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Hanna at WonderCon – April 2, 2011

Posted in Convention/Event, Movies on April 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Hanna

This past weekend San Francisco welcomed the annual WonderCon – the mini version of the San Diego Comic Con. Among the many panels and activities scheduled over the 3-day weekend was the presentation of the Focus Features film Hanna, which stars Academy-award nominee Saoirse (pronounced “sear-sha”) Ronan, Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett.

The film, which opens on April 8, follows a teenage girl (Ronan), trained by her father (Bana) who is an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of North Finland. She has the strength, the stamina and the smarts of a solider. She has been taught to hunt, been put through extreme self-defense workouts and home-schooled with only an encyclopedia and a book of fairy tales.

Having the opportunity to participate in the press room for Hanna, which included roundtable interviews with the movie’s director Joe Wright (who has directed Pride & Prejudice and Atonement) and actress Saoirse Ronan, the following is a look inside the making of this movie:

When asked about her training for the movie, Saorise stated she began training “a couple months before filming started, working in the gym 2 hours a day”. She worked on muscle definition as well as martial training that was combined with street fighting.

Saoirse then explained that Hanna is a “misfit fairy tale princess” because she has been raised virtually like a hermit, learning all she knows from her father and from one of only two books she has ever had: a Grimm Brothers fairy tales book.

The movie was filmed over a 3-month time span in Finland, Germany and Morocco and according to Director Wright, he stepped out of his comfort zone in directing this movie, as he had never shot an action sequence movie before. To his way of thinking, if he treated the movie “like a dance, it (would) all be fine.” And while he didn’t talk to other directors who have done action movies before, he did have brief conversations with director Paul Greengrass.

Both Saoirse and Director Wright have worked together before on the film Atonement with Director Wright stating he thought (Saoirse) “would be part of his life later on”. In turn, Saoirse had nothing but good things to say about him; namely, that he is “very artistic, imaginative and they have both grown” since working together on Atonement.

Before the interview came to a close, Saoirse spoke briefly about her upcoming project Violet and Daisy, which is a black comedy about two teenage assassins who accept what they think will be quick and easy but an unexpected target thrown them off their plan; and while this may sound similar to Hanna she made it clear that was not the case. She also cleared up the rumor that she is not attached to the Peter Jackson film The Hobbit. And, Director Wright will helm an adaptation of The Little Mermaid, which he stated has been a “favorite of mine since childhood”.

Make sure to check out the new box office film Hanna in theatres in this Friday, April 8. You can learn more about the film here.

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What Happened at WonderCon

Posted in Convention/Event, Messages, Movies, Music, News, Television on April 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This past weekend (April 1 to 3) I went to WonderCon in San Francisco, attending a number of panels focusing on television and films. I also had the unique opportunity of sitting in on three roundtable interviews in one of the (many) press rooms.

First on the list was a Behind the Music panel, featuring composers on television shows such as Sean Callery (24), Jim Dooley (Pushing Daisies) and Nathan Barr (True Blood) (among others). This lead to an introduction of the new summer series from TNT Falling Skies that comes from the mind of Steven Spielberg, which featured executive producer/writer Mark Verheiden, writer Melinda Hsu-Taylor and actor Drew Roy as well as a sneak peek at the upcoming April 7 episode of Nikita.

The day concluded with a panel for the upcoming box office film Green Lantern, featuring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. I will coverage on the composer’s panel here shortly and please look for my story on the Falling Skies panel over at NiceGirlsTV.

On Saturday, the big panels were all focused on some of the biggest upcoming box office films, including Cowboys & Aliens, The Three Musketeers, Hanna, Priest and Immortals. While all the fun was going on in the main ballroom for these movies, I was in the press room, getting a chance to participate in the press room roundtable interviews for the three latter movies. Tomorrow you can read up on my Hanna press room coverage – which included my getting to speak with Saoirse Ronan and director Joe Wright – here at Rueben’s Ramblings.

Actors Paul Bettany and Cam Gigandet, actress Lily Collins and director Scott Stewart were part of the press room for Priest while actress Isobel Lucas, actors Luke Evans and Henry Cavill and producer Mark Canton and director Tarsem Singh were among the Immortals press room. I will have those stories up here soon.

