20+ Movies Based on Books 2018 #book2movies

January 19: 12 Strong 
Based on the book originally titled Horse Soldiers, 12 Strong is about the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11. Under the leadership of a new captain (Chris Hemsworth), the team works with an Afghan warlord to take down the Taliban. Also stars Michael Shannon, Michael Peña & Taylor Sheridan.

March 9: The Leisure Seeker

Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland play a couple of senior citizen runaways who take an unforgettable journey in the RV they call the Leisure Seeker. The movie is based on the book by Michael Zadoorian.

January 24: 

A Futile & Stupid Gesture      In the 1970s and '80s, National Lampoon's success and influence creates a new media empire overseen in part by the brilliant and troubled Doug Kenney (Will Forte) with Domhnall Gleeson starring as partner Henry Beard. For more details read the A Futile & Stupid Gesture post

February 9: The Mercy

Colin Firth stars in the story of yachtsman Donald Crowhurst’s disastrous attempt to win the 1968 Golden Globe Race ends up with him creating an outrageous account of traveling the world alone by sea. Rachel Weisz costars as Crowhurst’s wife.

Feb 9: Peter Rabbit

Live action/animation hybrid adaptation of Beatrix Potter’s classic tale of a rebellious rabbit trying to sneak into a farmer McGregor’s vegetable garden. James Corden voices Peter Rabbit while Domhnall Gleeson plays Mr. McGregor. Sia adds her voice to those of Daisy Ridley, Margot Robbie & Elizabeth Debicki in bunnyland while Rose Burn & Sam Neil as the older Mr. McGregor join the live action cast. 

Feb 23: Annihilation
You had me at Alex Garland. The director nails sci fi (Ex Machina, 28 Days Later, Never Let Me Go) so when you add Natalie Portman & Oscar Isaac, I’m in for this adaptation of Jeff Vanderdermeer’s story about a biologist (Portman) who signs up for a dangerous expedition where the laws of nature don’t apply.

February 23: Every Day 
Opening the same weekend but to a younger market than Annihilation, Every Day is based on the YA romantic fantasy novel by David Levithan. Maria Bello stars along with Angourie Rice as the 16 year old girl who falls in love with a spirit who becomes something different ... every day.

Feb 23:  The War with Grandpa

Robert DeNiro stars as grandpa while Oakes Fegley plays Peter, a boy who hates having to share his room with the old man. The ‘comedy’ comes from the two battling it out. The film also stars Jane Seymour, Uma Thurman, Christopher Walken, Rob Riggle & Cheech Marin. Warning: There are 5 writers listed under screenwriter. Never a good sign, is it?

March 2:

Red Sparrow

We first heard that Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgarton were going to costar in this thriller about a female Russian spy whose first mission targets a CIA agent back in September when we shared the Red Sparrow trailer. Based on the book by Jason Matthews, Red Sparrow reunites Lawrence with her Hunger Games director, Francis Lawrence.

March 9: A Wrinkle in Time

After the disappearance of her scientist father (Chris Pine), three peculiar beings (Reese Witherspoon, Oprah Winfrey & Mindy Kaling) send Meg, her brother, and her friend to space in order to find him. Directed by Ava Duvernay, written by Jennifer Lee based on the classic novel by Madeleine L’Engle.

March 16: Love, Simon
Based on the book, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Love, Simon, is about a closeted gay student who falls for an anonymous classmate online. Coming out, and figuring it all out are “hilarious but scary.’’

March 30: Ready Player One
A movie based on a book about a video game is so not my thing but I know the material by Ernest Kline has its fans. Add Steven Spielberg in the director’s chair, some rising young stars ie Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke & Hannah John-Kamen plus Simon Pegg, Ben Mendelsohn & Mark Rylance and maybe I should put it on my list? Watch the ReadyPlayer One trailer

April 19: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
I’m expecting the title of the movie based on the best selling book by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows to be shortened to Guernsey any day now. The long awaited story of a writer penning a book about the islanders living under German occupation during WWII stars Lily James as Juliet with Michael (Game of Thrones) Huisman as Dawsey Adams, the pig farmer. Matthew Goode, Jessica Brown Findlay & Katherine Parkinson also star in the Mike Newell directed film.  

