Director Peter Jackson is facing criticism for the style of filming he used for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. A preview of the highly anticipated film was unveiled at Cinemacon last week and despite the excitement, many of the viewers were displeased. Some of the viewers who saw the preview for the unfinished movie stated they were unimpressed with the footage. The film was shot in a “hyper-realistic” style at a rate of 48 frames per second, instead of the standard 24.
Jackson recently took on the criticism of his hyper-realtistic film during an interview with TheWrap.
He spoke about his reasons why he decided to film the movie using the 48 frames per second stating that it would “improve the film’s 3D imagery and better immerse audiences in the action.”
The director plans to continue with his original format despite audience protests.
I can’t say anything, just like you can’t say anything to someone who doesn’t like fish,” Jackson said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “You can’t explain why fish tastes great and why they should enjoy it.”
Jackson also said he feels that people will get used to the film style, and prefers that they enjoy other aspects of the movie.
“I just wonder if they were getting into the dialogue, the characters and the story,” Jackson said. “That’s what happens in the movie. You settle into it.”
Though audience members may be able to “settle into it,” Jackson may run into more problems when getting movie theaters to screen the film. Because of the style used, most theaters will have to upgrade their technology to show the film. While this may not be an issue for large chain theaters, smaller operations may turn The Hobbit down.
One theater owner said “he was unimpressed by the high frame rate footage and unsure if it was worth the investment,” according to an article by Brent Lang. “He noted that he had already made a substantial investment to convert his theaters from film to digital in recent years, spending roughly $150,000 per screen. He said that he estimated updating his projectors would cost $8,000 apiece.”
Jackson, however, said he feels higher film rates are in many directors’ future.
Nobody is going to stop,” he said. “This technology is going to keep evolving.”
An executive from New Line told TheWrap that they almost didn’t preview with film with the high frame rate but that Jackson had pushed very hard for the preview and ended up winning the debate. The executive also assured that the film would look even better once the finalized coloring and special effects were included.
Despite the lackluster response to the look of his film, there was a strong positive reaction to the overall tone and story of the film with MSN calling it “chilling and absorbing.”
The Hobbit will be released Dec. 14, and will also be available at the standard film rate of 24 frames per second. It’s sequel,The Hobbit: There and Back Againwill be released on December 13, 2013.
Ender’s Game is a novel written by Orson Scott Card and published in 1985. Since then it has remained a cult favorite among sci-fi fans. After several years of attempts it is finally moving forward with a film adaptation directed by Gavin Hood and staring Asa Butterfield as Ender.
With the film on its way, I began reading the iconic novel. After only a few pages in, I was hooked. I finished it over the course of probably a few days. I can tell why it is so popular, however, I can see why it took so long to be made into a film. We just now have the technology to do the adaptation right.
Along with reading the novel, I was able to listen to the audiobook as well. This was really great because at times I was really into the novel but had to leave. Thankfully, I was able to pick up where I left off with the audiobook while driving without missing a beat in the story. It was a great companion to the paperback. If you are a busy reader, having the audiobook in your car will make things so much easier. I promise!
So, after finishing the story, I am SO excited to see the film. So, here are eight reasons I loved the novel and I can only hope they keep these things in the movie.
The Tone
I love the tone of this novel. Despite the serious content, it is not all serious. There are several moments in the novel that are used to break up the tension. It can be very overwhelming to have a novel that is one serious scene after another. However, as the story progresses those moments are fewer and fewer because we head to the climax. Not to mention the switch in prospective from Ender to Gruff. The aid is showing the audience that what Ender is working toward is even more important that he realizes. It is very effective storytelling in my opinion.
The Surprises
There are SO many surprises in this novel. I don’t just mean twists, I mean things that are surprising to the point that I literally set the novel down just to grasp what I had read. Despite all the surprises though, it didn’t ever feel like they were arbitrary or just thrown in there to create tension. It felt more honest and less sensational. Some of the surprise moments even caused me to flip back in the novel and re-examine something I had read. Not many novels surprise me, usually I can see something coming, but there were moments I didn’t see. A fantastic read, definitely.
Ender
I loved this main character. At the beginning I was very skeptical of the characterization. At the young age of Ender, I had a problem believing he could talk and act the way he did. However, the longer I read this book, the more I liked him. The more the audience grows to know him. I think it aids a lot to the story to not see what Graff sees till later. But after watching him grow and learn, the audience begins to see what Graff always saw within Ender. I ended up really feeling for him as a character by the end, so far as to feel bad for him and the life he was forced to live and the things he was forced to do.
