From 'Wicked' to 'Wonka,' 10 Buzzy Book-to-Screen Adaptations
They say the book is always better than the movie, but the real money is on the screen. So for decades, Hollywood has mined the written word — from Shakespeare to Hemingway to Fitzgerald all the way to the eight films based on “Harry Potter.” The industry needs reliable IP more desperately than ever, and so the months ahead bring a slew of adaptations to movie theaters and TV.
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From the apocalyptic gates of Panem to the glittery streets of Oz to the dusty plains of Oklahoma, here are 10 buzzy page-to-screen adaptations we’re excited to see.
Lessons in Chemistry
Author: Bonnie Garmus
Release date: Oct.13 on AppleTV+
Creator: Lee Eisenberg
Cast: Brie Larson, Lewis Pullman
Buzz factor: If you’ve recently been to a bookstore (and if not, maybe you should go), chances are high that “Lessons in Chemistry” has been prominently displayed in the window. And for good reason: The 1960s-set story, starring Larson as Elizabeth Zott, the underestimated scientist whose career is derailed by gender expectations, is a radical, quirky and funny endorsement of fighting against the status quo. She pivots to accept a job as a TV host and becomes the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show. Come for the mouthwatering recipes. Stay for Elizabeth’s adorable dog, Six-Thirty.
Killers of the Flower Moon
Author: David Grann
Release date: Oct. 21 in theaters
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Brendan Fraser
Buzz factor: It’s hard to get bigger than Scorsese, who partners with DiCaprio, De Niro and Plemons in this $200 million-budgeted Western crime epic. The splashy, cinematic story demands to be seen in the the- ater, three-hour-and-30-minute run time be damned. The movie, centering on the murders that took place in the Osage Nation in the early 1920s after major oil deposits were discovered on tribal land, shines a light on a dark chapter in American history.
All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Release date: Nov. 2 on Netflix
Creators: Shawn Levy, Steven Knight
Cast :Aria Mia Loberti, Louis Hofmann, Mark Ruffalo
Buzz factor: Levy (“Stranger Things”) and Knight (“Peaky Blinders”) adapt the deeply moving story about a blind French girl (newcomer Loberti) and a German soldier (Hofmann), whose lives intersect in Nazi-occupied France at the height of World War II. Netflix’s take on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel will unfold in a four-part limited series, allowing time to invest in these characters in a way that wouldn’t be possible in a two-hour movie.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Author: Suzanne Collins
Release date: Nov. 17 in theaters
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Viola Davis
Buzz factor: Is it weird to say we miss Panem? The bleak dystopia certainly isn’t on anyone’s travel bucket list. But there’s no denying the lasting cultural impact of “The Hunger Games,” the billion-dollar franchise that propelled Jennifer Lawrence to superstardom and revived the YA genre. The prequel puts the target on young Coriolanus Snow (Blyth), the nation’s eventual tyrannical ruler, and Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler), an unassuming tribute in the diabolical death match whose killer pipes may just save her life.
Wonka
Author: Roald Dahl
Release date: Dec. 15 in theaters
Director: Paul King
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Keegan-Michael Key, Sally Hawkins, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant
Buzz factor: Everyone knows (and loves) the story of the famed chocolatier Willy Wonka and his quest to bequeath his confectionary empire to one Charlie Bucket. But how did the factory — and those curiously lyrical Oompa-Loompas — come to be? Chalamet (who must be a bookworm, given his multiple appearances on our list) sings, dances and ingests sweet treats in the heartwarming holiday tale.
The Color Purple
Author: Alice Walker
Release date: Dec. 25 in theaters
Director: Blitz Bazawule
Cast: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey
Buzz factor: In this vibrant adaptation of the book-turned-beloved-movie-turned-hit-Broadway-musical, “American Idol” winner Barrino brings to life the trials, tribulations and triumphs of Celie, a Black woman living in the South in the early 1900s. Don’t forget to pack the tissues for her barnburner, “I’m Here.”
Wicked
Author: Gregory Maguire
Release date: “Part 1” on Nov. 27, 2024, in theaters; “Part 2” on Nov. 26, 2025
Director: Jon M. Chu
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Bowen Yang
Buzz factor: After more detours than Dorothy’s twisty journey down the yellow brick road, the long-awaited cinematic version of the smash Broadway show, itself based on Maguire’s doorstop of a novel, is gracing the big screen. Chu, who directed “In the Heights,” enlisted megawatt theater talents — Erivo as the Wicked Witch of the West and Grande as Glinda the Good — to recount everything that happens before that famous farmhouse touches down in Oz.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Author: Rick Riordan
Release date: Dec. 20 on Disney+
Creators: Rick Riordan, Jonathan E. Steinberg
Cast: Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri
Buzz factor A decade after meh reactions to the Logan Lerman-led films, “Percy Jackson” fans are getting the author’s rendering of the popular YA fantasy novels. In the eight-part TV show, adolescent demigods travel through modern-day versions of Greek myths after 12-year-old Percy Jackson is accused by Zeus of stealing his thunderbolt. Camp Half-Blood awaits.
Dune: Part Two
Author: Frank Herbert
Release date: March 15, 2024, in theaters
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin
Buzz factor: Chalamet returns as the messiah-like Paul Atreides in the sequel to the 2021 blockbuster sci-fi epic. With his newfound power comes the thrill of seeing him ride the massive sandworms that inhabit the desert planet Arrakis. But let’s be real about the main draw: Zendaya gets more screen time on this one.
The Sympathizer
Author: Viet Thanh Nguyen
Release date: 2024 on HBO
Creators: Park Chan-wook, Don McKellar
Cast: Hoa Xuande, Robert Downey Jr., Sandra Oh
Buzz factor: Park’s deranged thriller “Oldboy” influenced Nguyen’s decorated novel, so it makes perfect sense he’s the one taken on this wild ride for the small screen. The frenetic espionage story follows an unnamed Vietnamese narrator working as a communist double agent after moving to the United States. It’s the sort of genre-bending adventure that HBO is oh-so-good at turning into appointment TV. And there’s no doubt that Downey Jr. will make a banquet out of the various villainous roles he plays in the series.
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