Books into Film - Winter Update

With holiday film watching and book reading season upon us ( I mean, that's what I do during the holidays - I'm assuming I'm not alone) it seems like a great time to revisit a favourite topic of The Reader - books into film.

Currently top of the box office are a bunch of films that were adapted from books.

I probably don't even need to mention Twilight: New Moon - the second film of the wildly successful book series from Stephenie Meyer. The film opened on November 20th and has smashed just about every ticket sales record on the books.

Two other big name movies based on big name books that are currently in theatres are The Road - starring Viggo Mortensen and based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, a Wes Anderson directed stop motion animation adaptation of the classic children's book by Roald Dahl.

Two movies (and books) that maybe didn't initially have the same blockbuster potential as the ones listed above, but are getting lots of attention in the press and at the box office nonetheless, are:

The Blind Side, based on the book by Michael Lewis, which follows the story of Michael Oher a homeless youth who found support and became a celebrated high school football player and first round NFL draft pick;

Precious, based on a gritty novel called Push that tells the story of a sexually abused, socially outcast young woman growing up in Harlem.

As for upcoming films - keep your eyes peeled for the following December releases:

The Last Station - already playing on the festival circuit and making its way into theaters in January, this is based on a book about the life of author Leo Tolstoy.

The Lovely Bones - based on the bestselling novel by Alice Sebold that is narrated by a murdered 14 year old girl

Up In The Air - starring George Clooney, as a man who spends an inordinate amount of time flying and in airports, it's hard to imagine this won't be a popular film or make people interested in the novel it is based on by Walter Kirn.

And finally, although it isn't actually based on a single book, but rather on a character. The highly anticipated Guy Ritchie directed Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. opens Christmas Day and is sure to stir up renewed interest in the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.