Among the many books cited as a worthy successor to Gone Girl, including The Girl on the Train, was a title that considered as better than either by several librarians on  GalleyChat, The Kind Worth Killing, by Peter Swanson (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperLuxe; OverDrive Sample).

It did not quite become a household name, but the rights were picked up for a film, which now has a director, Agnieszka Holland, according to Deadline.

Of the book, Holland says she was,

 “ … really intrigued by this story. It’s full of paradoxes and I love paradoxes. The main heroine is tough as steel, but also as fragile as glass. Is she a victim? A psychopath? An avenger? What a great role for a talented actress! The story line is unpredictable, the genre feels fresh. A psychological thriller, which sometimes veers off towards black comedy, mixing humor with gore, genuine emotions with a detective mystery. The Kind Worth Killing will be fun to shoot, but even more fun to watch!”

The people who found TV series gold in the YA Gossip Girl books have turned their attention to books aimed at an older audience, the erotic romance series Calendar Girl.

About a woman who raises money to pay her father’s medical bills by becoming a high-priced escort, the twelve-book series is named for each month of the year. Each chronicles main character Mia’s relationship with a different client.

ABC Studio’s cable division has grabbed the rights to the series. reports  Deadline.

Several of the books hit the USA Today best seller list earlier this year, bringing attention to  author Audrey Carlan, who was profiled on the Today Show, with expectations that the series would follow in the footsteps of the Fifty Shades series.

The novels have been a boon for small independent publisher, Waterhouse Press, which currently has just three authors in its stable. In a Publishers Weekly profile of the company, CEO David Grishman attributes the success to his “heavily mathematical” approach to creating best sellers but declined to explain further. It might have to do with releasing the previously self-published titles very close together as $2.99 eBooks to seed combined best seller lists. The first, January, hit USA Today‘s list at #5, at the same time that four other in the series arrived in the top 50. The books have also been released in paperback, in four collected volumes.

The series has not followed the Fifty Shades of Grey continuous growth pattern, however. The titles have slid down the list since their initial success.

The Berlin International Film Festival does not get as much attention in the U.S. as does Cannes, but one of this year’s featured films, adapted from a book, is getting a bevy of press coverage.

Alone In Berlin stars Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson and is directed by Vincent Perez. For all accounts, it is a somber, quiet film with deft acting, not the kind of film that creates buzz.

But buzzy it is and one of the reasons it has become such a juicy topic is the book story behind it.

Alone in Berlin is an adaptation of Hans Fallada’s novel Every Man Dies Alone (Melville House, 2010; OverDrive Sample). Depicting the domestic resistance in Germany to Hitler, it was written just after the end of WWII and was based on Gestapo files kept on the real-life couple Otto and Elise Hampel. Deeply affected by the death of their son during the war, the Hampel’s began handwriting postcards with subversive messages such as “Mothers, Hitler Will Kill Your Son Too” and leaving them in public places around Berlin.

As NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday reports, Fallada was a best selling author between WWI and II, with his books picked as book-of-the-month-club selections and adapted into Hollywood films (which got him blacklisted by the Nazis).

However, Every Man Dies Alone wasn’t published in English until 2009, after Melville House publisher Dennis Johnson heard about the book from the fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg and tracked it down.

When it finally did come out here, it was a best seller and became a NYT‘s Notable Book and one of The New Yorker‘s Favorite Fiction Books of the year.

The film version does not yet have a U.S. distributor but check your copies. Circulation in strong in libraries we checked, with holds lists at many locations.

Charlie Rose featured the book previously:

The movie based on A. Scott Berg’s National Book Award-winning bio,  Max Perkins: Editor Of Genius, (Dutton, 1978; available in trade pbk. from PRH Berkley) with the title pared down to simply Genius, is set to open on June 10th.

The trailer just debuted online, to an apt comment by the Hollywood trade Deadline, “A movie about the work of a book editor seems on paper as promising as a movie about the drudgery of investigative reporting — until a Spotlight or an All The President’s Men comes along to challenge our preconceptions.”

