It’s a concept that directors and audiences alike have been battling with since the birth of cinema; how to convert novels to screen? From the 1930’s classic interpretation of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind, to the release of Tomas Alfredson’s adaptation of John le Carré’s spy novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy just last week, novels provide endless material for cinematic ventures. But are texts beloved the world over, enhanced or destroyed by their conversion to the big screen?

The growth of cinema has seen the rise of the franchise; a series such as the enormously popular Harry Potter books, or the Twilight saga, cannot be left on paper, but are transformed into colossal, all-consuming cinematic adventures which last for years. Many of the directors of these particular enterprises are assuming that their audience has already read the book, leaving out dozens of details and pieces of information that can make newcomers to the story feel out of the loop; an example of this being in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 where Lupin suddenly gains a son, seemingly from thin air.

For some people the foreknowledge of the original text is crucial. However, this is not the case for all adaptations, with some, such as The Shawshank Redemption (based on a short story by Stephen King) not needing to even acknowledge the existence of a previous text. In some ways this is a benefit to the director; if you sway from the storyline or plot then most people won’t notice, and the minor details don’t face such minute scrutiny from exuberant fans of the novel. Conversely there’s a great honour in being responsible for a well-done and respected adaptation of a beloved text – Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy The Lord of the Rings was adored by critics, Tolkien fans and newcomers alike, and is surely one of the highlights of this cinematic generation.

This month has seen the release of another cinematic adaptation of a classic novel: Jane Eyre. It’s a spectacular achievement, perfectly balancing the traditional content with modern cinematic techniques. Director Cary Fukunaga ensured the film remained true to the novel and time period, sticking faithfully to Brontë’s plot, including almost every key literary moment so fans of the novel felt that the symbolism and power of the original were kept intact. For a modern cinematic audience, however, this is not enough, and Fukunaga uses subtle camera techniques that keep Jane Eyre up to date and fresh for today’s audience. In particular the scene in which Jane discovers the secret door leading to Bertha’s chamber, with its extreme close ups and dramatic contrast between dark and light the shot was reminiscent of modern horror films. Using conventions such as these, Fukunaga manages to give an audience unfamiliar with Bront’s work a sense of familiarity, making this Victorian plot accessible to all.

Cinema is a brilliant way of introducing a new generation of readers to texts that would previously seem intimidating; Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet brought the romance and drama of Shakespeare up to date in a glamorous and visually stunning film that opened young people’s eyes to the world of the Bard. Similarly a bad adaptation can irreparably damage the reputation of a novel, Douglas Adams’ hilarious and forward-thinking Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reduced to a bland production in 2005 which, despite an all star cast, was a weak and watery affair.

Not every novel can be adapted to screen; some are too complex, some too internal and subtle, and others are so vivid that no director can match the reader’s imagination.

The trend of adapting novels seems set to continue, with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo series being made for a second time, and Luhrmann’s highly anticipated The Great Gatsby filming underway. As long as the texts are treated with the respect they deserve and bring something new to the experience of the plot, cinematic adaptations are here to stay, and with good reason.

Written by Alex Wynick

Twitter: @AlexWynick
Blog: thethoughtsofwynick.blogspot.com

Earlier this week, 20th Century Fox released the second trailer for Jim Carrey’s new movie, Mr. Popper’s Penguins and as you’ll see, it’s as crazy as the first!

Mr. Popper’s Penguins is directed by Mark Waters and also stars Carla Gugino, Madeline Carroll and the legendary Angela Lansbury.

Synopsis: An adaptation of the beloved 1938 children’s book, which won the 1939 Newbery Award. Mr. Popper is a house painter whose dreams of Arctic exploration prompt him to write letters to real explorers. One of them sends him a penguin, which he keeps in the icebox. Before he knows it, the painter has a litter of 12 beaked birds. They eat voraciously, leading him to form Popper’s Performing Penguins.

From what we can see, it’s released in the UK 1st August.

Alliterative nonsense aside this new poster for the Jim Carrey film Mr. Popper’s Penguins is strategically targeted to take a chunk of cynicism from you in order that you might enjoy the family friendly fun of Fox’s forthcoming flick.

Mean girls director Mark Waters is behind the camera for this film which has Carla Gugino, Madeline Carroll and Angela Lansbury. Yes. Angela Lansbury.

