Hitting Screens,
Week of May 23, 2016
Warner Bros.may have to release fewer films as a consequence of Batman v. Superman‘s disappointing box office, but Disney is on a roll. The Jungle Book dominated ticket sales for weeks before ceding the top spot to Captain America: Civil War, which Disney has a hand in as well. Coming next week is Alice Through the Looking Glass, a third Disney effort, also with book connections.
Familiar faces from the earlier Alice film return, including Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. Tim Burton produces the film but does not direct this time, leaving that to James Bobin, known for his work on the recent Muppets movies. The film opens May 27.
Tie-ins came out in April: a novelization of the film, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Kari Sutherland (Hachette/Disney Press); a “choose-your-own-path” story, Alice Through the Looking Glass: A Matter of Time, Carla Jablonski with illustrations by Olga Mosqueda, Vivien Wu, Richard Tuzon, and Jeff Thomas (Hachette/Disney Press); and the re-issue of the novelization of the earlier film, Alice in Wonderland (Based on the motion picture directed by Tim Burton) (Hachette/Disney Press).
AMC hopes to continue the success they had with Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic book series with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s adaptation of Garth Ennis’s Preacher (DC Comics, Vertigo) The 10-episode series, begins this Sunday. No tie-in has been announced.
Season 2 of Fox’s Wayward Pines begins on May 25. Produced by M. Night Shyamalan, the mystery/science fiction series is based on the Blake Crouch novels (Pines, Wayward, and The Last Town).
Matt Dillon stars as Ethan Burke, a U.S. Secret Service agent trapped in a small town while also searching for two fellow agents who have disappeared in the same area.
Previously released tie-ins of the first and last book in the series are available: Pines, Blake Crouch (Thomas & Mercer; May 5, 2015) and The Last Town, Blake Crouch (Brilliance/Thomas & Mercer; July 15, 2014).
Heavily promoted at BEA last week was Crouch;s forthcoming thriller, Dark Matter, (PRH/Crown, 7/26), also a GalleyChatter pick.