It boasts a marquee cast, including Colin Firth as Perkins, Jude Law as writer Thomas Wolfe, Nicole Kidman as Wolfe’s lover Aline Bernstein and Laura Linney as Perkins’ wife. Other famous clients are Dominic West as Ernest Hemingway and Guy Pearce as F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Fulfilling hints last week that the film adaptation of Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, Allegiant, would open to some hard critical hits, The Guardian gives it two stars (out of five), saying “All types of people will find something that irks them in the penultimate part of the Divergent franchise,” while A.V. Club gave it a C+, under the headline “Allegiant is the best Divergent yet, and still not good enough.”

The news for The Little Prince was even worse, it was yanked from distribution just a few days before it was due to open. UPDATE: Netflix has since picked up the rights with plans to stream it “later this year.”

Whether or not it does well at the box office, Miracles from Heaven, starring Jennifer Garner opening today has already propelled the tie-in onto best seller lists. It moved to #20 on the week’s USA Today list.

On to next week. Viewers will have a chance to re-visit a number of favorite characters from the past.

The biggest movie opening is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Starring Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. It opens March 25th.

Anticipation is high for the iconic smackdown as Batman decides Superman is a bit out of control. Deadline reports advanced ticket sales are outpacing those for Deadpool, Avengers, and Furious 7.

A junior novel tie-in came out last month. It was billed as a companion novel and riffs off the movie, Cross Fire: An Original Companion Novel (Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice), Michael Kogge (Scholastic Inc.; OverDive Sample).

I Saw The Light also opens on the 25th. It tells the story of country-western singer Hank Williams and stars Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen.

A tie-in came out last November: I Saw the Light: The Story of Hank Williams, Colin Escott with George Merritt and William MacEwen (Hachette/Back Bay Books; OverDrive Sample).

In TV-land PBS fans mourning the end of Downton can console themselves with the start of the second season of Grantchester, starring the dishy village vicar who loves jazz music and a married woman. It will run from March 27 until May 1.

These slightly less than cozy tales are adapted from the books by James Runcie, which collect a series of short mystery stories into several volumes. A tie-in edition, Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night (Macmillan/Bloomsbury USA; OverDrive Sample), comes out March 22.

Fans of The Bridge get ready for part 2. Hallmark fast tracked it after the success of part one which aired in December.

A tie-in edition came out in October 2015, The Bridge by Karen Kingsbury (S&S/Howard Books; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample).

Over on NBC Heartbeat begins. The show is loosely based on the real life story of Dr. Kathy Magliato, one of the nation’s few women heart surgeons. She wrote a medical memoir, Healing Hearts, which was reissued as Heart Matters: A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon (PRH/Harmony; OverDrive Sample) back in 2011. It now bears the sticker, “The Book That Inspired Heartbeat Now on NBC.”

The show begins airing on March 23.

No soaring for The Little Prince film, at least not yet.

In an odd and sudden move, Paramount has decided not to distribute the film in the US, on the eve of its March 18th scheduled arrival. UPDATE: Netflix has since picked up the rights with plans to stream it “later this year.”

According to Variety there is no word on why, but director Mark Osborne tweeted out a promise that it will come out later this year via a different distributor:

.@SarahSerata @ParamountPics All I can say is #thelittleprince will in fact be released by another distributor later this year.

— Mark Osborne (@happyproduct) March 12, 2016

As we have been reporting (here, here, and here), it has gotten a warm reception where it has aired globally and publisher HMH issued two tie-ins and released a new translation in hardcover last October as well as board books.

Beyond the comforts of those books, another look at the enchanting trailer is the only option right now for frustrated fans.

Following last week’s first look at Tim Burton’s adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, the first trailer was released this morning.

Some of the book’s fans had difficulty with certain changes to the characters. revealed in the First Look.

The book’s author, however, has no such qualms, tweeting,

There are changes from the book, but every change makes the movie better while still honoring the book’s heart. It works beautifully.

— Ransom Riggs (@ransomriggs) March 11, 2016

Starring Asa Butterfield as 16-year-old Jacob with Eva Green as Miss Peregrine and Chris O’Dowd, Ella Purnell, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson, the movie opens.on Sept. 30.