If you’re one of those synopsis freaks, hold onto your beaks,

An adaptation of the beloved 1938 children’s book, which won the 1939 Newbery Award. Mr. Popper is a house painter whose dreams of Arctic exploration prompt him to write letters to real explorers. One of them sends him a penguin, which he keeps in the icebox. Before he knows it, the painter has a litter of 12 beaked birds. They eat voraciously, leading him to form Popper’s Performing Penguins.

Here’s the poster, which I believe is the first to contain a Photoshopped ear,

The source we drew this from was Coming Soon

Academy Award-winning actor Javier Bardem (Biutiful) is close to securing a deal to co-star in Universal Pictures’ feature film adaptation of Stephen King’s mammoth 7-novel series The Dark Tower.

Bardem is in line to topline the film as Roland Deschain.

Gunslinger Roland Deschain roams an Old West-like landscape in search of a dark tower, in the hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world.

Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon) is attached to direct from a script by Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind).

Production is scheduled to commence in September.

Source: Deadline

20th Century Fox (via Fandango and thanks to Trailer Addict for the embed) have released the new trailer for Jim Carrey’s new movie, Mr. Popper’s Penguins. This trailer came out earlier this week and we’re slowly catching up on our trailers after such a crazy couple of weeks!

Mr. Popper’s Penguins is directed by Mark Waters and also stars Carla Gugino, Madeline Carroll and the legendary Angela Lansbury.

Synopsis: An adaptation of the beloved 1938 children’s book, which won the 1939 Newbery Award. Mr. Popper is a house painter whose dreams of Arctic exploration prompt him to write letters to real explorers. One of them sends him a penguin, which he keeps in the icebox. Before he knows it, the painter has a litter of 12 beaked birds. They eat voraciously, leading him to form Popper’s Performing Penguins.

As you’ll see when you watch the trailer, this is completely crazy and brings back memories of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective from 1994! Has it really been that long?!

According to IMDb, it’s set for release in the UK 1st August this year. We’ll obviously keep you posted.

As we inch closer and closer to the release of Michel Gondry’s new film, The Green Hornet, the LA Times has decided to released their behind the scenes images to the loving public, and there’s a lot of them.

Having already seen the film, which I thought was extremely entertaining and a lot of  fun, it’s really cool to look at these images to see how it was actually made, to learn what was real and what was actually just a green screen.

Below you will find a few images of Jay Chou, Seth Rogan, Michel Gondry and the stunt team all doing work on the set of the film.

You can click HERE to view the rest of them.

The Dark Tower is finally being developed for the screen with Universal leading the multi-platform release of Stephen King’s incredible Seven novel fantasy adventure series. Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman are already onboard to create the first film and the following first season, with Howard Directing and Akiva Goldsman writing, this will be part of a planned Trilogy of films and a TV series that link the films together. Now that the production has well and truly started, the inevitable casting rumours have begun.

Indiewire.com has brought us the news of some suitable and some very unsuitable casting rumours, and they are incredibly creative rumours at this point, for the lead character of the Dark Tower series called Roland Deschain; the last Gunslinger on a life long journey to reach the mysterious Dark Tower and to save the world.

Those that don’t know about the character of Roland, ideally he needs to be an weathered man of about 40-50 with striking blue eyes and able to look bloody cool with two big irons on his hip, Stephen King compared Roland to ‘the man with no name’ as played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone’s films. Now having said that, Ron Howard recently spoke freely with the LA Times about who could play Roland and the names mentioned were Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, Jon Hamm and Dark Tower fansite Roland of choice, Viggo Mortensen. Although Ron Howard didn’t confirm if they had actually started casting he did say that he doubted the named stars would commit to such a project due to other commitments. A fair point, the Dark Tower would end up being at least 7 years of someone’s career unless they condense the books and choose to ignore parts of the plot, and if it fails to make a financial gain at the boxoffice, the cost of tying one of these A-List actors down for the duration of the franchise would be a financial risk straight away.

This could mean that a lesser known actor could be chosen to fill the gunslingers boots which is slightly worrying as the film will need a big name to get the box office draw it needs to launch the Dark Tower to more than the fans of the books, however Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman would be terrible choices for the role and could never offer enough character to suit Roland’s personality, Viggo would be absolutely perfect but I agree he would unlikely commit to such a large franchise and Jon Hamm is likely to be committed to Madmen for a few more years, but of course these are just rumours but as rumours for castings go, The Dark Tower characters are the ones that interest more than any other film on the horizon.