The Pace
This novel jumps into the story pretty quickly. I absolutely hate it when too much exposition is part of a novel. Thankfully, Ender’s Game spends minimal building before throwing Ender and the audience into Battle School and the plot. I think this is wise especially as this novel is used to hook children into reading. To much exposition makes it hard for picky readers to get into the story. But in a matter of pages, we are immersed in the new world of Ender and Battle School.
Character Development
One of the best parts of this book is the character development. And not just for Ender either. We see his siblings Valentine and Peter evolve, we see Colonel Graff devolve due to exhaustion and stress, and yes we see Ender grow and became the savior of the world. None of the main characters are two-dimensional because the story takes place over years of development we are forced to see them and that makes the story that much better. If we didn’t know the changes that Graff makes or Valentine, their actions would make less sense to the audience.
The Battle Room
Who doesn’t love the Battle Room? I mean really? If you have read this novel, it is probably one of those things you love. It is the setting for so many scenes and aids so much in shaping Ender to the young man who saves the world. It is critical. This is one of those things that I think caused the movie to be delayed for so many years. If you can’t get it right, there is no point in even making the movie.
The Ending
The ending caught me off guard. I knew something was up about halfway through Ender working with Mazer Rackham, but the extent that he was tricked and used, I did not see coming. I also felt that Ender’s reaction to what happened was very realistic. Not many can commit mass genocide and walk away being ok, but then again that’s the reason they picked Ender instead of Peter. Ender secluded himself, mourns, becomes depressed. If he had gotten up and been fine, or even if he was sad but moved on, it would have been less acceptable. We see throughout the novel the kind of person Ender is and will be. We know how he cares deeply for humanity but also feels guilty for necessary steps he was forced to take in order to protect said humanity. This even more prevalent after finding the hive queen, despite being war hero, Ender is compassionate and strong and searches to find somewhere she can live again.
Valentine and Peter
These two are so important to the story. Like Ender they are smart and they are creative. But both his sister and brother are very different then he is. To truly understand why Ender was chosen, the audience needs to see why Valentine and Peter were not. Valentine is too compassionate while Peter is too fierce and sadistic. Knowing why they were not chosen is said almost immediately but the audience doesn’t fully grasp the reason till we see what Ender is put through. It then becomes more apparent why Ender is the savior, being a perfect mix between his two siblings.
I know creating a film adaptation of a novel means taking things out and adding things in to make it flow better, or work better, but I hope most of these things stay relatively intact. And please, make the Battle Room awesome!
The film adaptation will be released on November 1, 2013, by Summit Entertainment. It stars Asa Butterfield as Ender as well as Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Aramis Knight, Hailee Steinfeld, Jimmy Pinchak, and Abigail Breslin.
Note: Review copies of the audiobook and paperwork were provided by Macmillan in partner with this review.
ComingSoon recently interviewed young actress Chloe Moretz and she gave us an update about her upcoming project, a reboot of the novel and 1976 film. Originally written by Stephen King, the novel was made into an incredibly well received film by Brian De Palma.
The novel follows young Carrie who takes revenge on the students who bully her using her telekinetic powers. Blood and massive amounts of death ensue.
The reboot is coming from director Kimberly Peirce who has stated that the project will be a more direct remake of the novel rather than the film.
Peirce has said regarding her adaptation:
I’m actually not looking at the original,” she says, “even though De Palma’s movie was one of the best movies ever made. It’s completely iconic and I’m proud to be able to be doing a retooling of it. We’re kind of going off the book. It’s darker and much more psychological. More ‘Black Swan.’ You’re really looking into her mind and it really looks into the relationship of Margaret and Carrie. It’s set in modern time, so it’s a lot different.”
Moretz will star as the titular character, Carrie. She begins work on the film in June and has nothing but good things to say about Peirce.
I start that June 1st. […] It’s going to be very well done. I don’t want to jinx it, but [Peirce] is a genius, genius, genius director. I would never do it with someone that I don’t trust. I trust her more than a lot of the directors I’ve worked with. She’s the right woman for the job.”
The role of Margaret White, Carrie’s mother in the story, was played by Piper Laurie in the original movie version. This time around, rumor has it that Julianne Moore has been offered the role, but there is no word on whether she has accepted the part.
