: the destruction of a forest. This big-screen adventure follows the journey of a 12-year-old as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. The film has been a box office hit in the USA taking $70.7million in its opening weekend!
Friday 03 August
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days
Director: David Bowers
Dog Days is based on the third and fourth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. School is out and Greg is ready for some long, hot, fun sunny days. When all his plans go wrong, what on earth is he going to do all summer? Just like the books, the film is centred round the journals of Greg Heffley, the series' main character, played by Zachary Gordon.
Friday 07 September
Anna Karenina
Director: Joe Wright
This promises to be a lavish adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel Anna Karennia which is now widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction. Set in late-19th-century Russian high-society, the aristocrat Anna Karenina (Kiera Knightly) is trapped in her loveless marriage to Alexis Karenin (Jude Law) and so enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky (Aaron Johnson) but this only brings along more complications. Russian critics dismissed the novel on its publication as a "trifling romance of high life" – we wonder if the film will receive the same response!
Friday 21 September
On The Road
Director: Walter Salles
Based on the 1951 novel On The Road by American writer Jack Kerouac; a largely autobiographical work telling of the spontaneous cross-country adventures of Kerouac and his friends during the middle of the 20th century. The novel is often considered a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry and drugs. It may be hard to capture the books central feeling of a hedonistic freedom of expression on screen but we’re game if you are…
Friday 30 November
Great Expectations
Director: Mike Newell
With a screenplay written by David Nicholls (author of the hugely popular One Day), the film being directed by Mike Newell of Four Weddings and a Funeral fame and starring some of the UK’s favourite actors Helena Bonham Carter (Ms. Havisham), Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch and Robbie Coltrane as Mr. Jaggers this film could become the nation’s favourite adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic Great Expectations. This story of a humble orphan’s rise to gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor has been subject to the stage and screen treatment many times since 1917 when Robert G. Vignola directed the first silent version for the cinema. Some have been more successful than others and we really hope this latest version will fall into the thumbs up category.
Friday 14 December
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Director: Peter Jackson
Fans Rejoice!!! The Hobbit will be a two-part epic, fantasy adventure based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel of the same name and who else but Peter Jackson could take on the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy? Staring Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins as he is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Along the way Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever… Gollum. Several actors from The Lord of the Rings will reprise their roles, including Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Cate Blanchett and we can-not wait!
Friday 21 December
Life Of PI
Director: Ang Lee
Yann Martel's 2001 bestseller, Life of Pi, has been linked with numerous directors and writers over the years from M.Night Shyamlan, Alfonso Cuaron and Jean-Pierre Jeunet but it will finally be hitting the big screen later this year under Ang Lee’s leadership. Lee has directed a diverse set of books-to-films such as Sense and Sensibility (1995), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Brokeback Mountain (2005) and we will be intrigued to see what he brings to the story of Pi, the only person to survive the sinking of a freighter on a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger….
Wednesday 26 December
The Great Gatsby
Director: Baz Luhrman
With Baz Luhrman at the helm this promises to be a vivid, beautiful, stylised and romantic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. Telling the tale of Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), a Midwesterner now living on Long Island, as he finds himself drawn to the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbour, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy along the way. With all its glitz and glamour this will be the perfect pairing for all the over-the-top extravagance of the Christmas season.
So how about it, how many will live up to the source material and how many authors will be aghast at the silver-screen’s interpretations? We certainly hope more fall in the first category than the second…