The 3-day event ended with panels on Sunday for the long-running British sensation Doctor Who, which included writer Neil Gaiman, director-writer Toby Haynes and actor Mark Sheppard (who will have a recurring role in the new episodes that start airing April 23); an advanced look inside the new FOX drama Terra Nova that debuts this fall that included actors Jason O’Mara and Stephen Lang, executive producer Brannon Braga and director Alex Graves and a look back at the second season of Human Target with actors Mark Valley and Jackie Earle Haley and actress Janet Montgomery. The stories for the Sunday panels will be up on NiceGirlsTV as soon as possible.

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Box Office Movies Coming Out in April

Posted in Movies on March 31, 2011| 1 Comment »

Based on information provided by the Dark Horizons site and internet research, here are just some of the movies you can expect to see in movie theatres in April:

Hop
Opens: April 1

Out-of-work slacker Fred O’Hare (James Marsden) runs over the Easter Bunny (voiced by Russell Brand) while driving home, and is forced to take him in as he recovers. As Fred struggles with the world’s worst house guest, both will learn what it takes to finally grow up, as Fred is pressed to partner with Bunny to save Easter. The cast of this live-action/CGI animation film includes Elizabeth Perkins, Chelsea Handler and Kaley Cuoco.

Insidious
Opens: April 1

A young family discovers that the body of their comatose boy has become a magnet for malevolent entities, while the boy’s mind is trapped in a dark and insidious realm known as The Further. The cast includes Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey.

Mother’s Day
Opens: April 1

Three brothers on the run from the law head for home, only to discover that their mother lost the house in a foreclosure. The mother ingeniously orchestrates her sons’ escape, teaching the house’s new owners and their guests a few lessons along the way. The stars of this film are Rebecca DeMornay, Patrick Flueger, Jaime King, and Shawn Ashmore.

Source Code
Opens: April 1

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a soldier who wakes up in the middle of an experiment called the Source Code that sends him back in time into the body of another man during the last eight minutes of the man’s life. His mission is to learn the identity of a bomber of a Chicago commuter train that was responsible for the deaths of all the passengers. The clock is ticking and another bomb’s about to be set off that could kill millions. The cast includes Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright.

Super
Opens: April 1 (Limited Release)

Rainn Wilson stars as a man who decides to become a superhero after his wife (Liv Tyler) leaves him for a psychopathic drug dealer (Kevin Bacon). He becomes the Crimson Bolt, complete with a hand-made suit, a wrench and a crazed sidekick named Boltie (Ellen Page). The cast also includes Nathan Fillion.

Arthur
Opens: April 8

Russell Brand stars in this remake of the classic Dudley Moore-led movie about a booze-loving playboy. Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner and Greta Grewig co-star.

Ceremony
Opens: April 8

A young man falls hard for an older woman about to be married. The infatuation prompts him to take along his unwitting friend to a beach town in an effort to break up the wedding. Upon arriving, the young men quickly realize just how out of place they are among the stately British groom-to-be and his guests. The film stars Michael Angarano, Uma Thurman, Lee Pace and Rebecca Mader.

Hanna
Opens: April 8

A teenage girl (Saoirse Ronan) is raised and trained by her father (Eric Bana), a rogue CIA operative hiding out in the wilds of Finland, to become the perfect assassin. Now she’s been sent to kill a ruthless operative with secrets, and in the process uncovers the truth about her own existence. Among the cast is Cate Blanchett and Olivia Williams.

Soul Surfer
Opens: April 8

In this true story about the 17-year old surfer girl (AnnaSophia Robb) who loses her arm in a shark attack and must gain the courage to head back into the ocean after the traumatic experience. The film also stars Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Jeremy Sumpter, Kevin Sorbo, Craig T. Nelson and Carrie Underwood.