No tie-ins have yet been announced.

There is plenty to watch next week, with six adaptations airing on screens big and small.

The newcomers arrive after a so-so week for books to screen performances. Season 2 of Bosch, based on Michael Connelly’s character, got little attention and the reviewers who did take note offered warm, but not glowing, praise.

Forbes panned The Young Messiah, based on Anne Rice’s Christ The Lord: Out Of Egypt, (RH/Knopf, 2005) saying “the writer-director is either grossly pandering to his perceived audience, or has forgotten how to make a movie.”

Next week’s hopefuls are:

Allegiant, part one of the last in the film adaptations of Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, opens March 18 and is already taking hits.

Variety says: “Allegiant will seem awfully meager to those who so recently feasted on … countless other superior examples of the genre.”

Like so many YA adaptations, it will be split in half with the second part due in the summer of 2017.

Tie-ins came out in mid February: Allegiant Movie Tie-in Edition (Harper/Katherine Tegen Books; HarperCollins Audio; OverDrive Sample; in paperback as well).

Next up in the running for the Easter movie to see is Miracles from Heaven, the inspirational story of a young girl inexplicably cured from a terminal illness. It is also getting a lot of buzz with Jennifer Garner on the cover of the most recent issue of Vanity Fair. People has also featured the film.

Tie-ins came out a few weeks ago: Miracles from Heaven: A Little Girl and Her Amazing Story of Healing, Christy Wilson Beam (Hachette Books; Hachette Audio; OverDrive Sample; also in Mass Market). The movie opens March 16.

It is a busy week for adaptations. Here is a run-down on the rest:

The Little Prince, based on the beloved novel by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, is getting praise for its fresh approach. While not a straight adaptation, there are tie-ins, The Little Prince Family Storybook: Unabridged Original Text  and The Little Prince Read-Aloud Storybook: Abridged Original Text
(both HMH Books for Young Readers). The film opens in limited release on the 18th, and goes wide on the 25th.

And Then There Were None is a BBC/Lifetime three-episode adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famous novel. It begins airing on March 14. There is a tie-in: And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie (Harper/William Morrow Paperbacks; OverDrive Sample).

A.V. Club is already a fan, calling it “note-perfect” and saying “if you’re looking for an unabashedly bloodstained gothic take on pre-war psychological horror that locks 10 great actors in a room and makes them battle it out … are you ever in luck.”

Season two of Netflix’s Daredevil starts up again on March 18. There is not a direct tie-in but there are plenty of comics. Reading guides are offered by the sites Comic Book Hero and Comic Vine.

The Program, a biopic about Lance Armstrong with Ben Foster playing the role of the disgraced cyclist, premieres March 18. Although it is an adaptation of David Walsh’s 2013 book Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong, there is no US tie-in edition.

The first photos from Tim Burton’s adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children have been released, causing some of the book’s fans to go all atwitter over certain changes to the characters.

But author Ransom Riggs says he is pleased with the result:

*exhales after one year*
FINALLY I CAN SHOW YOU THE BEAUTIFULNESS https://t.co/PxJM5Ra5F6

— Ransom Riggs (@ransomriggs) March 4, 2016

The movie, starring Asa Butterfield as 16-year-old Jacob with Eva Green as Miss Peregrine and Chris O’Dowd, Ella Purnell, Allison Janney, Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Judi Dench and Samuel L. Jackson, opens.on Sept. 30.

There’s no full trailer yet. The following teaser was released last September:

No tie-ins have yet been announced.

Tim Burton is also the producer, but not the director, of a movie arriving May 27, Alice Through the Looking Glass (see our earlier coverage for more, including tie-ins). A new trailer was released last month.

Book adaptations did not fare well this week as reviews are mixed for Tina Fey’s Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle, Kim Barker, (PRH/Doubleday, 2011), tie-in: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (The Taliban Shuffle MTI): Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, (PRH/Anchor, 2/23/16).