Moretz has also offered a glimpse into how she will be playing the role that is so different than her own personality.
It’s something that’s very different from me,” Moretz says of Carrie’s wardrobe. “It’s an out of body thing. I’m becoming a totally different person for it. I’m letting go of all of my self-esteem issues and just kind of going into it. You have to.”
After the fan made teaser poster, which you can see above, made its way to Peirce and Moretz, the director and actress became even more excited for the project to begin shooting in a month. The poster came from Pierre-Luc Boucher and his DeviantArt page.
That was a cool poster!” Moretz laughs. “Kim sent that to me. She said, ‘Oh my god, you’ve got to look at this. It’s really, really, really cool!’ We both felt so pumped. Now we’re chomping at the bit to get in there.”
Carrie is set to be released in theaters on March 15th, 2013.
Josh Duhamel may join the cast of the latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation. Duhamel, most known for Transformers, is negotiating with Relativity Media to work out the details.
The film, Safe Haven, follows the success of Sparks’ The Lucky One, currently in theaters. It reached number two in the box office.
The novel, which was published in August of 2011, is another in a long line of romantic struggles, crisis of identity and self growth. The official plot is described as:
When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family.
But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo’s empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven.
Duhamel is being considered for the role of the widower. The female lead role is still in consideration with no word on who is eyed for the role.
The film will be produced by Sparks and Relativity’s Ryan Kavanaugh, Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. Tucker Tooley will executive produce. Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat) will direct.
Sparks, best known in the film industry for the adaptations of his books A Walk to Remember and The Notebook, has made a routine of bringing his novels to the silver screen. Along side Safe Have, another one of Sparks novels, The Best of Me, is also being considered for the big screen, as Warner Bros. bought the rights to it on July 17.
Since 1999, seven of his books have been adapted. His movie adaptations include:
Message in a Bottle (February 12, 1999)
A Walk to Remember (January 25, 2002)
The Notebook (June 25, 2004)
Nights in Rodanthe (September 26, 2008)
Dear John (February 5, 2010)
The Last Song (March 31, 2010)
The Lucky One (April 20, 2012)
Safe Haven (Upcoming)
The Best of Me (Upcoming)
While Safe Haven, a romance typical of Sparks, will certainly not be for everyone, the author has a large and devoted fanbase. His last several films have received mixed reviews, but The Notebook and A Walk to Remember remain fan favorites.
The Lucky One is also fairing relatively well at the box office, so Sparks may be due for another box office hit.
Elena: So is Qarth going to be as awesome as it seems like it will be?
Rachel: Qarth is…well, it is Qarth. Dany’s storyline begins a fundamental change here, maybe not in what you would expect from her as a character, but from what you would expect from GRRM as an author. Dany has been relentlessly journeying up until now, and with each stop on her journey she’s added another skillset, another aspect of her personality. She is definitely more than the unsure young girl who wishes to go home; now she’s a canny survivor. Qarth will teach her to be an effective politician.
I’m not going to lie and say that book readers don’t sometimes complain about Dany’s storyline. Maybe she will just sit in Qarth for a while, but dammit, she’s going to LEARN STUFF. Just you wait. Lore building! Baths! Cool dresses! Interpersonal relationship building!
Meanwhile from what I’ve seen so far of Qarth, I’m totally happy. I am not going to bitch about the lack of boobie-revealing dresses (really…I’m not), and I’m totally fine with Xaro being a summer islander. The line was kind of weirdly delivered, but whatever. Qarth is a multicultural city. The milk-men of Qarth are definitely present. SO EVERYONE JUST CALM THE HELL DOWN ABOUT IT. I mean… if I don’t ever hear another race-based complaint from the Game of Thrones fandom…well, that would make my damn life..
Also…Pyat Pree looks like a Star Wars character. Not like a Sith or anything, just one of those random background Naboo politicians with questionable morality.
Who am I kidding.. Pyat Pree IS A STAR WARS CHARACTER.
Elena: So…can we talk about that field nurse Robb decided he wants for his queen?
Because that scene was pretty fabulous. She’s fabulous.
I’m not sure if her strategy for man-catching is brilliant or not. Walk onto a battlefield and look all brave and compassionate and did I mention brave? And then saw a guy’s foot off—and, come on, y’all, that was not a one-clean hack and it’s done kind of amputation but literally sawing through the flesh and the bone, grind, grind, grind, crunch, ah THERE it goes finally and then the foot falls off into the mud, thunk—and then stand up totally unaffected by what you just did and tell off a king.
