This week, I got movies on my mind. Books-to-movie adaptations, that is. Here are some of the book-related movies on my feathery radar…
Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness
I haven’t read anything by Patrick Ness, but when I heard that his series was being turned into a movie, I went straight to the synopsis: “A dystopian world where there are no women and all living creatures can hear each others’ thoughts in a stream of images, words, and sounds called Noise.”
And my first thought was: Immersive visions of other people’s thoughts? Can you even do that through a movie?
Turns out, maybe not.
Between a release date that got pushed out from March 2019 to sometime 2020, news that the movie is undergoing major reshoots, and the word “unreleasable” floating around, it’s definitely not good news for this adaptation. Fede Alvarez (The Girl in the Spider’s Web) has come in to do the reshoots, which will cost the Lionsgate another $15 million on top of the $100 million already spent on the movie.
On the bright side, this does mean I have some extra time to read the books.
Release Date: 2020?
Dracula
Writers Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) and Steven Moffat (Sherlock, Doctor Who) are teaming up for a three episode miniseries adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula for Netflix and BBC.
What’s it gonna look like? Sounds like it’ll be a period drama retelling of the 1897 original, with Claes Bang is attached to play Dracula himself.
Release date: Many question marks. Moffat and Gatis finished the script in January 2019.
War of the Worlds
The classics, they are a-coming. As BBC miniseries.
Here’s another one. H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds is coming to BBC for an eight-episode alien invasion sci-fi period drama thriller. Much like BBC’s Dracula adaptation, this War of the Worlds adaptation will also stay true to the book’s historic period and will be set in Edwardian London. (Though it sounds like its two main characters will be new additions.)
Gilles Coulier (Cargo) and Richard Clark (Versailles) will each direct four of the eight episodes.
Release Date: Sometime in 2019.
Watchmen
Somewhere beneath all the Game of Thrones chatter and hype, HBO is coming out with another book(ish) adaptation. It’s the comic book, Watchmen, back for another stab at the screen.
Check out the ten seconds of footage at 0:12
The fact that they already have footage gives me hope that we’ll see the show soon. Looks like screenwriter Damon Lindelof (Cowboys & Aliens, Prometheus, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Tomorrowland) will be doing a more loosely inspired adaptation of the comic. After the almost painfully faithful (yet not-quite a hit) panel-for-panel Zach Snyder’s 2009 movie adaptation, I’m totally ready to see something new and current from this ten-episode show.
This adaptation promises a pretty good lineup of talent, with Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune), Regina King (The Leftovers) and Golden Globe-winner Don Johnson (Miami Vice) taking lead roles. They filming in spring 2018, so we should be getting a official trailer or promo soon.
Release date: Sometime in 2019.
What adaptations are you most looking forward to?
The Book Canaries 
I’m a little tired of the endless remakes/reboots though the writers for the Dracula film means it has some promise.
I hear you. I was excited for a while when I thought Dracula would be a modern day remake (similar to what they did with Sherlock). I’ve never been super keen on period shows.