I’m a huge fan of book to movie adaptations. 2012 has seen some pretty awesome book to film adaptations so here’s a list of the ones I’ve loved and the ones I simply cannot wait to see.
Despite not doing as well at the box office as it was meant to, this epic science fiction/fantasy adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s classic Martian tale was spectacular on the big screen. I loved this film and is definitely one of the best action-adventure sci-fi epics I’ve ever seen. Sure, some fans of the books didn’t approve and others just didn’t ‘get’ this classic tale, but I think it’s well worth watching.
A few other book to film adaptations I watched this year which I thought deserved a mention are The Lucky One based on Nicholas Sparks’ novel and of course The Hunger Games based on Suzanne Collins titular novel.
Now onto the films I haven’t actually seen yet but simply cannot wait to!
On the Road
Finally, this Keruoac classic makes it to the silver screen. After seeing Sam Riley play Ian Curtis in the film Control, I simply cannot wait to see him take on the role of Sal in this adaptation.
Savages
The novel by Don Winslow was as brutal as it was entertaining. From what I’ve seen of the trailer and promo videos, the film adaptation of this drug cartel-gangster movie looks to do the book justice. Also, more Taylor Kitsch! Can’t complain about that.
Total Recall
This is a sci-fi romp remake of the original camp classic starring a certain Californian governor. Based on a story by science fiction heavy weight Philip K Dick, this remake looks brilliant, a CGI spectacle replete with women in cat suits and Colin Farrell shirtless. I’m all for making geeky science fiction more accessible to the masses and can’t wait for this to come out on DVD. (Sadly, I missed it on screen)
Of course this is the big one every Tolkien fan is waiting for. The first of three movies, this mark Peter Jackson’s long awaited return to Middle Earth for some swashbuckling fantasy featuring hairy-footed hobbits, exquisite elves and singing dwarves. While I’m not convinced this story needed to be broken into three installments, I’m certainly looking forward to seeing this adaptation.
There is, however, one book to film adaptation, that excites me even more than The Hobbit… Cloud Atlas!
Cloud Atlas
Based on the historical-thriller-science fiction-fantasy epic by David Mitchell, this film promises to be not only visually spectacular but even more poignant and magical than the book. With an award-winning ensemble cast including veterans Jim Broadbent, Tom Hanks, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant and Halle Berry as well as relative new comers like Jim Sturgess, can this movie get any better? Well, yes it can. The story itself is a convoluted intertwining of multiple stories told across vast swaths of time. The book doesn’t make the theme of reincarnation perhaps as obvious as the film does by using the same actors to depict various motifs of themselves (Hugh Grant plays a 1970s businessman and a futuristic cannibal. Halle Berry plays both black and white characters just as Jim Sturgess plays a white 18th Century sailor and futuristic Asian hero. Even Jim Broadbent undergoes an ethnic transition from doddering old Brit to Korean musician) as the complex paths their lives take unfold in a non-linear chronology.
Truly, it is this movie for which I am waiting the most anxiously, and ironically it is the one film of the lot that doesn’t appear to be coming to a cinema anywhere near me.
Here’s the trailer to further whet your appetite:
Which book to film adaptations have you most enjoyed this year?