Damn.
Girl’s got brass balls the size of Grey Wind’s.
And Robb noticed. He was straight, I’m King in the North…I live by the old ways…I need a woman who is strong enough to deal with that…and even more I need a wife who will question me sometimes because, y’all, I’m not even 20 and I don’t have people second-guessing me anymore and secretly deep down inside I could use the certainty that comes after a good honest debate wherein I am forced to consider things I didn’t think of and make logical defenses of my decisions…HER! THIS ONE! I MUST MARRY HER! IT IS A SIGN FROM THE OLD GODS!
No, that’s not right. That comes later, when Robb thinks it over and has to figure out how to justify breaking the alliance his mother made for him. For now he was just like OMG-she-is-a-hot-BAB (bad-ass bitch), and then his eyes turned into hearts like zombie-Albie and for five seconds GOT turned into a romantic comedy, Westeros edition (because that line? “At least tell me your name!”—that line has been in pretty much every rom-com about a beautiful stranger since the beginning of time). Hey, maybe that’s what the whole series is. I don’t know yet.
So, her strategy? Brilliant. Brilliant because it worked. (Yes, I realize she is not actually trying to catch any man’s attention by being a nurse. I’m just saying it was such a tactically excellent move that if it had been her strategy it would have been the bestest strategy ever.)
Rachel…thoughts?
Rachel: JEYNE! Or as she is called in the show, Talisa from Volantis. Can I just…can I just call bullshit right now on “Talisa from Volantis”? I’m gonna. Here I go.
GURL. WE KNOW YOU’RE JEYNE WESTERLING. Now, whether the character is lying to protect herself from Robb OR the producers have changed her name a la Asha…I don’t care. I’m just going to call her Jeyne Westerling. I’ve dedicated a great amount of space in my head to remembering names of fake people, and I just don’t have room for fake names of fake people, too.
Let’s trust that the average Game of Thrones viewer can tell the different between a smart move and a dumb move…and leave it at that. (I know that the producers don’t trust that the average Game of Thrones viewer is anything else but an 11 year old boy searching for stimulation and violence…but let’s PRETEND).
I’m starting to get negative.
Elena: Can you be negative about Joffrey?
Rachel: I like Joffrey. Well, I mean I like to hate Joffrey, which is the same as liking the character because HE ISN’T REAL so you can’t actually dislike him for real because none of the terrible things he does actually happened.
But even though he didn’t actually make Ros the adorably (sarcasm) inserted prostitute stand-in horribly abuse and rape another nameless prostitute…I still hate him for it. This was such a weird scene to watch, because I knew it was coming. Fans had been discussing this particular scene (fabricated for the show) for a few days online prior to the episode airing. Calling it the most disturbing sex scene they had ever seen, a totally unnecessary scene, a scene that pushed the limits of cable broadcasting, etc., etc., etc.
I agree that the scene was unnecessarily disturbing. I think we get it, we hate Joffrey. Was there anyone out there that needed an extra push? However, because I was prepared for uncalled for depravity I wasn’t as throw-remote across-the-room, scream-at-everyone-around-you disgusted as many. I did turn to my friends and put my hands in the air like, “just another weird thing we had to sit through.”
Speaking of additionally weird things – Littlefinger using Ned’s bones as a come on was fucking dumb. Littlefinger is smarter than that. The only way I can live with it is to continually think all out of character behavior is masterminded to confuse us! YOU’RE SO CRAFTY LITTLEFINGER!
< / end ranty bullshit >
Elena: See, I find it interesting that people who read the books thought that scene was unnecessary. I think it was, maybe not necessary but at least useful, in making it clear that Joffrey is not just some spoiled child who wants to kill everyone who disagrees with him who is in the unfortunate position of being able to order that done. No. He is a straight sadist. He might very well have gotten his nuts off watching Ros beat and maybe antler-rape her fellow whore, just…not by engaging with them himself.
And this was far from the most disturbing sex scene I’ve seen. Please. I’m not saying it wasn’t disturbing or awful, but…it had nothing on, say, Irreversible. And pushing the boundaries of cable TV? How? All it actually showed was an ass-spanking. Ros raised her hand in such a way as to imply maybe there was just more beating rather than penetration, and I’m sure that was done to soften the blow, which I find kind of a cop-out on HBO’s part. You can’t actually show it, fine, but at least have the balls to be clear about what’s happening after the screen goes black.
