CLOUD ATLAS — The Book or The Movie?
It seems that audiences took the David Edelstein’s advice on NPR’s Fresh Air to read the Cloud Atlas, rather than to watch it. The film, which opened this weekend is regarded as a flop. The book, however, continues at #2 on Amazon’s sales rankings (it is telling that the original version is doing better than the tie-in, which is at #1,497).
The next big movie based on a book long considered “unfilmable” to hit theaters is Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, which opens Nov. 21. As promo for the movie heats up, the book is rising on Amazon — again, the trade paperback with the original cover, now at #39, is doing better than the tie-in, which is at #3,418.
October 29th, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Actually, I remember hearing a lot of “I don’t get it” comments when the book was first released. I was almost discouraged from reading it by a bookseller who told me it was difficult to understand. I read it anyway and it’s on my favorite books list now, and I find it extremely irritating to have the movie labeled as a flop the same week it’s released.
Judging from the trailers the only sour note is the perceived need to spell out the connectivity with voice overs.
October 31st, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Ebert gave “Cloud Atlas” four stars. I have disagreed with Ebert occasionally but I have never felt like I got ripped off by buying a ticket to a movie that he gave four stars.