I’ve just finished reading the Dark Tower series over a three year spell and it is one of the most engaging and incredible stories I’ve ever experienced and I, like many fans, expect the source material to be followed as closely as possible which would mean an adult rating has to be maintained to get the most out of Roland and his Ka-Tet’s adventures through parallel worlds and time travel. The look of the production and casting has to be completely right or instantly the fans will react negatively which is what the adaptation does not need.

Love to hear your thoughts on who you think should be cast, use the comments below.

The L.A. Times are reporting that one of cinema’s most inventive creative forces are pitching a new project to financiers and whenever Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze are mentioned in the same sentence I’m immediately interested.

The past few years have been good for the pair with Synecdoche, New York marking a solid directorial debut from Kaufman and Jonze’s majestic adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are making itself comfortable in the hearts of millions of us. According to the report the pair would be filling the roles from their previous collaborations with Jonze directing a script from Kaufman, at the moment though only an idea is being pitched, with no details on what the film would be about.

Suffice to say that Synedoche, New York was Kaufman’s take on a horror movie and there was a far more mercurial than magical childhood atmosphere evoked in Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are so the news that the pair are looking to work together is good indeed.

There was an extensive article on Kaufman in Wired a couple of years ago and it’s worth taking a look (and a listen – there’s a complete recording of the interview available) and the writer’s generosity and caution are in evidence but it’s a fascinating profile of the man.

While I’m surprised it took this long for set pics to arrive, photos from Mr. Popper’s Penguins, starring Jim Carrey and Carla Gugino, have finally hit the net.

The film has been shooting on and off in New York City for about the past two months now and it truly amazes me that these are the first pictures to arrive. Thanks to SplashNews, we actually have some high quality shots of Jim Carrey and two of his new penguin friends.

The comedy, which is expected to hit theaters on August 12, 2011, is an adaptation of the popular children’s book written by Richard and Florence Atwater and is directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls).  Below you will find the set pictures along with a brief synopsis of the film.  Enjoy and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section below.

The life of a businessman begins to change after he inherits six penguins, and as he transforms his apartment into a winter wonderland, his professional side starts to unravel.

As the long road continues to the release of Steven Spielberg’s first real film since 2008, that Indy movie that everyone loved, we can now offer up some more details regarding the plot of the film.

It is no secret that War Horse is an adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s book but we never knew 100% for sure if Spielberg would change anything or if he would remain truly faithful to the story.  Well now we have an “official” rundown thanks to the powers that be.

Synopsis:

From director Steven Spielberg comes “War Horse,” an epic adventure for audiences of all ages. Set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War, “War Horse” begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land.

The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure. “War Horse” is one of the great stories of friendship and war—a successful book, it was turned into a hugely successful international theatrical hit that is arriving on Broadway next year. It now comes to screen in an epic adaptation by one of the great directors in film history.

War Horse, starring Emily Watson, David Kross, Jeremy Irvine and David Thewlis, is set to be released around this time next year, December 28 to be exact.

The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest is an excellent film and you really should see it but there are several reasons why the idea of doing so may not yet have crossed your mind.

As you’re probably already aware it’s based on the final book of the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy which I know has become quite a significant literary landmark for the simple reason that firstly my wife read them all in quick succession and secondly I see posters at stations in London describing assorted new books that I’ve never heard of as being by “The next Stieg Larsson”.

As someone who has a lifelong aversion to hype the whole thing has quite consciously passed me by because I’ve lived through the reading fads of commuters before, the recent origins of which can probably be traced back to the time where every other person on the train seemed to be reading “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” before moving on to “Bridget Jones’s Diary”, and so on.

So bearing in mind that “Go against the flow” could, quite arguably, be my motto it fell to me, as someone who’s neither read the Millennium books or seen the previous films, to review this one. The challenge was going to be whether I could understand what the film was about without that background or whether would it be like trying to watch the latest Harry Potter film without having ever reading the books or seeing the films? In Swedish.

Ah yes. You might have read my recent report here on HeyUGuys about the comments made by Niels Arden Oplev against the Hollywoodisation of the first film, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”, which he directed and I would paraphrase his comments as “Why do you need a remake in English when you have an original in Swedish with fabulous Swedish actors such as Noomi Rapace?”. Good point. Stick with me and I’ll get to it. I really will.

