Books Into Movies

Both fiction and nonfiction books provide movie makers with rich sources for films.  Here are some of the upcoming movies based on books:

January

The Fifth Wave is an adaptation of Rick Yancy’s Young Adult book of the same title about an alien invasion and its aftermath.  The attacks came in waves, each with a different focus.  Now very few humans are left alive.  Cassie Sullivan is one of them.  Her parents are dead but she hopes her younger brother is still alive, and she will do whatever it takes to find him—and to survive.  The last book in the trilogy is scheduled to come out in 2016.

13 Hours is based on Mitchell Zuckoff’s book 13 Hours:  The Inside Account of What Really Happened in Benghazi.   It’s the true story of six American security operators who fought to protect the Americans stationed in Libya.  The heroic efforts of these men prevented a greater loss of life during the now infamous attack.

The Finest Hours tells the story of one of the greatest rescues in Coast Guard history.  In February of 1952, a storm caused not one but two freighters to split in half.  With only a small boat, four courageous men set out to try to find and rescue the survivors of one of the freighters.  The script is based on the book of the same title by Michael J. Tougias and stars Christ Pine, Casey Affleck, and Eric Bana.

February

February and Valentine’s Day go hand in hand, so it’s no surprise that the movie adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ The Choice is scheduled for that month. Veterinarian Travis Parker isn’t too impressed with new neighbor Gabby, especially when she accuses his dog of impregnating her pure-bred Collie but there is still an undeniable attraction.  As usual, have a hanky handy!

Children, former children, and readers should check theatres in February for the film adaptation of Katherine Paterson’s The Great Gilly Hopkins.  This is the story of a foster child who is shuffled from home to home because she’s considered brilliant but difficult—to say the least.  Desperate to have her real mother come for her, Gilly hatches a plan.  The stellar cast includes Kathy Bates, Octavia Spencer, and Glen Close.  Paterson’s son wrote the screenplay. Trivia:  Katherine Paterson graduated from Bristol’s own King College.

March

Allegiant, the third movie based on Veronica Roth’s popular YA dystopian series should be in theatres March 18.  The books are Divergent, Insurgent  and Allegiant. Roth also wrote Four, a series of five short stories told from the perspective of Four, one of the characters in the series.  

Antoine de Saint-Exupery was a pilot, a poet, and an aristocrat, but he is probably best known for his books The Little Prince.  A new stop-motion animation version of that classis book is scheduled for March 18. While the book is usually shelved in the children’s section, all ages can appreciation this thoughtful tale of a pilot who meets a strange little boy who claims to be from another planet.

Finally, The Young Messiah should be in theatres starting March 11.  It stars Sean Bean as a Roman soldier in this story of Jesus’ childhood.  It’s based on the novel Christ the Lord:  Out of Egypt by Anne Rice and which begins when Jesus is seven and the family is living in Egypt.  Rice wrote a second book entitled:  Christ the Lord:  The Road to Cana.