Like them or hate them, film or TV series adaptations of your favorite books are simply irresistible. Lately, many movie production companies have relied on exciting plots in books to showcase marvelous story-telling and provide entertainment to fans of the book themselves. Moreover, doing so gives producers a whole lot of leverage. For one, they don’t have to do too much marketing for the movie since the book is already famous. Secondly, they don’t have to think of a great storyline since the book already provides them with it! All they need to do is cut out the unnecessary, boring parts of the book, and they’re left with a movie of substance that leaves most viewers in awe. Take the Lord of the Rings movies, for example. This epic fantasy classic story written by J.R.R. Tolkien proved to be masterpieces in movie form. In fact, they were so good that the producers went ahead and made one for each movie, and another three for the series’ prequel, The Hobbiit! Now we’re getting some excellent stories being converted into movies all set to be released in 2019/2020, so buckle up and get ready because, after a few months of waiting, we’ll have these movies in the cinemas:
Good Omens — 2019
Good Omens wasn’t written by a single person. It took two master storytellers, the late Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, to write such a wild adventure. In fact, this book was so amazing that it was nominated for the World Fantasy Award (which is a huge deal!). It’s a comedic story, which is a breath of fresh air after hearing about all the horror movies we’re getting next year. The story follows Satan’s child and the End Times. The angel, Aziraphele, and Crowlely, the demon, want to stop the End Times from happening since they’re so used to living the way that they are, which spells nothing short of a whole lot of drama! We’re really expecting this movie to be a hit in cinemas, if directed properly, of course. The producers and directors have all the material they need from this book – all they have to do is make a movie that’s good to watch and relates to the original story itself, which isn’t as easy a job as it sounds.
Batman: Hush – April 2019
We’re all aware of how awesome DC’s animated movies are. We also know just how horrible their non-animated ones are (cough, Justice League, cough), but fortunately for us, this one is going to be animated. If the recent Superman animated film is any indicator, this one is going to pack one hell of a punch.
The story and art are being done by by Jim Lee, Scott Williams, and Alex Sinclair. You might argue that comics aren’t books, but you can’t deny that Batman comics and movies are dark, captivating, and seriously awesome! Besides they have a ton of history surrounding them and are able to connect generations of fans. The story revolves around a villain known as Hush who stays in the shadows and tries to destroy Batman without being revealed, hence his name. We’re going to be seeing a lot of old-school villains in this movie, and we’ll also be seeing the romance between Batman and Catwoman develop a bit more (hooray, go Batman!).
Dragon Rider
Written for children, Dragon Rider is a classic by Cornelia Funke. It was originally printed in German and was called Drachenreiter, which rhymes with Dragon Rider, so we’re guessing it’s the same thing … ? In any case, it was translated by Oliver Latsch in 2004 and then published which, from then on, turned into a sensation. It was featured on the New York Times bestseller under the children’s category in 2004, which shows just how popular it really was back then. The book revolves around a trio of friends who pair up to find the Rim of Heaven in the Himalayan mountains in order to find a safe place for our protagonist, Ben, to live in. The setting is really far from where Cornelia lived and is probably one of the reasons why it became so beloved. With the movie, be ready to see some extremely gorgeous scenes from the sparkling Himalayan mountains. This adaptation is going to be one of the most heartwarming movies of the year – we can already tell.
While the slate of horror movies coming out next year have their own appeal and hype, we can’t help but wait for these gems to come out, too. They seem just as exciting, if not more!