Before then I need to provide some spoilers so be warned. The film starts with some brief and bloody flashbacks to get you up to speed with the current situation and then introduces the Terminator-esque unstoppable hitman Niedermann (Micke Spreitz). Actually scratch that analogy as he more closely reminds me of a blonde-haired take on Javier Bardem’s character in “No Country For Old Men”. The action moves quickly on and the first half of the film revolves around the trilogy’s main character, Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), in hospital recovering from the events shown in the flashbacks and the second half is about her subsequent trial and its momentous outcome. All this time Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) is working in the background to establish the truth behind the circumstances in which Lisbeth found herself and the opposition he finds from those with vested interests who have worked hard to conceal it.

Noomi Rapace does do a fabulous job as Lisbeth Salander and has the ability to communicate so much through both her words and, more often, her sullen silence. Her transformation for the courtroom scenes is absolutely startling and serves to express the iron will of her character that has mostly been kept in check while in hospital. Although she is the main character of the trilogy the biggest character in this movie, for me at least, is Mikael Blomkvist who doggedly sticks to his task, perhaps you could say he even wears it as more of a calling, and does everything within his power to expose the injustice that has been perpetrated against Lisbeth. For those who, like me, had no idea of, or preconceptions about, the characters I’d say that the nearest comparison would be “Inspector Morse meets Wallander” and although he isn’t a policeman he has that kind of rigour and purpose about him that we’d like to think that all police should have mixed with a sense of aloneness that suits someone who works for a publication such as the one depicted in the film.

It’s a great film of good against evil, about justice prevailing over injustice, about the underdogs against the machine and if you have any liking for that sort of film then this is for and you please go out and see it in the cinema rather than opting for the small screen experience, for reasons you’ll find explained in a couple of paragraphs time.

Now for the tricky bit. It is, as I’ve mentioned before, in Swedish and some of you may have an issue with that. Please, whatever you do don’t get hung up on it being in Swedish with English subtitles as the experience it gives you is far more than you can imagine. If English is your first, and perhaps only, language and you live and/or work in a primarily English-speaking environment the prospect of watching a subtitled film may confuse you. You might be thinking “If it’s that good why isn’t it in English?” or “I’ll wait for the Hollywood version” but my opinion is that if you really want to enter into and experience the full “difference” of the world depicted in the books and the people who live in it then to my mind the only way you can do that is to see the original Swedish. Sorry, but it is.

If you haven’t already headbutted your computer in the hope of doing me some serious injury after that last statement then let me explain it. In the cinema there was laughter, there were gasps and even cheers as the film went on because the subtitles combined with the action on the screen really brought out the tension of the story and the applause from the audience at the end cemented my view that this is a film that has really been fabulously well done. Language really is no barrier to a great film.

I can’t speak of it as a book to film translation or even how it fits into the trilogy of films but as a work in itself I’m happy to give it my seal of approval. And at the very least you’ll learn the Swedish for “Thank you”.

Here’s the first image from the new Judge Dredd movie, titled simply Dredd, and our first look at the Karl Urban chin.

Taken from a rehersal and found on 2000ADonline by our friends at Bleeding Cool the size of Urban’s helmet is the subject of much discussion on the various forums and comment boards across the internet but to my mind (and bearing in mind this is still subject to change) this image looks pretty great and is perfect to get the Dredd hype train moving.

Here’s your pic.

Here’s the whole Dreddful history.

I, like many of you, am excited about the upcoming film Red directed by Robert Schwentke and starring Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Karl Urban, Helen Mirren, John Malcovich, Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox.  As its release date slowly creeps up on us, Summit Entertainment has been releasing new trailers, posters, and clips to keep our mouths wet.

Well, Deadline got its hands on a new clip from the film and although it isn’t the most impressive clip it does show us exactly how and why the ex-CIA operatives reunite.

You can check out the clip here.

The second clip comes from Yahoo and has the title “Secret Service” which features Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Marvin (John Malkovich) who are not impressed by their adversaries.

RED is released in the UK 22nd October.

Oh the Millennium series, how I love you so much.  One of the best trilogies to come around since Lord of the Rings, the Millennium trilogy brings to us the modern age mystery thriller, one that can actually be faithfully adapted to the screen and will entertain us from beginning to end.

While the Swedes are years ahead of the US when it comes to this trilogy, it is safe to say that they will also probably do it better than their Hollywood counterparts.

