Here are future predictions for these amazing books being turned into movies - who knows if IMDB is pulling our leg.
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 7/13 Based on the very famous books by J.K. Rowling. Directed by unknown David Yates. With their warning about Lord Voldemort's return scoffed at, Harry and Dumbledore are targeted by the Wizard authorities as an authoritarian bureaucrat slowly seizes power at Hogwarts. Prediction: f***ing awesome!
Into the Wild 9/21Based on the book by Jon Krakauer who wrote this prior to Into Thin Air.
Directed by Sean Penn who also wrote the screenplay.
The young, idealistic Christopher McCandless abandons life as most of us know it for the Alaskan wilderness.
Prediction: really good.Kite Runner 11/2
Based on the book by Khaled Hosseini.
Directed by Marc Forster who also directed Finding Neverland and Monster's Ball.
After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.
Prediction: potential to be good.
Lovely BonesBased on the book by Alice Sebold.
Directed by Peter Jackson who of course did LOTR and King Kong.
About a murdered 14 year old girl who recalls what happened from Heaven, as the incident affects those around her.
Prediction: should be very good with Jackson directing.
Peace Like a River
(Without a director or actors, I'm willing to bet the release date pushes.)
Based on the book by Leif Enger.
No director.
Billy Bob Thorton may have been cast to play the Dad.
A family tries to find their son after he is found guilty of murdering 2 bad guys who had been threatening them.
Prediction: could be even better than the book.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & ClayBased on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Chabon.
Directed by Stephen Daldry who did Billy Elliot and The Hours.
The film takes place in 1930s New York and is about two young cousins who create a comic book superhero named The Escapist, who "roams the globe, performing amazing feats and coming to the aid of those who languish in tyranny's chains!" The boys help usher in the golden age of comics, and through the years, The Escapist encounters adversaries similar to real-life figures.
Prediction: will have to work hard to beat the book.
2008The Time Traveler's WifeBased on the book by Audrey Niffenegger.
Directed by Robert Schwentke who directed Flightplan with Jodie Foster.
A man with a time-traveling gene uses his innate abilities to visit his lover at different points in her life. (The release date has already pushed after Brad and Jen divorced who bought the film rights.)
Prediction: near impossible to beat the book and jumping between them as kids and adults will be challenging. But hoping this will be even half as good as the book.
The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonBased on the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Directed by David Fincher who directed Panic Room, Fight Club and The Game.
An odd romance sparks between a woman of 30 and a man who, at 50, begins aging backwards.
Featuring Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt.
Prediction: may be better the book but they should have done The Confessions of Max Tivoli Andrew Sean Greer instead.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Based on the very famous books by J.K. Rowling.
Directed by Anand Tucker who directed Shopgirl and Hilary and Jackie.
As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past.
Prediction: like this won't be as f***ing great as the others.
2009
The History of Love
Based on the book by Nicole Krauss.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and
Y tu mamá también.
A long-lost book mysteriously reappears and connects an old man searching for his son with a girl seeking a cure for her mother's loneliness.
Prediction: With Cuarón directing the movie could be as great as the book.
The Memory of Running Based on the book by Ron McLarty.
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Y tu mamá también.
Follows an obese Vietnam vet who, still reeling from the death of his parents, finds out his sister has died in Los Angeles. He sets out on a cross-country trip on his bicycle in a bid to reclaim her body.
Prediction: Again with Cuarón directing this could be really good. Casting and screenplay are critical to capture the book's characters.
2010
Harry Potter and the Dealthly Hallows Based on the very famous books by J.K. Rowling.
The last one to end the series.
Prediction: will be as great if not better than the others; sad to see it all end.
???No mention, but these books would make outstanding movies.
Digging to America By Anne Tyler about 2 couples who meet at the Baltimore airport for the arrival of the babies they adopted from Korea. The 2 couples stay in touch and follow the families as they gather throughout the years as the girls get older.
The Fugitive Game By Jonathan Littman about Kevin Mitnick the legendary hacker who broke into corporate computer systems and stole source code to satisfy his curiosity never intending harm. After a well-publicized pursuit that made him notorious, the FBI arrested Mitnick in 1995 and today helps companies protect themselves from guys like him.
FlashforwardBy Robert J. Sawyer. What would you do if you got a glimpse of your future and it looked bleak? Try to change things, or accept that the future is unchangeable and make the best of it? A group of physicists accidentally induce a consciousness shift that flashes everyone on Earth forward 21 years, experiencing several minutes of the future. But while everyone is out of their minds, their bodies drop unconscious; then the world reawakens to what happened as a result of those few minutes. Great story that keeps you guessing until the end.
