What do J.K. Rowling, Lee Child, and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry have in common? They all have books that are becoming movies in 2016. With over a dozen new book-to-movie adaptations hitting the big screen starting in the new year, there is definitely a lot to be excited about if you’re a book lover.
13 Hours by Mitchell Zuckoff
In 2012, a 13-hour attack on a US State Department Special Mission Compoint and CIA Station in Libya forced six American security operators to courageously step up prevent further devastation. The story, after being transformed into a bestselling novel, has now been adapted into a feature film by Paramount Pictures.
Nothing says action like Michael Bay, who famously directed Transformers. With Bay directing the true story movie, Chuck Hogan was placed in charge of the screenplay. The cast includes The Office‘s John Krasinki and The Pacific‘s James Badge Dale, as well as Pablo Schreiber, David Denman, Max Martini, and Dominic Fumusa.
Release date: January 15
Watch the 13 Hours trailer here.
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey
In this sci-fi teen ale, aliens are taking over the Earth piece by piece. With each wave a new attack is launched and 16-year-old Cassie is forced to fight in order to protect herself and her younger brother as the deadly 5th wave approaches. Will they survive? Will human race? If you don’t know the answer, you might consider reading the novel before heading out to the movies.
The 5th Wave feature film is directed by J. Blakeson with a screenplay by Susannah Grant. Chloë Grace Moretz stars as Cassie, with Nick Robinson, Alex Roe, Maika Monroe, Liev Schreiber, Maggie Siff, Maria Bello, Ron Livingston, and Zackary Arthur in supporting roles.
Release date: January 15
Watch The 5th Wave trailer here.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is exactly what it sounds like. Taken from the Jane Austen classic, the story centers around a zombie outbreak in 19th-century England. Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy fall in love against a backdrop of martial arts and bloody dancehalls. If Jane Austen had spent some time with George Romero, this would have been the result.
Burr Steers is helming the adaptation as both director and screenwriter. Cinderella‘s Lily James plays Elizabeth Bennett, with Sam Riley as Fitzwilliam Darcy. The film will also include Boardwalk Empire alum Jack Huston and Game of Thrones stars Lena Headey and Charles Dance.
Release date: February 5, 2016
Watch the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies trailer here.
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
Every few years another Nicholas Sparks book is developed as a motion picture and for 2016, that novel is The Choice. Teresa Palmer and Benjamin Walker star as Gaby Holland and Travis Shaw respectively, neighbors whose lives are forever changed by their whirlwind romance and a heartbreak which leaves one of them with a devastating choice.
Ross Katz is directing the picture, which has a screenplay by Brian Sipe. The supporting cast includes Maggie Grace, Alexandra Daddario, Tom Welling, Brett Rise, and Tom Wilkinson.
Release date: February 5
Watch The Choice trailer here.
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
This bestselling novel is about Lou and Will. Lou is a caretaker. Will is depressed and trapped in a wheelchair. The relationship they forge changes their lives forever.
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, who wrote the film adaptation for The Spectacular Now, have penned the screenplay for Me Before You. Thea Sharrock is directing, with Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke and The Hunger Games alum Sam Clafin as Lou and Will. The supporting cast includes Charles Dance, Janet McTeer, and Harry Potter favorite Matthew Lewis.
Release date: March 4
Whiksey Tango Foxtrot based on The Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker
The wartime memoir of journalist Kim Barker will be hitting theaters this year under the title Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Directed by Glenn Ficarra and Johhn Requa, the Robert Carlock penned picture stars Tina Fey as a journalist covering the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Fey is joined by big names like Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, and Billy Bob Thorton.
Release date: March 4
Watch the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot trailer here.
Allegiant by Veronica Roth
Fans will finally get to follow Tris and Four beyond the wall when the latest in the Divergent series hits theaters in March. Shailene Woodley returns as Tris, who faces new challenges beyond the society which raised and ultimately betrayed her. The world is a strange and dangerous place which will force Trish to make the hardest decisions of her life.
The cast will be rounded out both old and new faces, including Theo James, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Jeff Daniels, Ray Stevenson, Zoe Kravitz, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Maggie Q, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jonny Weston, Mekhi Phifer, Daniel Dae Kim, Nadia Hilker, and Bill Skarsgård.
Release date: March 18
Watch the Allegiant trailer here.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Readers looking for an animated adaptation need look no further. Paramount Animation has developed the classic children’s tale of a stranded pilot and a young prince who meet in the Sahara Desert.
The film is directed by Mark Osborne. James Franco, Benicio Del Toro, Rachel McAdams, Paul Giamatti, Marion Cotillard, and Jeff Bridges are all lend their voices to the picture.
Release date: March 18
Watch The Little Prince trailer here.
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Fans of the beloved classic remember The Jungle Book as an animated film, but the tender tale will be getting the live-action treatment come 2016. The story is a familiar one. It’s about young Mowgli, a human boy raised by wolves. Mowgli faces dangerous predators, in the jungle, some of whom would hypnotize, manipulate, and even eliminate the young boy if given the chance.
Jon Favreau, who had great success directing Iron Man, is directing the Walt Disney film. Justin Marks has written the screenplay. Plenty of stars are lending their voices to the film, including
Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Christopher Walken. It is Neel Sethi, however, who will likely get the most attention — he stars as Mowgli.
Release date: April 15
Watch The Jungle Book trailer here.
Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
The sequel to Walt Disney’s Alice In Wonderland takes an even darker turn when Alice discovers that the Mad Hatter is in trouble. Mia Wasikowska is returning as Alice, with Johnny Depp coming back as the Mad Hatter. Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway will also reprise their roles.