Up next for us Millennium fanatics is the final installment in the trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, and with that comes the final poster and a bonus trailer.

While the new poster, brought to us exclusively by Empire, is not as interesting as the first one, but it is still rather cool to look at.  You can check both the poster and trailer out below and tell us what you think.

One might call Mickey Rourke’s next movie, Rourke: The Professional, but unfortunately that would be copying Luc Besson’s title for the amazing Leon film starring Jean Reno. Now that I think about it – screw that title because the name of his newest film is even better, its called The Ice Man, a true story about a mafia contract killer.

Earlier today Matty Beckerman, CEO of Natural Selection, announced at TIFF that Rourke has been cast to play mafia contract killer Richard “The Ice Man” Kuklinski.  This is happening during the time in which buyers have been shopping around and deciding whether or not they should purchase Rourke’s latest film, Passion Play.

The film is based on Philip Carlo’s book The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer. Now I don’t know about all of you but if this movie does come to fruition I have a feeling it’s going to rock our world and has the potential to win Rourke an Oscar nomination.  The story is amazing and I have complete faith that Rourke can pull it off.  To find out more about the story check out the press release below, its chock full of some good information.

TORONTO, CANADA (September 12, 2010) – Natural Selection CEO Matty Beckerman announced today out of Toronto — where he is attending the Toronto International Film Festival — a deal for the company to fully finance and produce a feature adaptation of the Philip Carlo tome THE ICE MAN: CONFESSIONS OF A MAFIA CONTRACT KILLER and have attached Mickey Rourke to star. David McKenna (who wrote AMERICAN HISTORY X and BLOW) is penning the screenplay based on the eponymous book written by Carlo. Beckerman will produce. Graham Taylor at WME Global will handle North American sales on this title.

THE ICE MAN: CONFESSIONS OF A MAFIA CONTRACT KILLER is the true story of Richard “The Ice Man” Kuklinski who for over 40 years led a completely secretive double life as both a notorious professional assassin and a doting husband and father in suburban New Jersey.

“Richard Kuklinski’s life and Philip Carlo’s true account, three years in the making, is fascinating and unlike any mafia story that’s been brought to the big screen,” says Beckerman. “This is a role Mickey Rourke was born to play and as a huge fan of David McKenna’s work, I am thrilled to have him on board.” says Beckerman.

Carlo was born and raised in the Bensonhurstneighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, considered a major area for Mafia activity. Carlo’s first book, Stolen Flower, was about an abducted eight year old girl used by pornographers, and the efforts of the Neapolitan Mafia to get the child back. Carlo’s second book The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez, the second most popular true crime book after Capote’s In Cold Blood, is considered the definitive book on Ramirez, who terrorized Los Angeles county for fourteen months, stealing into homes in the middle of the night, taking twenty-nine lives. THE ICE MAN, which follows the life and crimes of Kuklinski, a two-hundred-twenty pound Mafia hit-man became a New York Times bestseller. Diagnosed in 2005 with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Carlo is currently researching a book about Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abbadia, with the full unprecedented access of the DEA.

Carlo said “When I met Matty Beckerman, I immediately knew he was the producer the take the ICEMAN to the bigscreen. He immediately grasped the significance of a loving husband, caring father and a man who is a professional killer who travels around the world filling murder contracts at will, displaying an animal-like predatorial ability we’ve never seen before or since – an excessively powerful man who could kill with his bare hands or a long list of weapons, his wife and family having no idea. As bad as Richard was, he hated rapists with a passion and he could never see a child abused and not do something.”

Deadline = where credit’s due.

Well folks we have finally been treated to some new news on the upcoming Judge Dredd film.  In an attempt to bring back the bad ass Judge from the dead, the powers that be have decided to shorten the name from Judge Dredd to the more powerful sounding DREDD

This sci-fi action flick stars Karl Urban in the title role, Olivia Thirlby as Cassandra and Pete Travis in the director’s chair.

IM GLOBAL, one of the producers of the film, has provided a synopsis for the adaptation of the famous British comic series:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a movie adaptation of the Jeff Kinney series of books of the same name from director Thor Freudenthal. I’ve never read them or heard anything about them so I had feelings I was about to watch a patronizing and childish movie about a brat and his time at school.

