Rueben's Ramblings

With both book franchises turned mega-huge box office film franchises The Twilight Saga and Harry Potter coming to an end roughly within the next year or so, the major studios are frantically looking for the next big thing. That one series of books that can be adapted into the next major box office success, giving their home studio the golden ticket to worldwide fame and fortune. But which book series will it be?

I have spent the last couple of months collecting a list of books (those that are both published and yet-to-be-published) for which their movie rights have been purchased by various movie studios or high profile individuals within the entertainment industry. What follows below are just some of these books. They appear in no particular order:

The Hunger Games Trilogy

One of the red-hot franchises right now is The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. This trilogy consists of the following books: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. Much has been written about these best-selling books and the movies that will be made of them; as well as all the talk about who will be cast in the pivotal roles of Katniss Everdeen, her games partner Peeta, her best friend Gale and her media-savvy mentor Effie. The first film is expected to be released in March of 2012 with casting of the main roles yet to be announced.

The trilogy takes place in an unidentified future time period after the destruction of North America, in a nation known as Panem, which used to consist of a rich Capitol, located somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, and thirteen surrounding, poorer districts which cater to the Capitol’s needs. As punishment for a previous rebellion against the Capitol wherein the thirteenth district was supposedly destroyed, every year one boy and one girl from each of the remaining twelve districts, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are selected by lottery and forced to participate in the “Hunger Games.” The Games are a televised event where the participants, called “tributes,” must fight to the death in a dangerous outdoor arena until only one remains. The winning tribute and his/her corresponding district is then rewarded handsomely. It is required viewing for everyone in the districts.

The Millennium Trilogy

Then there is the Millennium trilogy of books by the late Stieg Larsson that have already become a worldwide phenomenon, spawning movies that have been a sensation all throughout Europe with the American film version of the first book – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – currently in production and expected to hit theatres in December of this year. The other two books – The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest are expected to follow suit and will, undoubtedly, garner as much attention and box office revenue as their Swedish predecessors. These books follow the tragic and disastrous lives of disgraced journalist Mikael Blomqvist and accused murderer Lisbeth Salander.

I Am Number Four

Meanwhile, on February 18 the box office movie I Am Number Four, based on the book by Pittacus Lore (aka authors Jobie Hughes and James Frey), will open in the theatres. It is part of a six-picture deal that is anticipated to explode given its handsome leading man – British actor Alex Pettyfer and its beautiful leading lady Dianna Agron from the FOX series Glee. If the first movie performs as expected, this could be the start of another huge, money-making franchise.

The book series, known as The Lorien Legacies, is about nine infant aliens, who closely resemble humans, flee their home planet, Lorien, to hide on Earth. An invading species, the Mogadorians, have destroyed their planet, and followed them to Earth to hunt them down. Each of the nine aliens is given a guardian and will develop superhuman powers as they become adults. They are each assigned a number. These last children of Lorien can be killed only in the sequence of their numbers. Numbers One, Two, and Three have been killed so far.

Firelight

Over at Mandalay Pictures is the film adaptation of the Sophie Jordan young-adult fantasy novel called Firelight. The story follows Jacinda, a young girl who is a “draki,” a descendant of dragons who can morph into human form, and who is ordained to marry another of her kind. When the girl’s mother moves the family to live among humans for safety reasons, Jacinda puts her family at risk when she falls for a member of a secret dragon-hunting society.

Shiver

Writer Nick Pustay is set to do the adaptation of Firelight as well as the adaptation of the teen werewolf romance tale called Shiver for Unique Features. Shiver, written by Maggie Stiefvater, is about 17-year old Grace, who loves the peace and tranquility of the woods behind her home. It is here during the cold winter months that she gets to see her wolf—the one with the yellow eyes. Grace is sure that he saved her from an attack by other wolves when she was nine. Over the ensuing years he has returned each season, watching her with those haunting eyes as if longing for something to happen. When a teen is killed by wolves, a hunting party decides to retaliate. Grace races through the woods and discovers a wounded boy shivering on her back porch. One look at his yellow eyes and she knows that this is her wolf in human form. Fate has finally brought Sam and Grace together, and as their love grows and intensifies, so does the reality of what awaits them. It is only a matter of time before the winter cold changes him back into a wolf, and this time he might stay that way forever.

Disney/Offspring Entertainment has purchased the rights to the book called Marked, written by first-time writer Allie Condie. Marked is part of BreathlessReads.com – a series of books that includes The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller, The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff, Nightshade by Andrea Creamer and Sapphique by Catherine Fisher.

Matched

The story behind Marked is this: In the Society, Officials decide who you love, where you work and when you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one… until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path no one else has ever dared follow — between perfection and passion.

Incarceron

Speaking of Catherine Fisher, her book Incarceron – the predecessor to the above referenced Sapphique – is being adapted into a film that will star Taylor Lautner (from the Twilight franchise) and, according to rumor, may also star Emma Watson (from the Harry Potter franchise) [bringing us full circle, so to speak]. The storyline behind the book and film is about a sealed and isolated prison world created hundreds of years ago as a controlled environment called Incarceron. The inhabitants are subject to the will of the prison, and the brutality and rivalry of its violent inhabitants. The story focuses on 17-year-old Finn who sets out to escape the prison with the warden’s daughter Claudia by his side.

As for the books that have been picked up for a film adaptation that haven’t even been published yet, they include:

Ready Player One

Warner Bros. has bought the film rights to the Ernie Cline book called Ready Player One, which will be released in August of this year. The plot is set around a teenager named Wade Watts, who escapes his bleak surrounds by logging in to the Oasis, a globally networked virtual utopia where users can lead idyllic alternate lives. When the game’s eccentric billionaire creator dies, he offers up his vast fortune as the grand prize in an elaborate treasure hunt. Watts is pitted against powerful corporate foes and ruthless competitors who’ll do anything, in the Oasis and in the real world, to reach the treasure first.

Here Lies Bridget

The teen novel Here Lies Bridget by college student Paige Harbison was just released last month and the film rights were bought by Galagos Entertainment. The story of the novel is about Bridget Duke, the uncontested ruler of her school and the meanest girl with the biggest secret: insecurities. And when new girl Anna Judge arrives, things start to fall apart for Bridget: friends don’t worship as attentively, teachers don’t fall for her wide-eyed “who me?” look, expulsion looms ahead and the one boy she’s always loved—Liam Ward—can barely even look at her anymore. When a desperate Bridget drives too fast and crashes her car, she ends up in limbo, facing everyone she’s wronged and walking a few uncomfortable miles in their shoes. Now she has only one chance to make a last impression. Though she might end up dead, she has one last shot at redemption and the chance to right the wrongs she’s inflicted on the people who mean the most to her.

The studio that brought the Twilight franchise to life – Summit Entertainment – has bought the film rights to the debut novel by Erin Morgenstern called The Night Circus. The book will hit bookshelves in September of this year (therefore no cover art is available yet). The story behind this book is set at the turn of the nineteenth century, centering around two young magicians who are pawns in an age-old rivalry between their mercurial, illusionist fathers, and the enchanted circus where their competition (and romance) plays out, leaving the fates of everyone involved–from creators and performers to patrons–hanging in the balance.

Again, the above are just some of the books that are being adapted into film. It will be interesting to see how these adaptations turn out; especially to learn if they will become box office smashes or disasters. Do you have a book you would like to see made into a film? Or do any of the above strike your fancy? Or would you rather not see any of the books to films listed above for whatever reason? Please share.