Adaptations in Development

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…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in September 2020: - New Regency, Marc Platt Productions, and A24 have tapped Jackie Sibblies Drury to adapt Ronnie Spector and Vince Waldron’s memoir Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness. Zendaya is attached to executive produce and star. Onyx published the book in June 2004. - Doug Wagner will script the adaptation for Salvage Title for Hideout Pictures. The novel is the first in a trilogy by Kevin Steverson. Theogony Books originally published the novel in September 2018. - Wakaoo Films, Casa Media, and Immortal Studios have acquired Amish Tripathi’s novel Suheldev: The King Who Saved Indian. Senthil Kumar is set to direct. The book was originally published in June 2020 by Westland Publications. - 1212 Entertainment and Wild Sheep Content will adapt Sega’s 2015 video game Yakuza. No writer has been attached yet. - StudioCanal and…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in August 2020: - John Niven and Nick Ball will adapt Leslie K. Barry’s novel Newark Minutemen for Fulwell 73 Productions. Morgan James Publishing will publish the book in October 2020. - Lynda Obst Productions and Nick Wechsler Productions have tapped Tom Dean to adapt Janna Levin’s short story “Life on the Möbius Strip”; Stephen Moyer will direct. The story was previously included in the anthology The Moth: 50 True Stories. - Matt Nicholas, Nastassja Kayln, and Leon Langford will adapt a heist drama film from the Medium article “The 1997 Dunbar Armored Heist,” written by Nicole Henley, - Doug Stanton will script the adaptation to his book In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors for Mark Gordon Productions. The nonfiction book was published in April 2001 by Henry Holt and Company.…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in July 2020: - Lionsgate, Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films, and the New York Times Magazine are teaming to produce documentaries and other media based on The 1619 Project. The original project was directed by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, who will also produce all future media. - Weimaraner Republic Pictures has acquired the rights to Kate Spicer’s memoir Lost Dog: A Love Story. Bash Doran will script the adaptation. The book was published in the UK by Ebury Press in 2019. - Concordia Studio picked up the rights to John B. Christiansen and Sharon N. Barnartt’s nonfiction book Deaf President Now! The 1988 Revolution At Gallaudet University. Nyle DiMarco will produce. - Rachel Yoder will adapt her dark-comedy novel Nightbitch for Annapurna Pictures and Bond Group Entertainment. Amy Adams is set to produce and potentially star. The novel is set to be published by Doubleday…

Here are some of the most notable adaptations announced in June 2020: - Jesse James Films has optioned the film and TV rights to Shawn Amos’s children’s novel Cookies & Milk. Little, Brown will publish the book in Spring 2022. - Anthony McCarten will adapt his nonfiction novel Wednesday at Warren’s, Friday at Bill’s for Compelling Pictures and Muse of Fire Productions. The book (soon-to-be published by Harper Collins) is based on the the 30-year friendship between Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and their philanthropic endeavors. - Anna Halberg and Spenser Cohen will script the Horoscope adaptation for Screen Gems and Alloy Entertainment. Nicholas Adams’s YA horror novel was published by HarperCollins in 1992. - Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal’s novel I’m Not Dying with You Tonight has been picked up by Prominent Productions and Radar Pictures. The YA novel was published by Sourcebooks Fire in 2019. - D.H. Lawrence’s…