Book Pipeline

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in July 2021. – Paramount Pictures and New Leaf Literary have optioned Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children, a series of seven YA novels. Tor.com published the series, starting with the first entry Every Heart a Doorway in April 2016, and the final novel Where the Drowned Girls Go arriving in January 2022. – Universal Pictures, along with Blumhouse and Morgan Creek, acquired The Exorcist for a new film trilogy. David Gordon Green will direct the next film, Ellen Burstyn will reprise her role from the 1973 film, and Leslie Odom Jr. will also star. Harper & Row first published William Peter Blatty’s novel that launched the franchise in 1971. – Brian and Mark Gunn will script the adaptation of comic book writer James Patrick and artist Rem Brook’s The Kaiju Score for Sony, Escape Artists, and AfterShock Media. AfterShock Comics released the…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in June 2021. – Jackson Pictures and Stampede Ventures have picked up Ken Nolan’s psychological spy thriller spec The Debriefing. The script is based on the novel by Robert Littell, which was originally published in 1979 by Harper & Row. – Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings’ novel The Unhoneymooners, published under their combined pen name Christina Lauren, will get an adaptation over at BCDF Pictures and Clair de Lune Entertainment. Joseph Muszynski will provide the script. Simon & Schuster published the novel in May 2019. – ZQ Entertainment, Hudlin Entertainment, and Prime Universe Productions are moving forward with an adaptation of the graphic novel Black Cotton Star, which was written by Yves Sense and illustrated by Steve Cuzor. Deric Hughes and Benjamin Raab will write the screenplay. Pegasus Books first published in June 2020. – Jennifer Erwin will write Paper Heart…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in May 2021. – Sony, Speck Gordon (Will Speck and Josh Gordon’s production company), and Hutch Parker Entertainment have acquired Bernard Waber’s 1965 children’s book Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. William Davies will provide the script, and Speck and Gordon will direct the live-action/animation hybrid film. The book, a sequel to Waber’s The House on East 88th Street, was published by Houghton Mifflin. – Alison Rose Greenberg will adapt her upcoming novel Bad Luck Bridesmaid for Working Title Films. St. Martin’s Griffin will publish next January. – Walden Media and Permut Presentations have tapped Benjamin August to adapt Mercedes Graf’s nonfiction novel A Woman of Honor: Dr. Mary E. Walker and the Civil War. They also acquired the rights to Llyod J. Schwartz’s stage play Independence: The True Story of Dr. Mary Walker. Thomas Publications published Graf’s book in 2001. – Malcolm-Jamal Warner…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in April 2021. – EveryWhere Studios, JuVee Productions (Viola Davis’s company), and Rockhill Studios have tapped Julie Lynch to script the adaptation of the memoir Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, written by Rachel Llyod. Harper originally published in 2011. – Emily V. Gordon will write the adaptation for The Doubtful Guest for Amblin Partners and Double Dream. Kumail Nanjiani is set to executive produce and star. The short illustrated book was written by Edward Gorey and first published by Doubleday in 1957. – Picture Perfect Federation, Black Label Media, and Marsh Productions & Entertainment have optioned Sarah Lotz’s upcoming novel Impossible. Penguin Group Berkley Books will publish in 2022. – Pilot Wave and Atlas Entertainment have picked up Catriona Silvey’s novel Meet Me in Another Life. Gal Gadot will star and produce. William…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in March 2021. – Passage Films is moving forward with an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Hocus Pocus, which Putnam Publishing Group first released in 1990. – LAIKA Entertainment has acquired John Brownlow’s debut novel Seventeen, and it will be the production company’s first live-action feature. Hodder & Stoughton will publish. – Adrian Tomine will adapt his graphic novel Shortcomings for Roadside Attractions and Imminent Collision. Randall Park will produce and direct. The novel was published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2007. – Jerico Films and Vendome Pictures have tapped Oren Moverman to write/direct the adaptation of Joseph Kessel’s nonfiction book The Man with the Miraculous Hands: The Fantastic Story of Felix Kersten, Himmler’s Private Doctor. The novel was published by Burford Books in 2004. – BRON Studios and 21 Laps Entertainment are entering the vaccine game with an adaptation of…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in January 2021: – Eric Idle is adapting Spamalot for Paramount! Idle wrote the original book and lyrics for Broadway musical, with music by Idle and John DuPrez. Casey Nicholaw, who choreographed the original show, will direct. – Green Door Pictures (Idris Elba’s production company) has acquired the rights to Salena Godden’s darkly comedic novel Mrs. Death Misses Death, which was published last month by Canongate. – Darren Aronofsky and Luke Dawson will adapt Koji Suzuki’s short story Adrift for Blumhouse Productions, Paradox (Jared Leto), and Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures. Leto will also star, and Aronofsky will also direct. The original story was published in Suzuki’s collection Dark Water, published in Japan in 1996 and by Vertical in the United States in 2006. – In other Aronofsky news: Samuel D. Hunter will adapt his 2012 play The Whale for A24 and Protozoa…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in December 2020: – A24 has picked up Ocean Vuong’s novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, which was published in June 2019 by Penguin Press. – Blumhouse Productions (Jason Blum’s company) won the rights to Azam Ahmed’s New York Times article “She Stalked Her Daughter’s Killers Across Mexico, One by One” in a bidding war. Blum and Ahmed will produce. – Also at Blumhouse: They will be teaming with Morgan Creek Entertainment Group to produce a(nother) sequel to The Exorcist, based on the novel Legion, written by original Exorcist novelist Willam Peter Blatty. David Gordon Green will possibly direct. Harper & Row published The Exorcist in 1973, and Simon & Schuster published its sequel in 1983. – MGM, Plan B Entertainment (Brad Pitt), and Annapurna Pictures have tapped Cory Finley to script and direct the adaptation to M.T. Anderson’s novel Landscape…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in November 2020: – MGM, Plan B Entertainment (Brad Pitt’s production company), and Harpo Films (Oprah Winfrey) have acquired Ta-Nehisi Coates’ debut novel The Water Dancer. Coates will adapt the script. One World published the novel in September 2019. – Over at Universal Pictures, Molly Smith Metzler has been tapped to script the adaptation of Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s nonfiction novel Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield. Lesli Linka Glatter will direct. Harper first published the book in April 2015. – Moving Image Productions has optioned Louise Candlish’s upcoming noir/thriller The Other Passenger. Joseph Cross will produce and direct. Simon & Schuster will publish the novel in July 2021. – Frenesy (Luca Guadagnino) and Searchlight Pictures have assigned Matthew López to script the adaptation of Christopher Castellani’s Leading Men. The novel was…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in October 2020: – John Ridley will write and direct a paranormal thriller film based on Saleah Blancaflor’s article “Project Poltergeist” for Blumhouse Productions and Truly*Adventurous. Truly*Adventurous published the article in May 2020. – Mark Bomback will script the adaptation of R.J. Palacio’s White Bird: A Wonder Story for Lionsgate and Mandeville Films. Marc Forster will direct. Alfred A. Knopf published the graphic novel in October 2020. – Catya McMullen’s Broadway play Georgia Mertching Is Dead is getting a movie adaptation from Star Thrower Entertainment. McMullen will script, and Andrea Savage will direct. – Jayson Rothwell will adapt Horace Greasley’s WWII memoir Do the Birds Still Sing in Hell? (written with Ken Scott) for Monarch Media. John Blake published in September 2013. – Over at BBC Films, Courttia Newland will adapt Augustown, written by Kei Miller. The novel was published in…