Also, can I point out how monumentally poor Tyrion’s choice of whores was? Normally he’s more savvy. But I looked at the difference between Joffrey and those two women and was kind of like, no wonder he’s not interested. They were both so obviously older than him. And he is a slender young man, with a very boyish look. Most men like to feel big and powerful around women, ergo they like women who are smaller than they are, or at the very least the same size. Both of these women were bigger than Joffrey, because they are ADULTS, and he is so very obviously not. Tyrion should have had Littlfinger’s brothel send a couple of 16-year-olds who’ve been at it since they were children (since you know Littlefinger has child-sex on offer somewhere, so he’d have the personnel for this) who would be Joffrey’s age and on his same juvenile scale.
There might also have been an aspect of the women’s experience versus his inexperience. Fumbling virgins feel much more comfortable with other fumbling virgins than with someone who is uber-experienced and (in your head, at least) going to laugh at you for not knowing how to do any of it.
Rachel: So, Elena, is Melisandre magical?
Elena: SHADOWBABY OMG! I give up. Melisandre is magical.
Rachel: CORRECTION – Melisandre’s VAGINA is magical. Did I not tell you? DID I NOT TELL YOU? So yeah, shadowbaby. Coming at ya. The look on Davos’ face is probably my favorite moment. First he’s all, “Don’t talk about my wife.” Then he’s all, “HOLY CRAP WHAT IS COMING OUT OF YOU?” Poor Davos. Shit just got real for him. Methinks Melisandre is not going anywhere soon. Much to Davos’ discomfort.
And then you think about Stannis and his 13 men vs Renly and his 100,000 and (minus a peach, grrr) how much their little bitchy feuding does not matter because MAGIC. Plus a million to Stannis. You don’t know what Team Stannis is doing with said magic yet, but you know it is magic, and magic automatically gets plus a million. It’s the law.
Yeah, Renly has Margaery on his team, so don’t count Team Peach out…but MAGIC.
Elena: That was super-fucked up. I scrawled WTFFFF (what the fucking fucking fucking fuck, naturally) in my notes for this scene.
I am still creeped out about shadowbaby. I am worried for everyone in Renly’s camp. I have this fear that shadowbaby will take over everyone’s brain in the camp and then Stannis has the 100,000-man army and his red woman and shadowbaby, and yikes, y’all. It’s going to be shadowbaby drones vs white walkers vs dragons at the end.
I vote dragons. TEAM DANAERYS KHALEESI STORMBORN!
Speaking of dark and creepy things…why is Harrenhal like Isengard?
Rachel: Well Moff Elena, Isengard is a place useless little hobbits go when their hiking leader is brutally killed by douches to learn how to not be useless.
They also go to learn how to torture people with rats.
They also go to get wine (More wine, sir?) for Tywin BAMF Lannister. Which you fucking DO, because being a cup bearer is way better than being a smith or a dead guy hanging from a gibbet. Plus, you can learn things when you’re allowed to stand in corners of rooms occupied by BAMFs.
Also, it looks like Lannister guards have officially been combined with the Mountain and his men. Plausible, considering the Mountain is a Lannister banner-man. It’s fine. This eliminates needless scurrying about the countryside, and as long as they keep Arya’s litany…then I don’t think anyone will have a problem understanding who is who.
Plus next week it looks like we get more Jaqen H’ghar! * fangirl screaming * Okay…just me screaming.
Tom Rothman, the Fox Co-Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment, recently hinted at the fact that we may be seeing a sequel to the hit 2011 film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
The sequel was mentioned by Rothman as a part of a list of movies Fox is planning to start production by the end of summer. The list also included films such as The Wolverine, which is expected to begin shooting in Japan.
Based on the fact that most of the films on the list are expected for a summer 2013 release, there is a chance that Fox is planning the Planet of the Apes sequel to hit theaters at the same time. However, it also rumored that they could be saving the sequel for a fall or holiday release considering that the season is fairly open for blockbusters.
At the moment, there is not confirmation that director Rupert Wyatt would be returning. Andy Serkis will most likely be busy working on Peter Jackson’s two-part The Hobbit although he has signed on for the sequel, so they would have to make time for both films in the fall.