It was a surprise that I actually enjoyed Diary of a Wimpy Kid, it didn’t patronize, it wasn’t too childish and it had a reasonably successful laugh rate with its witty and surprisingly complex story that will keep adults entertained as much the youngsters it’s aimed at, it’s a solid and very good family movie.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid follows our hero, Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon), as he begins his first year at middle school, a period he sees as a pointless but necessary rite of passage before he can become the rich, famous, good looking and powerful man that he believes he’ll grow up to be, but first he has to get through the year. Greg is almost the smallest kid in school, he doesn’t notice the opposite sex, his best friends are now regarded as nerds, he gets beaten up by girls, has to avoid the dreaded cheese touch (see below), escape bullies and has an almighty struggle to reach the top of the popularity ladder.

Greg decides the key to climbing ladder is to join various school clubs and groups to get him into the yearbook as a ‘Class Favourite’ candidate to raise his popularity, but in the process of trying to become a cool kid he starts to push his best friend Rowley (Robert Capron) away by attempting to change the way he talks, dresses and acts so he doesn’t embarras him and endanger his dream of being popular. As Greg’s plans become more selfish Rowley becomes more popular just by being himself and the pairs friendship reaches breaking point and Greg has to choose between true friendship of popularity.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a good film, the kids in the screening enjoyed it and I heard a number of laughs matched by adults equally amused by it’s touching storyline and humorous characters and situations where Robert Capron completely steals the film as the innocent, chubby and very likable Rowley. Kick Ass’s Hit Girl, Chloë Grace Moretz, makes a small appearance as a non foul mouthed, but equally beyond her years 12 year old school reporter who tries to offer advice for surviving the year to Greg and Rowley, it’s hard to watch her doing anything straight without swearing or stabbing someone in the face with a butterfly knife but she plays her part nicely.

The main issue I have with the film is the remorseless selfishness shown by the lead character Greg, who I felt loses his likability as a lead character quite easily. On top of being slightly annoying he has so many opportunities to do the right thing or to own up to his spiteful acts committed to achieve a popular status, that when he does make the soul saving gesture at the end of the film it comes across as irreverent and insincere and I would of preferred him not to have a happy ending because he didn’t deserve it. I’m sure the book tells a more remorseful and redeeming conclusion but the movie failed to give us that.

However, the film is a very likable success that’s full of wit, charm and personality from a very good young cast. Stick figure animation, mimicked from the book to highlight Greg’s issues with his moronic colleagues and to show his current standing in the popularity ladder that add a wonderful sense of connection with source material and although it’s not a film that’s going to set the box office on fire, it is a genuinely good and very well delivered family movie and I can’t remember the last time i thought that.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is out 25th August.

Last week it was revealed that Michael Goldenberg (who adapted Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) had been hired to pen a sequel to the forthcoming Green Lantern movie. When i say forthcoming, of course, i mean not until 2011, meaning the follow-up has begun development almost a year before the initial film’s release. This was followed up this week by a rumour hitting the ‘net that an Expendables sequel was also being mooted, again before the first film had even hit cinemas.

On the one hand, this is great news. All the movie-goers who loved The Expendables this week could enjoy it in the knowledge that they will get to see more in the future. For Green Lantern and DC fans, it shows that DC and Warner Bros are serious about making use of their licensed franchises, and that the super hero movie boom will continue on indefinitely.

For me, however, it instead felt almost like a slap in the face. To be clear, I am a fan of the Green Lantern, and DC characters in general. I am also looking forward to enjoying the dumb fun of Sly and his fellow action heroes raining hot lead on an army of bad guys. The reason i felt insulted was not because i don’t want to see these sequels, or the initial movies they are following on from, but because the people involved assume that i do.

That may sound a bit silly on first read, but think about it for a second. Use Green Lantern as the example, as it is much more presumptuous. There have been no test screenings of the movie. Shooting only wrapped just over a week ago. The studio do not yet know if it will be any good, but they are taking for granted that because it is based on a popular franchise, with a recognisable lead attached, that it will make a lot of money. They are taking the attitude that it doesn’t matter what the review scores are, or if turns out to be a coherent movie, that people are going to mindlessly spend money on it regardless of its quality.

There are two reasons this angers me. The first is the obvious, as i have detailed it above. The average movie-goer is seen by the studio as a sheep, and they think that by putting enough marketing power behind any film, or using a licensed property that they know has an inbuilt fanbase, they can influence people into going to see a movie regardless of its quality. Now, I’m not saying that Green Lantern won’t be very good, I’m saying that the studio doesn’t know yet if it will be, and yet are still banking on it making a healthy profit.

