This week, I got TV on my mind. Book-to-TV adaptations, that is.
This is happening (TOMORROW):
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
So I’m kinda late to this game, really, because this book-to-movie adaptation is going live tomorrow. This bestseller first popped up on my radar because of Ava Green. She plays the headmistress lady and looks a lot like one of my friends who looks just like Helena Bonham Carter. (You just gotta get the angle right, but I swear they’re related, all three.)
Just based off the two covers, it looks like the book version went more gothy lit, while the movie version went more fantasy-action.
Has anyone read this book? It seems like an odd stepchild of Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events, with a dash of Lightning Thief style action. Or something. But it’s out tomorrow if you want to see it.
Release date: September 30, 2016.
Luke Cage, from various comics by Marvel
Now, this one I’m a bit more interested in. So far, Netflix superhero adaptations has been 50-50 for me. I wasn’t a fan of Daredevil, but Jessica Jones is one of my all-time favorite superhero shows.
Luke Cage is the on-and-off love interest in Jessica Jones. From what I can tell, this stand-alone spin-off is going to take place before the events of Jessica Jones because I’m pretty sure that’s Luke’s wife in the trailer.
I’ve yet to see an invincible hero I liked, but maybe this character will be the one when this show drops tomorrow.
Release Date: September 3o, 2016
This is happening (more generally):
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
What a gorgeous, gorgeous trailer for a beautiful book. The story follows 13-year-old Conor who is bullied in boarding school and whose mother is dying of cancer. Throughout it all, Conor is visited by a monster who makes a deal with him. Perhaps it’s a dream. Perhaps it’s all in Conor’s imagination. Perhaps not.
I could watch this trailer forever.
Release date: January 12, 2017.
The Dark Tower by Steven King
Oh hey, remember these books? I’ve been hearing of this on and off for years, but it looks like this Stephen King series will be coming to a big screen near you in in a few months. One question, remains. How will Girl With The Dragon Tattoo director Nikolaj Arcel deal with this series’ crazy mix of fantasy, sci-fi and Western? It could go so wrong. (Or so right.)
Idris Elba will play Roland, Matthew McConaughey will be the Man in Black, and the story is said to start somewhere in the middle of the series, rather than the very beginning. Guess that’s good. (But don’t you wish this were a series, not movie? I sure do.)
Release date: February 17, 2017
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Okay. So this one is going to be called Emerald City, a darker version, loosely adapted and set to premiere on NBC in January. If it happens. It’s gotten the axe before, but with January less than four months away, they have to be almost done with it, right? I’m trying to withhold judgement until I see the trailer.
According to the blurb, we’re getting an adult police officer Dorothy Gale (Gale, get it?), with her K9 police dog transported to an Oz full of menace and political factions and magic.
My thoughts on this are mixed. Actually, my first thought was “Oz, again?” Didn’t The Wiz just happen?
On the one hand, NBC has a pretty good track record executing that edge-of-your-seat suspense in their drama. On the other, their fantasy lineup includes Grimm, Constantine, and the original and rebooted Heroes. That tendency to go too far into soap territory doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.
Release date: January 6, 2017
Midnight, Texas by Charlaine Harris
Speaking of NBC, the channel has just picked up this gem. It’s a modern fantasy about witches, vampires, werewolves and angels living in a small town in Texas, all from the author of True Blood.
We’re also getting writers and directors who have shows like Alias (remember Alias?), the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Six Feet Under.
I’m going to try to overlook the silly poster, and instead focus on the promising premise.
Release date: NBC isn’t telling, but it sounds like it should show up sometime in the next 6-10 months.
Is this happening?
The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
It’s coming, and it’s going to be called Queen of Shadows. Maybe.
So far, the news isn’t particularly promising. The 100’s Kira Syder is said to be tapped as writer, and The Day After Tomorrow’s Anna Foerster will direct the pilot for Hulu, which doesn’t exactly have a good track record with fantasy shows.
Or any track record, really. There’s that Hulu sci-fi time traveler show 11.22.63, but that’s all that comes to mind from that corner of the genre-verse. And we all know how hard it is to push fantasy movies and shows over the B-movie hump.
That said, looks like Hulu might be trying to break into the sci-fi genre with the following list of maybe-upcomings: Future Man (2017), Handmaid’s Tale (2017), Marvel’s Runaways (TBC). Usually fantasy isn’t all that far behind, right?
Well, a reader can dream, right?
Release date: Speculation, speculation. Probably 2018, but call me a pessimist.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Also known as the first book assigned for English that I read and liked. My sixth grade self was enthralled, and now, there’s talk of turning it into a movie. And no, not the 2003 version.
13-year-old 12 Years A Slave actress Storm Reid will be playing Meg in this time-traveling battle of good vs evil. We’re gonna see Selma director Ava DuVernay bring to life a script adaptation written by Frozen writer and co-director Jennifer Lee. Did your mind break a little reading this sentence? Mine too. Cast members might include Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling.
I know, right?
On a slightly more grumpy note, start stocking up on cute kitten pictures now for when the movie starts getting more traction on the internet. This racebending thing? We’re gonna hear a lot of whining.
Release date: 2017?
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Remember how I mentioned Syfy’s interest in Brave New World by Aldous Huxley in my last issue of Book Watching? Well, I come bearing good news…or bad, depending on how you feel about Crank and Crank 2. The dude who wrote those two gems, he’s adapting the book.
What? You haven’t seen the Cranks? Well, let me fill you in. In the first movie, our hitman hero is poisoned by this substance that will kill him if his heartbeat slows. So he has to keep his adrenaline pumping by any means necessary. In the sequel, some badass Chinese mobster steals our hero’s heart (like, the organ) and replaces it with this shoddy battery-powered fake heart, so our hero needs to get his heart back, all the while recharging his temporary one with jolts of electricity. Or something.
I’m not making this up.
Then again, this is going to be Brave New World, so maybe we do need that dude who wrote Crank.
Release date: Does it even matter?
What adaptation are you most looking forward to?
More book-watching posts:
The Book Canaries 
AH I DIDN’T KNOW THAT BRAVE NEW WORLD IS GOING TO BE ADAPTED! It’s one of my favourites, so I hope this adaptation will be a good one. (On a side note, I’m also looking forward to the new Mary Poppins. As much as I love the original, I just can’t wait for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s creative input!)
Oooo, I hadn’t heard about the upcoming Mary Poppins adaptation. That’s going to be interesting!
Really hope Brave New World is gonna make it. There has been chatter about a new adaptation for AGES…I’ll believe it when they start filming.