More information regarding the sequel is expected to be released soon.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes was meant to act as an origin story for a new series of films based on the original series. Following its release on August 5, 2011, the film became a critical and box office success. In January 2012 the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
The Hunger Games seemingly reigns over everything these days. Besides being the number one movie in the box office for four straight weeks, it also is sitting comfortably on bestseller lists everywhere. Along side those triumphs it can now add most highlighted passage, e-book style to its list of achievements.
Currently, according to the Kindle, a line from the second book of the trilogy is the most highlighted passage of all time.
“Because sometimes things happen to people and they’re not equipped to deal with them.”
The quote, which comes from Catching Fire, has been Highlighted by 17784 Kindle users as of today.
This line is nearly two times more popular than the second most highlighted passage, which is also from The Hunger Games trilogy. Surprisingly or not, most of the quotes on this list are from the mega-popular trilogy. In fact, 20 our of 25 passages on the list are from the series.
The list, courtesy of Amazon contain quotes such as:
“It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart.” Mockingjay
– The number 4 most highlighted passage and has been Highlighted by 8833 Kindle users.
We also have number 10 with:
“I am not pretty. I am not beautiful. I am as radiant as the sun.” The Hunger Games
– Highlighted by 7519 Kindle users
While the list includes some heavy moments from the novels, there are also some oddballs thrown in, that are surprisingly on the list.
“Maybe I’d think that, too, Caesar,” says Peeta bitterly, “if it weren’t for the baby.” Catching Fire
– Number 21 on the list and highlighted by 4928 Kindle users
I am not surprised these dominate another list. This trilogy has taken the world by storm and it isn’t finished yet with three more movies on the way.
You can see the full list from Amazon here to find out what other quotes from The Hunger Games made the list.
Charlaine Harris, writer of the novels that inspired HBO’s award-winning series “True Blood”, may soon be developing a second show. Syfy recently bought the rights to Harris’ Harper Connelly Mysteries with plans to create a show titled “Grave Sight.”
The series is based on her four-book series that launched in 2005. The story is about a young woman named Harper Connelly, who was struck by lightning as a teenager.
Now in her 20s, she senses the location and last memories of dead people,” according to Entertainment Weekly. “In the Syfy adaptation, Connelly teams up with her protective stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, to help find a missing teenage girl, only to uncover a network of lies and murders throughout a small town in the Ozarks.”
The pilot episode is being written by Kam Miller (Law and Order: SVU). “Grave Sight” has a decent shot at picking up viewers considering Harris’ first book-to-television adaptation, “True Blood”, continues to enjoy great success going into its fifth season. The series has received critical acclaim, and has also won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Harris, a New York Times bestselling author, also continues to have a large and devoted fanbase. The news of the prospective show is being re-tweeted at a rapid rate by Harris’ followers.
As long as Syfy doesn’t try anything weird (see: Sharktopus), the show should see generous viewership. For those interested in checking out the books before the Syfy premiere, official plot summaries follow.
Book 1: Grave Sight (2006)
Harper Connelly has what you might call a strange job: she finds dead people. She can sense the final location of a person who’s passed, and share their very last moment. The way Harper sees it, she’s providing a service to the dead while bringing some closure to the living – but she’s used to most people treating her like a blood-sucking leech. Traveling with her step-brother Tolliver as manager and sometime-bodyguard, she’s become an expert at getting in, getting paid, and getting out fast. Because for the living it’s always urgent – even if the dead can wait forever.
Book 2: Grave Surprise (2007)
“While in Memphis, psychic Harper Connelly senses-and finds-two bodies in a grave. One of a man centuries-dead. The other, a girl, recently deceased. Harper’s investigation yields another surprise: the next morning, a third body is found-in the very same grave.
Book 3: An Ice Cold Grave (2008)
Hired to find a boy gene missing in Doraville, North Carolina, Harper Connelly and her brother Tolliver head there, only to discover that the boy was the only one left of several who had disappeared over the previous five years. All of them teenagers. All unlikely runaways.
All calling for Harper.
Harper soon finds them—eight victims, buried in the half-frozen ground, all come to an unspeakable end. Afterward, what she most wants to do is collect her fee and get out of town ahead of the media storm that’s soon to descend. But when she’s attacked and prevented from leaving, she reluctantly becomes a part of the investigation as she learns more than she cares to about the dark mysteries and long-hidden secrets of Doraville—knowledge that makes her the next person likely to rest in an ice-cold grave.