The other reason this situation frustrates me is that they are right. There is a rich history of very poor big budget blockbusters making huge amounts of money despite not being very good. The Last Airbender is a recent example. Huge amounts of money were poured into both Airbender’s production budget and marketing campaigns. This was done because it was believed that it would make a ton of money, and with many of the sets and props built, as well as fx shots created, they could then go on to churn out sequels at a lower cost. They were right, it did make a lot of money, despite getting some of the worst review scores in recent memory. It has not made enough yet to cover costs, however, so it is representative of what could happen on a much greater scale when sequels are put into development before the profits are known for the preceding films.

There is a danger, if production companies get too ahead of themselves, that they could end up in serious financial straights by biting off more than they can chew. With Green Lantern, writing a screenplay for a sequel isn’t going to cost a great deal, and so far as i know the Expendables sequel is nothing more than the root of an idea. However, the natural extension of what is happening is for companies to put sequels into active production before the release of the parent movie. If this happens, there will invariably be movies that do not meet their expectations at the box office, resulting in finances wasted on a movie that nobody wants, hours of wasted man power, and in extreme cases abandoned productions.

There have been sequels made back to back, and so far, it hasn’t resulted in huge financial crisis. As far as Green Lantern goes, i am willing to accept that yes, it probably will make a bucket load of money. The comic book movie era has not yet passed, in fact there seem to be more comic based movies in production than ever. Whilst it may struggle to perform as well at the box office as the more established Batman series, the recent success of Iron Man, a Marvel character with no previous big screen pedigree, has shown that secondary superheroes can still draw crowds in as long as the movies are well made and, perhaps more importantly, well marketed.

I definitely feel, at a time when the film industry should be counting the pennies along with the rest of the economic world, that this is a dangerous route that could destroy anyone who treads too far along it. I am not strictly against sequels, and like all the other sheep I’ll probably be paying to see Green Lantern. I just think it is important to take a realistic view of the future. As The Last Airbender has shown, if a big budget movie is God-awful enough, even a large proportion of the casual audience will stay away.

Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

One of the big hits at Comic Con this year that was actually comic book related was the unveiling of LMS, or Last Man Standing.  Dan LuVisi’s graphic novel has been in development for the past two and a half years and once it was available for sale it had sold out in two hours.  You can see the interest film studios would have in the franchise, can’t you?

Via Geekchicdaily, Dan Luvisi, author and artist of the novel, states that the story:

Takes place 600 years in the future, in an alternate universe and is about Gabriel, this invincible soldier, who’s been created to help win a war Earth got itself too deep into with Mars. After Gabe wins the war, he comes back down to Earth and is celebrated as this incredible hero. From there, he becomes somewhat of a celebrity, a Superman of this story, but then it all takes a quick turn. Gabriel is framed for an atrocious crime, by a terrorist organization known as Pandemonium and their leader, Dante. He is then sent to Level-9 Facility, where he’ll spend the next nine years in the worst prison of all time. Once Gabriel breaks out, only then does his true story begin, and the lies and twists unravel.

After a massive bidding war with Summit and Warner Bros., Paramount was finally able to broker and close a multi-platform franchise deal that would allow them to create a movie and keep the series going with an additional comic book line to follow published by Kevin Eastman’s Heavy Metal label.

Deadline stated that Scott Aversano will produce with Daniel LuVisi, and will be executive produced by Stephan Lokotsch, Russell Binder, and Peter Levin.

Deadline has reported that Robin Wright is currently in negotiations to play Erika Berger, the publisher of Millennium Magazine, in the English language adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

She is also the same character who occasionally falls in love with Mikael Blomkvist, the journalist who will be played by Daniel Craig, in Stieg Larsson’s trilogy.

Wright is in negotiations for all three films, the second and third will be options in case she decides she won’t make enough money from the first one.   Yeah, right.

If she lands the part it would be an obvious move to stay on for the trilogy because, if done right, these films will make tons of money and be on course to match the original film’s critical success and Wright will enjoy a turn under the spotlight.  Can’t say the same for the upcoming Moneyball film though.

David Fincher is set to direct the film with production starting this fall in hopes of a Dec. 21, 2011 release.

Keep an eye out for the casting of Lisbeth Salander, the heroine hacker from the novels, which has generated a lot of speculation in recent weeks.