There is, however, one big difference between Alice Through The Looking Glass and its big screen predecessor: Tim Burton, who presently has his hands full with Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children (see below) will not be directing. Instead James Bobin has taken the reigns with a script from Linda Woolverton.
Release date: May 27
Watch the Through The Looking Glass trailer here.
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Disney has pulled together some major talent for the adaptation of The BFG this summer. Steven Spielberg is directing the picture, which follows a young girl who is introduced to the miraculous lives of giants.
The screenplay for the movie is by Mellisa Mathison and the cast includes Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Rebecca Hall, Rafe Spall, and Bill Hader. Even at his worst, Spielberg is still one of the best around, which means fans of the classic tale are in good hands.
Release date: July 1
Watch The BFG trailer here.
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Paula Hawkins’s runaway bestseller will be pulling into theaters this fall. After a commuter happens to spot something shocking from a train window, the lives of everyone around her begin to change.
The cast for this highly anticipated thriller includes Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Haley Bennett, and Luke Evans. Tate Taylor is directing with a screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson.
Release date: October 7
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Fans of Patrick Ness will be in for a visceral experience when A Monster Calls is released this fall. The beloved author’s tale is about a young boy who escapes bullying and hardship through to a different world of monsters and fairy tales. Through both this world and his own, 12-year-old Conor learns about life, pain, and believing in something greater.
Juan Antonio Bayona, who directed the incredible true-story tsunami flick The Impossible, is directing the adaptation with a screenplay written by Ness himself. Lewis McDoughall stars as Conor, with The Theory of Everything‘s Felicity Jones as his mother. The film also includes Hollywood heavyweights Liam Neeson and Sigourney Weaver.
Release date: October 14
Watch the A Monster Calls trailer here.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back by Lee Child
In this Lee Child sequel, Jack Reacher thinks he’s just getting dinner with an old friend, but things change drastically after that friend is abruptly arrested and Reacher himself is charged with additional crimes.
Tom Cruise is returning in the title role for the thriller alongside Cobie Smulders, Danika Yarosh, Austin Hebert, Patrick Heusinger, Aldis Hodge, and Holt McCallany. Director Edward Zwick penned the script with Marshall Herskovitz and Richard Wenk.
Release date: October 21
Inferno by Dan Brown
Tom Hanks is returning as Robert Langdon in the latest film based on the series by Dan Brown. This time Langdon, the man with all the answers, hasn’t got a clue when he awakens with amnesia in an Italian hospital. Struggling to regain his memory, Langdon’s against the clock as a plot ensues to release a plague across the world.
Hanks is joined by Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Felicity Jones, and Ben Foster. Legendary director Ron Howard teams up with esteemed screenwriter David Koepp to bring Brown’s novel to life on the screen.
Release date: October 28
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them by J.K. Rowling
Fantastic Beasts is likely one of the biggest films to hit theaters in 2016, and every good Harry Potter fan will be waiting for it. Newt Scadmander is a magizoologist who explores magical creatures and heads to the US to face new challenges.
The Theory of Everything‘s Eddie Redmayne plays Newt in the film, though he is at no loss for talented company. Starring alongside him is Katherine Waterson and Ezra Miller. Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Jenn Murray, Faith Wood-Blagrove, Samantha Morton, and Colin Farrell will also star. Perhaps most exciting for Harry Potter fans, though, is the team working behind the scenes. David Yates, who directed several Harry Potter films, is directing, and J.K. Rowling herself has written the screenplay.
Release date: November 18
Watch the Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them trailer here.
Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
Fans in search of a good John Green fix this coming year have a brand new film to look forward to, though they won’t be seeing it for quite a while. Let It Snow is a short story collection which features tales by Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle, and, yes, John Green.
The film will be adapted by Kay Cannon, with Bluegrass Films set to produce.
Release date: December 9
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The unique, haunting, and ever-charming Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children will finally be reaching the big screen in 2016.
Jacob stumbles into an incredible world when he finds the old and seemingly abandoned residence which formerly housed Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children. As he digs deeper into the place’s history, he learns of the unique talents possessed by the children and that their fight for survival is far from over.
Tim Burton, often considered peculiar himself, is directing the picture with a screenplay from Jane Goldman. Asa Butterfield of Hugo and The Boy In The Striped Pajamas fame stars as Jacob, with Penny Dreadful‘s mysterious and lovely Eva Green as Miss Peregrine. Other stars include Ella Purnell, Chris O’Dowd, Samuel L. Jackson, Allison Janney, Terence Stamp, Kim Dickens, Rupert Everett, and Judi Dench.
Release date: December 25
She Who Brings The Gifts based on The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey
The Girl With All The Gifts is finally headed to theaters under the new title She Who Brings The Gifts. The dystopian drama follows the journey of a little girl who is tested with the hope of finding a cure for a fungus which has ravaged the planet.
Adapted by author M. R. Carey, this film will be helmed by acclaimed television director Colm McCarthy. Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, and Glenn Close are set to star.
Release date: TBD
The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman
A haunting and devastating novel, The Light Between Oceans is about what happens after an Australian lighthouse keeper and his wife decide to keep a baby which washes up on shore in a boat beside a dead man.
Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander star as the couple. While Fassbender is presently a household name, Vikander gained some serious momentum in 2015 with starring roles in Testament of Youth and The Danish Girl (both lit adaptations!) and has proven herself to be a compelling lead. Derek Cianfrance wrote the screenplay for and is directing The Light Between Oceans.
Release date: TBD
See some of your favorites on the list? Join the conversation!
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