Book 4: Grave Secret (2010)
Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as family. But as they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface. Family secrets ensnare them both, as Tolliver learns his father is out of jail and Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister Cameron so many years before. And what she finds will change her world forever.
All of the books are available on Amazon for $7.99. For comic lovers, there is also a three-part graphic adaptation of the series. Launched by Dynamite Entertainment last year, the book offers yet another take on Harris’ mystery.
Deadline has reported that the trustees for author Philip K. Dick are suing those who made the 2011 film, The Adjustment Bureau for more than $500,000. The trustees filed a 14-page com plait today with the LA Superior Court where they stated that the director the film, George Nolfi, as well as the producer, Michael Hacket, and Media Rights Capitol and it’s subsidiaries owe them the money plus fees and damages regarding the film.
They are citing breach of contract and four other claims since the defendants have continuously refused repeated requests to open the accounting books in relation to the film. They are also claiming they have been shortchanged payments from the film’s net profits and that the defendants have “demanded the return” of the $1.4 million feed that they paid Dick in April 2009 for the film rights.
This new suit comes only a few months after the trustees abandoned a previous federal case against Nolfi and MRC after the judge dismissed the claims citing lack of jurisdiction.
Dick wrote a short story called “Adjustment Team” which the film The Adjustment Bureau is based on. It featured Matt Damon and Emily Blunt as the main characters. Since its release in 2011, the suit claims the film made around $128 million in the global box office as well as $10 million in DVD sales. The suit also mentions the unknown international DVD sales and TV sales.
Nolfi and MRC are adamant to fight the suit as they are claiming that the original story was actually public domain, and therefore didn’t owe the Trust anything. The trust denies that the story was public domain however, stating that Nolfi optioned the film rights back in 2001. It was revealed that Nolfi initially paid $25,000 for an initial one-year option and the same on later options, subsequently entered into extension agreements on the option in 2004, 2007 and 2008.
According to Deadline:
The trustee’s suit, […] says that Nolfi agreed to pay an eventual purchase price for the rights based on the “approved budget” for the film. The director/producer also agreed to pay a “breakeven” fee of $100,000 when worldwide gross receipts, minus certain deductions, equaled double the cost of production plus marketing, overhead and interest costs. Nolfi, who “assigned” all his rights to MRC’s Oaktree Entertainment in the spring of 2009, additionally agreed to pay the Trust 2.5% of the film’s net profits and a “further $100,000 for each additional $10 million in worldwide gross receipts in excess of Breakeven up to the point the Trust received a total of $2 million in payments.” Oaktree exercised the option on the film, with a projected budget of around $50 million, and “wired payment of $1,400,000 to the Trust” soon after.”
The Philip K. Dick Testamentary Trust adds that they also helped writing the script for the movie as well the marketing of movie per the request of Universal, who distributed the film. Although Universal is not named as a defendant in the suit.
Lionsgate hopes to duplicate the success of The Hunger Games franchise with yet another young-adult novel series, Chaos Walking, by Patrick Ness. The trilogy is set in a dystopian world and centers around two children (Sound familiar?). The two children, named Todd Hewitt and Viola Eade encounter several moral issues as the planet around them erupts into war.
The twist is that there are no women and everyone can hear each others’ thoughts through a stream of images and words called “Noise.” Trippy.
The Knife of Never Letting Go was published in 2008 and follows Todd as he is forced to flee town after the discovery of a patch of silence, a place that is free of Noise. The novel is follows by, The Ask and the Answer (2009) and the final book Monster of Men (2010). The first novel is narrated entirely by Todd while the second one has the viewpoints of both children. Whether the film adaptation will follow this formula or not has not been revealed.
The official description for the book is as follows:
Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn’t she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd’s gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.
Charlie Kaufman most known for his work on Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, has signed on to adapt the first book in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go.
Kaufman has previously adapted Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief into Spike Jonze’s 2002 crowd-pleaser, Adaptation, as well as 2002’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, directed by George Clooney. Kaufman is known for his dreamlike collaborations with directors like Jonze and Michel Gondry (The Science of Sleep).
And considering the subject matter, it’s entirely possible that the screenplay might be a little more bizarre than the average tween novel-to-movie adaptation. But the guy helped revise the Kung Fu Panda 2 script, so who knows?
Doug Davidson’s production company, Quadrant Pictures, has also signed on to produce.
There is no word on an expected release date or who will star in this adaptation as of yet.