Atlas Shrugged: Part One
Opens: April 15

Dagny Taggart, a railroad heiress, tries to save her company and faces increasingly corrupt government, her incompetent brother, and the systematic loss of her best workers. She soon suspects a sinister force working against her as a country-wide helplessness is spurred by the phrase – “Who is John Galt?”. The cast of this film includes Taylor Schilling, Grant Bowler, Matthew Marsden, and Edi Gathegi.

Margin Call
Opens: April 15

In this thriller that revolves around the key people at a large investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis when the economic world was on the verge of collapse stars Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto and Penn Badgley.

Rio
Opens: April 15

In this animated feature, Blu is a rare species of blue macaw who lives in Minnesota. When scientists learn that a female macaw was spotted in South America, Blu is sent to Rio de Janeiro to meet her and along the way they get kidnapped by poachers. Among the featured voices in this film are Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, George Lopez and Jemaine Clement.

Born to Be A Star
Opens: April 22

A small-town nerd learns his quiet and demure parents were famous porn stars in the 1970s. This motivates him to leave for Hollywood, hoping to follow in their footsteps and fulfill his destiny as the biggest adult-film star in the world. The cast includes Nick Swardson, Christina Ricci, Stephen Dorff, Don Johnson and Edward Herrmann.

Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family
Opens: April 22

Madea (Tyler Perry) comes to the aid of her seriously ill niece (Loretta Devine) who’s hoping to reunite her estranged family. Rapper/actor Shad “Bow Wow” Moss plays Devine’s ex-con son who gets some tough-love treatment from Madea.

Water for Elephants
Opens: April 22

In the adaptation of the Sara Gruen best-selling novel, Robert Pattinson stars as a veterinary student while Reese Witherspoon is the star performer, both of whom work in a traveling circus in the 1930s. Christoph Waltz co-stars.

Fast Five
Opens: April 29

Having escaped custody, former cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and ex-con Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) are now in Brazil where they must pull off one last job against a corrupt businessman who wants them dead. As they assemble their elite team of top racers, a hard-nosed federal agent named Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them. The cast includes Jordana Brewster and Tyrese Gibson

Prom
Opens: April 29

As Nova Prescott (Aimee Teegarden) is drawn to the guy (Thomas McDonell) who gets in the way of her perfect prom, she also deals with all the typical pressures of leaving high school for college and independence. The cast includes Danielle Campbell and Yin Chang.

Movies coming out in May will be posted at the end of April.

Enjoy!

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Wizard World Convention Is Coming

Posted in Appearances, Convention/Event, Geekdom, Movies, Television on March 27, 2011| 1 Comment »

If you live in or near Anaheim or will be in the area in a little over a month from now, you might want to consider going to the Wizard World Convention that will be held at Anaheim Convention Center from Friday, April 29 to Sunday, May 1.

What is Wizard World you ask? Well, Wizard World is “a producer of pop culture and multimedia conventions across North America that markets movies, TV shows, video games, technology, toys, social networking/gaming platforms, comic books and graphic novels. It has the rights to the names, marks, domains, customer lists and production rights for a portfolio of pop culture and multimedia conventions.”

You can learn more about the Anaheim convention here.

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Reminder: Wonder Con is Next Weekend

Posted in Appearances, Convention/Event, Geekdom, Movies, Online Series, Reminder, Television, Web Series on March 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Reminder: Don’t forget that Wonder Con is next weekend!!

If you haven’t already gotten your tickets, or if you are going to be in San Francisco next weekend and want something fun to do, you might want to consider attending Wonder Con.

You can go here for details on this annual convention.

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Make Sure You “Breathe (2 AM)” with Anna Nalick

Posted in Examiner.com, Movies, Music, Television on March 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Anna Nalick

Anna Nalick is a singer-songwriter from California who, according to her Columbia Records biography, began writing songs when she was in fifth grade. While in high school she performed with a Rush cover band called Brisket and credits bands like The Rolling Stones, Cream, Fiona Apple and Tori Amos (among others) as just some of her influences.

In October 2003, she signed with Columbia Records and began the long process of recording her debut album called “Wreck of the Day,” which came out in April of 2005. The first single off this album – today’s Song of the Day – is called “Breathe (2 AM)” became a huge hit on the Adult Contemporary charts, making her one of that year’s biggest newcomers.