May 11: Where’d You Go, Bernadette
I’m so excited about this movie based on the book by Maria Semple, I can’t stand it. With Cate Blanchett starring as Bernadette, 15-year-old Bee does everything she can to track down her missing mother, and as the logline says “discovering her troubled past in the process.’’ Richard Linklater directs the Mother’s Day weekend release scripted by the wonder duo Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. The cast includes Billy Crudup as her husband, Kristin Wiig as Audrey the gnat neighbor, Judy Greer and Troian Bellisario as Becky who may just be Bee with a new name! Here’s what I thought of Where’d You Go, Bernadette, the book.

June 15: On Chesil Beach
The imdb summary (A drama set in the early 1960s and centered on a young couple on their honeymoon) is technically correct except that it skips all the heartache and pathos of this love story gone wrong. Based on Ian McEwan’s small but beautiful book, Saoirse Ronan & Billy Howe play the young couple Florence & Edward. 

August 17: Crazy Rich Asians
Based on Kevin Kwan’s novel about a New Yorker visiting her boyfriend’s Singapore home &  learning he comes from mega money. Stars Constance Wu (I keep meaning to read her book) Henry Golding, Ken Jeong, Gemma Chan and Michelle Yeoh.

Aug 17: Three Seconds
Clive Owens, Rosamund Pike, Joel Kinnamon, Common and Ana de Armas star in this crime drama about an ex-con who, as an undercover  operative, intentionally gets himself incarcerated again in order to infiltrate the mob at a maximum security prison. Based on the Swedish crime thriller by Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom.

Aug 31: The Little Stranger    
Domhnall Gleeson stars as a doctor called in to see a patient at Hundreds Hall, where his mother once worked as a housemaid. The horror film is directed by Lenny Abrahamson and also stars Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter & Charlotte Rampling. The book is on my must read list.

September 14: 
The Darkest Minds
When a disease kills 98% of America’s kids, leaving the remaining 2% with dangerous superpowers, 16-year-old Ruby (Amanda Sternberg/ Hunger Games) is one of those locked up in brutal internment camps. Mandy Moore & Gwendolyn Christie (Game of Thrones) also star in the YA sci-fi thriller.

Sep 28: Boy Erased
Lucas Hedges stars as the gay son of a baptist preacher who is forced to participate in a church-supported gay conversion program. Directed by and also starring Joel Edgerton, Boy Erased also stars fellow Aussies Nicole Kidman & Russell Crowe along with Joe Alwyn.
                       
October 18: First Man
A big one on my must see list. Ryan Gosling stars as Neil Armstrong in this biopic about the 1st astronaut to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. Claire Foy who we love as Queen Elizabeth in The Crown plays Armstrong’s wife, while Damian Chazelle, the director of LA LA Land helms. 

October 19: 
The Girl in the Spider’s Web
This is quite the opening weekend for Claire Foy who also appears as the new Lisbeth Salander in The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Salander & journalist Mikael Blomkvist are caught in a web of spies, cybercriminals & corrupt government officials in this sequel based on Steig Larson’s characters.

December 25: 
Mary Poppins Returns
Our perfect nanny comes back when the kids (Ben Whishaw & Emily Mortimer) are all grown up with problems and children of their own. Very loosely based on the P.L. Travers’ books, Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins is joined in the star studded cast by Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Angela Lansbury and Lin Manuel-Miranda. Even Dick Van Dyke makes an appearance. But not as Burt??

2018 TBD: Bel Canto

Julianne Moore plays  world-renowned opera singer Roxanne Cross who becomes trapped in a hostage situation when she's invited to perform for a wealthy industrialist in South America. Ken Watanabe is the birthday boy, while Christopher Lambert is the industrialist. Keeping my fingers crossed they can capture some of the elusive magic of Ann Patchett’s prose.

Updated 12/28/2017 to include On Chesil Beach. What else did I miss? Give me a holler in the comment section below.