Recently, we predicted that the Brit import One Day by David Nicholls would be the hit of the summer. Today, July 15th, the day referred to in the book’s title, the NYT‘s Janet Maslin anoits it not just the hit of the summer, but beyond; “Random House’s synergistic strategy for bringing One Day across the pond has been so successful that it’s likely to have lasting implications.”

The synergy Maslin refers to is Random House Films, a joint venture formed in 2005 between Random House, Inc. and film production and distribution company, Focus Features. It happens that, just as One Day was being released here, Random House Films announced Anne Hathaway would star in a movie based on the book. It’s difficult to know if that represents “synergy” or just a happy accident.

Nonetheless, it’s worth looking at the other projects RH Films has on tap. Back in May, it was announced (as reported by Deadline Hollywood) that they are developing the upcoming nonfiction adventure thriller The Tiger by John Vaillant. The story of the hunt for a man-eating tiger in Siberia in 1997, it received a starred review in PW.

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival John Vaillant Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2010-08-24) ISBN / EAN: 0307268934 / 9780307268938

Random House Audio; 9780307715074; $40.00

Other films in development are  Lay The Favorite, based  the just-published Beth Raymer gambling memoir (Spiegel & Grau), with Stephen Frears set to direct and The Husband, based on the Dean Koontz thriller (Bantam, 2006). RH Films 2007 adaptation of Reservation Road, based on the book by John Burnham Schwartz, was not a box office success.

As to One Day, Maslin is a fan, not only of the marketing effort, but also of the book,

However widely One Day is imitated, it will be hard to match Mr. Nicholls’s easy blend of bumbling insecurities (Emma’s), overweening showbiz arrogance (Dexter’s, when he becomes a television star), slow but sure pacing, humorous though seldom outright funny dialogue and authentically troubling coming-of-age issues.

One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original) David Nicholls Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 448 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2010-06-15) ISBN / EAN: 0307474712 / 9780307474711

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 15th, 2010 at 9:59 am and is filed under Fiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.