You can read the remainder of the story here.

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Slow Down for the “Yellow Light” by Remy Zero

Posted in Examiner.com, Movies, Music, Television on March 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Remy Zero

Remy Zero are an Alabama-based alternative rock band, consisting of members Cinjun Tate (lead vocals and guitar), Shelby Tate (guitar, keyboards and vocals), Cedric LeMoyne (bass), Jeffrey Cain (guitar) and the late Gregory Slay (drums and percussion).

The band Radiohead discovered Remy Zero’s demo tape and invited them to be part of their US tour that supported their 1995 album The Bends. It was after this time that Remy Zero moved from Alabama to Los Angeles in order to record their first self-titled album which came out in 1996, but received very little recognition or sales.

The band’s second album called “Villa Elaine” was released in 1998 and featured the songs “Prophecy,” which was used on the soundtracks for the movies She’s All That and The Last Kiss; “Fair,” which was eventually featured on the soundtrack to the movie Garden State and “Hermes Bird,” which was used in the TV shows Felicity and Charmed as well as being featured on the soundtrack for the movie Never Been Kissed. Also on that album is today’s Song of the Day – “Yellow Light” – that was featured in an episode of Roswell.

You can read the reminder of this story here.

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Song of the Day: “Let Me In” by Save Ferris

Posted in Examiner.com, Movies, Music, Television on March 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Save Ferris

Save Ferris, a name inspired by the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, was a ska punk bank formed in 1996 in California, consisting of members of other ska bands at the time, including Monique Powell (lead vocals), Brian Mashburn (vocals and guitar), Bill Uechi (bass), Eric Zamora (saxophone), Jose Castellanos (trumpet), Brian Williams (trombone) and Marc Harismendy (drums).

The band released their debut EP “Introducing Save Ferris” in 1996 and later that year earned a Grammy showcase award for best unsigned band, which lead them to a recording contract with Epic Records. The following year saw the release of their first full-length album called “It Means Everything” for which they toured extensively to promote. In April of 1998, they made their television debut on the HBO music series Reverb and then were seen in the box office movie 10 Things I Hate About You. This album earned the band moderate success in the United States and spawned three top ten hits in both Japan and Mexico. That winter, however, Harismendy left the band and was replace by Evan Kilbourne on drums.

You can read the remainder of this article here.

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March Box Office Movies

Posted in Movies on February 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Based on information provided by the Dark Horizons site and internet research, here are just some of the movies you can expect to see in movie theatres in March:

5 Days in August
Opens: March

A group of war correspondents are caught behind enemy lines when Russia invaded Georgia in 2008. They manage to witness and film the most horrific of war crimes only to find the world media focused on Beijing. They must fight to get the footage out – a quest that may cost them their lives. The cast includes Val Kilmer, Andy Garcia, Rupert Friend, Heather Graham and Johnathon Schaech.

Beastly
Opens: March 4

A spoiled rich kid (Alex Pettyfer) is cursed by a girl (Mary-Kate Olsen) who turns him into a hideous figure. His only solution is for someone to fall in love with him, and he tries to force it by making the daughter (Vanessa Hudgens) of an addict he has power over live with him. Neil Patrick Harris co-stars.

Rango
Opens: March 4

Johnny Depp voices the title animated chameleon with an identity crisis. The story also features the voices of Bill Nighy, Stephen Root, Harry Dean Stanton and Alfred Molina.

The Adjustment Bureau
Opens: March 4

David Norris (Matt Damon) is a charismatic congressman who meets a beautiful ballet dancer (Emily Blunt) named Elise Sellas, only to find strange circumstances keeping them from getting closer. Norris discovers forces are at work to ensure they stay apart, and he pushes to find out why. The film is loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story “Adjustment Team” and co-stars John Slattery, Terence Stamp and Daniel Dae Kim.

Battle: Los Angeles
Opens: March 11

When Earth is attacked by unknown forces and the world’s great cities fall, Los Angeles becomes the last stand for mankind in a battle no one expected. It is up to a Marine staff sergeant and his new platoon to draw a line in the sand as they take on an enemy unlike any they’ve ever encountered before. The cast includes Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Pena, Bridget Moynahan and Ne-Yo.

