Adaptations in Development

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in January 2022. – Sony Pictures and ‘Twas Entertainment have picked up Frederick Seton’s spec script No Flying in the House, based on the young reader book from author Betty Brock and illustrator Wallace Tripp. HarperCollins first published back in 1970. – House Productions, BBC Film, and Access Entertainment have tapped writer/director Daniel Kokotajlo to adapt Andrew Michael Hurley’s novel Starve Acre. John Murray first published the novel in October 2019. – Brock Media, Weydemann Bros., and Arcade Pictures will produce a movie based on Amy Liptrot’s memoir The Outrun. Liptrot will co-write the screenplay with Nora Fingscheidt, who will also direct. – Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, Augenschein-Filmproduktion, and Protagonist Pictures are making a movie inspired by Nicholas Hogg’s novel Tokyo. Jordan Scott wrote the script, titled Berlin Nobody, and will also direct. Eric Bana and Kiernan Shipka will star….

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in December 2021. – Universal Pictures, Harvey Mason Media, and Get Lifted Film Company (John Legend) are making a new Phantom of the Opera film, based on a spec script by John Fusco. This version will be set in the nightlife scene of modern day New Orleans. The original novel was written by Gaston Leroux and published in 1909/1910 as a serial. – Oakhusrt Entertaiment has optioned Katherine Center’s novel Things You Save in a Fire, which was published in 2019 by St. Martin’s Press. – Exile Content and AP Productions is moving forward with The Coup about an attempted insurrection against Venezuelan Presdient Nicolas Maduro. It will be written by C.C. Kilpatrick and based on a series of articles by AP correspondent Joshua Goodman. – Sony has tapped Alejandro Brugués to write/direct the adaptation to Gabino Iglesias’s upcoming novel The…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in November 2021. – Over at Studio Ghibli, animation auteur Hayao Miyazaki is coming out of retirement to write and direct an adaptation of the novel How Do You Live?. The novel, written by Genzaburō Yoshino, was originally published in Japan in 1937, and the first English translation was published by Algonquin Young Readers in November 2021. – The 2021 film Clifford the Big Red Dog is getting a sequel from Paramount, The Kerner Entertainment Company, Walden Media, and New Republic Pictures. Norman Bridwell wrote the original children’s book series, the first of which was published by Scholastic in 1963. – Franco 4 Entertainment has tapped Samuel Franco and Evan Kilgore to script the remake of Italian horror auteur Mario Bava’s Rabid Dogs. Alessandro Parenzo wrote the original screenplay, which was based on Michael J. Carroll’s short story “Man and Boy”….

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in October 2021. – Dune: Part 2 has gotten the greenlight! The first film was directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Jon Spaihts, Villeneuve, and Eric Roth, based on the novel by Frank Herbert. Villeneuve and the main cast (including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, and Zendaya) will return. The novel was originally published by Chilton Books in 1965 and launched a book series and multiple film/TV adaptations. – StudioCanal and The Picture Company have picked up the period drama Hellish Nell, a spec written by Chris Basler. It is based on the novel by Malcolm Gaskill, which in term is based on the true story of Helen Duncan, the last woman tried and convicted under Britain’s 1735 Witchcraft Act in 1944 in London. Fourth Estate originally published the book in 2001. – Gabriel Bergmoser has been tapped to…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in September 2021. – Legendary Pictures has acquired the film and TV rights for George Gately’s Heathcliff. The comic strip began publishing in 1973. – Striker Entertainment has optioned Jeffrey J. Mariotte’s historical novel Blood and Gold: The Legend of Joaquin Murrieta. Sundown Press will publish this month. – LaDarian Smith will script the adaptation of Simon B. Rhymin’ for 3000 Pictures and Homegrown and Pictures. The book, written by Dwayne Reed, was published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in March of this year. – Permut Presentations has acquired Joanna Hodgkin, Alex Lewis, and Marcus Lewis’s book Tell Me Who I Am: The Story Behind the Netflix Documentary. Hodder & Stoughton first published in July 2013. – Maggie Levin will adapt Elsie Chapman’s YA novel Caster for Paramount, Scholastic Entertainment, Weed road Pictures, and Josephson Entertainment. Scholastic published in…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in August 2021. – New Republic Pictures, Nine Stories Productions (Jake Gyllenhaal), and Skybound Entertainment have optioned Oblivion Song, a series of 36 comic books from creator Robert Kirkman and artist Lorenzo De Felici. Kirkman will also produce, and Gyllenhaal is attached to star. The comics were first published in 2018 by Image Comics. – New Regency and Lighthouse Management are moving forward with The Church of Living Dangerously, with screenwriter Charles Randolph adapting David Kushner’s Vanity Fair article of the same name. Christian Bale will produce and star. – Jimmy O. Yang, Jessica Gas, and Ken Cheng will adapt Alex Palmer’s 2018 GQ article “The Great Chinese Art Heist” for Warner Bros. and Jon M. Chu’s Electric Somewhere Company. Chu will also direct. – Lisa Taddeo will adapt her own novel Animal for MGM and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment….

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…