5 Book to Film adaptations in 2017
Film adaptations of books are something readers either love or hate. Whether it’s reading the book before seeing the film or vice versa, it can ruin the enjoyment or enhance it.
When you’ve read a novel and had the story world in your head, imagined the characters and places and become attached to them – it can be a bit of a shock to see an actor you would never have cast playing the role. I don’t like watching the Twilight series films for that reason, I had the character of Edward Cullen very clearly fixed in my mind’s eye and when I saw Robert Pattinson it just totally ruined it for me. He was not my Edward Cullen. Other films it doesn’t bother me and I am happy to seek them out – maybe I just have a thing about vampires!
One thing I’m not keen on doing is reading books after I’ve watched films. I love that joy of reading something, driven by a desire to know what happens next. If I read a book after I’ve seen the film then I have the actors in my head, my imagination is shackled by the film director’s interpretations and it does hamper my enjoyment of the book.
So, whether you fancy reading the book before you see the film, or actually enjoy being able to do both, here are some of the hot releases for 2017:
THE DARK TOWER by Stephen King
Movie logline: The Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, roams an Old West-like landscape where ‘the world has moved on’ in pursut of the man in black. Also searching for the fabled Dark Tower, in the hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world.
Book blurb: In this first novel in his epic fantasy masterpiece, Stephen King introduced readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner, on a spellbinding journey into good and evil, in a desolate world which frighteningly echoes our own.
In his first step towards the powerful and mysterious Dark Tower, Roland encounters an alluring woman named Alice, begins a friendship with Jake, a kid from New York, and faces an agonising choice between damnation and salvation as he pursues the Man in Black.
Buy it on Amazon and read before you watch the film
The film starts Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Katheryn Winnick
The film is out July/Aug 2017 depending on your home country.
View a trailer and find out more about the film at IMDb
THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US by Charles Martin
Movie logline: Stranded after a tragic plane crash, two strangers must forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote snow covered mountain.
Book blurb: On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport. Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding. Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to get back East for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day. When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection. And when the pilot says the single engine prop plane can fit one more, if barely, Ben offers the seat to Ashley knowing that she needs to get back just as urgently. And then the unthinkable happens. The pilot has a heart attack mid-flight and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness– one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States.
Ben, who has broken ribs and Ashley, who suffers a terrible leg fracture, along with the pilot’s dog, are faced with an incredibly harrowing battle to survive.
Buy it on Amazon and read before you watch the film
The film starts Idris Elba, Kate Winslet, Dermot Mulroney
The film is out October 2017
View a trailer and find out more about the film at IMDb
BEFORE I FALL by Lauren Oliver
Movie logline: February 12 is just another day in Sam’’s charged life, until it turns out to be her last. Stuck reliving her last day over one inexplicable week, Sam untangles the mystery around her death and discovers everything she’s losing.
Book blurb: They say ‘live every day as if it’s your last’ – but you never actually think it’s going to be. At least I didn’t.
The thing is, you don’t get to know when it happens. You don’t remember to tell your family that you love them or – in my case – remember to say goodbye to them at all.
But what if, like me, you could live your last day over and over again? Could you make it perfect? If your whole life flashed before your eyes, would you have no regrets? Or are there some things you’d want to change…?
Buy it on Amazon and read before you watch the film
The film stars Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Cynthy Wu
The film is out 2017 March-June 2017, depending on your home country
View a trailer and find out more about the film at IMDb
ANNIHILATION by Jeff VanderMeer
Movie logline: A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition where the laws of nature don’t apply.
Book blurb: Welcome to Area X. An Edenic wilderness, an environmental disaster zone, a mystery for thirty years.
For thirty years, Area X, monitored by the secret agency known as the Southern Reach, has remained mysterious and remote behind its intangible border– an environmental disaster zone, though to all appearances an abundant wilderness. Eleven expeditions have been sent in to investigate; even for those that have made it out alive, there have been terrible consequences.
‘Annihilation’ is the story of the twelfth expedition and is told by its nameless biologist. Introverted but highly intelligent, the biologist brings her own secrets with her. She is accompanied by a psychologist, an anthropologist and a surveyor, their stated mission: to chart the land, take samples and expand the Southern Reach’s understanding of Area X.
But they soon find out that they are being manipulated by forces both strange and all too familiar. An unmapped tunnel is not as it first appears. An inexplicable moaning calls in the distance at dusk. And while each member of the expedition has surrendered to the authority of the Southern Reach, the power of Area X is far more difficult to resist.
‘Annihilation’ is the first volume in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy
Buy it on Amazon and read before you watch the film
The film stars Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Isaac and Jennifer Jason Leigh
The film is out September 2017 depending on your home country
To find out more about the film at IMDB
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS by Agatha Christie
Film logline: A lavish train ride through Europe quickly unfolds into the thrilling mystery of thirteen strangers stranded on a train, where everyone’s a suspect. One man must race against time to solve the puzzle before the murderer strikes again.
Book blurb: Agatha Christie’s most famous murder mystery.
Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside.
Isolated and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must identify the murderer – in case he or she decides to strike again.
Buy it on Amazon and read before you watch the film
The film stars: Daisy Ridley, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad and Kenneth Branagh
The film is due out November 2017
To find out more about the film on IMDB
(You can read the full version of this blog post ‘10 Book to Film Adaptations in 2017‘ on Gwyn GB’s blog)