Black Death
Opens: March 11

As the plague ravages Europe, emissaries from the church are on a mission to stamp out suspected paganism in one village that appears untouched by the Black Death. The film stars Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne.

Jane Eyre
Opens: March 11

After a loveless and often abusive upbringing, orphan Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall, the manor of the moody and wilful Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender). As a romance blooms, mysterious and sinister events threaten to uncover the dark truth about her employer. Jamie Bell, Judi Dench and Sally Hawkins co-star.

Kill The Irishman
Opens: March 11

Val Kilmer, Linda Cardellini, Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken, Vincent D’Onofrio star in the movie that chronicles the rise of infamous Cleveland gangster Danny Greene, who engaged in a power struggle with the Italian mob. Greene was as an upstart longshoreman union rep and later became a cocky, legendarily difficult-to-kill troublemaker in the world of organized crime in the 1970s.

Mars Needs Moms!
Opens: March 11

Nine-year-old Milo finds out just how much he needs his mom when she’s nabbed by Martians who plan to steal her life force. Milo’s quest to save his mom involves stowing away on a spaceship and taking on the alien nation with the help of a tech-savvy earthman and a rebellious Martian girl. The film features the voices of Seth Dursky, Joan Cusack, Elisabeth Harnois, Dan Fogler and Mindy Sterling.

NOTE: Seth Green was to voice the main young boy in the film, but the studio decided to go with a younger actor so Seth Dursky is now doing the voice.

Paul
Opens: March 11

Two British sci-fi fanatics on an American road trip find their conspiracy dreams coming true when they encounter an escaped alien near Area 51. As they try to reunite him with his mother ship, they find ‘Paul’ has many more opinions than your typical ET. The cast includes Nick Frost, Simon Pegg, Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman and Kristen Wiig.

Red Riding Hood
Opens: March 11

Amanda Seyfried stars as Valerie, a young woman who is betrothed to the wealthy Henry (Max Irons) while being in love with the brooding outsider Peter (Shiloh Fernandez). Unfortunately there’s also a werewolf on the prowl, and it appears to be someone with a connection to the fetching Valerie.

Limitless
Opens: March 18

A down-on-his-luck writer takes an experimental drug that allows him to use 100 percent of his mind. As one man evolves into the perfect version of himself, forces more corrupt than he can imagine mark him for assassination. The cast includes Cast: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish and Anna Friel.

The Lincoln Lawyer
Opens: March 18

Matthew McConaughey stars as Mickey Haller, a slick young attorney doing business from the back of his Lincoln Towncar, when he realizes that his new client, the son (Ryan Phillippe) of a major businessman, may in fact be guilty of brutal assault. The cast includes Marisa Tomei and William H. Macy.

The Beaver
Opens: March 23

A depressed toy company CEO (Mel Gibson) with a failed marriage starts to wear a beaver puppet on his hand as a form of therapy, much to the initial bemusement of his family. He soon begins talking only through the character. The film stars Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence.

Miral
Opens: March 25

A drama centered on an orphaned Palestinian girl growing up in the wake of the first Arab-Israeli war who finds herself drawn into the conflict. Freida Pinto and Alexander Siddig star.

Sucker Punch
Opens: March 25

This is an epic action fantasy about a girl named Babydoll (Emily Browning) who enters into a dream world to escape from her dark reality. Babydoll and others are locked away to face a terrible fate until they band together to fight for freedom. The cast includes Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino, Jon Hamm and Scott Glen.

The Lion of Judah
Opens: March 28

This animated 3-D movie explores what happens when several animals get together to save Judah from being a possible sacrifice at an annual festival by townsfolk. The film features the voices of Ernest Borgnine, Michael Madsen and Georgina Cordova.

Movies coming out in April will be posted at the end of March.

Enjoy!

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Books Being Made Into Films

Posted in Books, Geekdom, Movies on February 10, 2011| 2 Comments »

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.

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