All it took were two titles to get me beyond excited. Being pitched as Battle Royale meets Running Man is Suzanne Collins' futuristic young adult novel Hunger Games, which is being adapted for the big screen by Nina Jacobson and her Color Force shingle. You can read all about it inside.
The Scholastic book, the first of a trilogy, has a "Battle Royale" meets "Running Man" feel to it, tackling contemporary culture by telling the story of an America where the subjugated districts must pay tribute in the form of a boy and a girl who are forced to participate in a televised battle to the death.
The book, which was released last year to solid reviews and even made the lists of top children's literature, flew past most execs until "Twilight" author Stephanie Meyer raved about it on her blog. Stephen King also praised the book.
That put development execs at Scott Free, Spyglass, Warners and Lionsgate on the case, though Jacobson's tenacity won out. Her intent is to quickly incubate the project before taking it to studios.
The former studio exec is in preproduction on "Diary of Wimpy Kid," the adaptation of Jeff Kinney's popular book series that Thor Freudenthal is directing. Brad Simpson is also producing.
why does mr disgusting have a hard on for young adult novels being adapted to the big screen? this is the third tweener book going to film which has been reported on this site in recent memory.
Thanks, Mr. Disgusting, for reporting on this. Hunger Games is terrific; one of my favorite YA novels of this past year and I'm not surprised it's being optioned. I just hope the studios do it justice.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is hilarious.
I work at Scholastic. Ive seen the books around but never checked them out(its all just work to me LOL), but maybe I will
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