Variety calls it “haphazard and often misguided” while Entertainment Weekly gives it a B-, starting the review with “;War zone rom-com’ is one of those movie concepts that, like ‘incest Western’ or ‘Holocaust farce,’ sounds like an idea maybe better left untapped.” Rolling Stone, however, praises Fey’s performance, as does Vanity Fair.

Audiences turned a cold shoulder to it. According to Entertainment Weekly, it performed “well under expectations of a double-digit opening”

Fulfilling and even exceeding expectations is the kids blockbuster Zootopia, now “the biggest Walt Disney Animation Studios opening of all time” surpassing even Frozen. It’s not based on a book, but there are tie-ins (see our listing).

Two adaptations hit screens small and large in the upcoming week; Season 2 of Amazon’s Bosch and The Young Messiah.

Bosch is one of Amazon Prime’s original series and is based on the detective novels by Michael Connelly. Titus Welliver stars as LA homicide detective Harry Bosch.

Season one was immediately successful with viewers (critics were warm) and became the only Amazon dramatic series renewed for a second season, according to the LA Times.

The first season drew from the novels City of Bones, Echo Park and The Concrete Blonde. The second season will rest on Trunk Music, The Last Coyote, and The Drop.

Timed for the run-up to Easter is the Biblical movie, The Young Messiah, starring Sean Bean, David Bradley, and Jonathan Bailey.

It is based on the Anne Rice novel originally published as Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt (PRH, 2005). Rice’s second volume in the life of Christ came out in 2008, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana (PRH).

Tie-in editions of the first volume came out in late January and featured both the book and the movie title on the cover. The Young Messiah (Movie tie-in) (originally published as Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt), Anne Rice (PRH/Ballantine Books; OverDrive Sample – also in mass market).

Both adaptations hit screens on March 11.

On its first week of publication, PAX by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Jon Klassen (Harper/Balzer + Bray; OverDrive Sample) hit the NYT‘s Children’s Middle Grade Hardcover best seller list at #2 and shot up to #1 the week after, where it has ruled for the last four weeks.

About a twelve-year-old boy who is separated from his pet fox named Pax, it has received media attention from NPR, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal and starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and SLJ.

Word has reached Hollywood. It has been acquired by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment in a bidding war for film rights. Deadline reports it will be produced as a live-action feature.

Based on James Patterson’s 2011 novel for kids, the movie Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life is set for release on October 7th, 2016. The first trailer has just been released.

Director Steve Carr (Paul Blart: Mall Cop), comparing this movie to his earlier family films (Daddy Day Care, Dr. Dolittle 2), tells Entertainment Weekly, “This book came along and I found it’s a better version of the movies that I’ve been making,”

Tie-ins:
Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life
Chris Tebbetts, James Patterson, Laura Park
Hachette/jimmy patterson; Hardcover, August 23, 2016

Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life
Chris Tebbetts, James Patterson, Laura Park
Hachette/jimmy patterson; Paperback; August 23, 2016

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series moves closer to the big screen with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey set to star. Entertainment Weekly reports confirmation of long-standing rumors that Elba will play the gunslinger, joining.McConaughey as the man in black.

Efforts to adapt the series date back to at least 2007.  King told EW he is “delighted” and “surprised” that the series, which spans eight novels and flows into short stories and comics, is finally getting adapted:

“The thing is, it’s been a looong trip from the books to the film …When you think about it, I started these stories as a senior in college, sitting in a little sh-tty cabin beside the river in Maine, and finally this thing is actually in pre-production now.”

With all those titles to choose from, King says the film will not start at the beginning with 1982’s The Gunslinger (PRH/NAL, trade pbk. 2003)

“[The movie] starts in media res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning, which may upset some of the fans a little bit, but they’ll get behind it, because it is the story.”

EW speculates on which book might take center stage, guessing it could be “The Waste Lands  (PRH/NAL, trade pbk 2003.), the third book in the series, which is where much of King’s broader tower mythology began to coalesce.”

As recently as Oscar Sunday, Elba had been rumored to be a key contender for the next 007. While that could still happen, it is certain that Elba has his next hero character all lined up.

Sony plans to release the movie on Jan. 13, 2017 (UPDATE: Release moved to 2/17/17).

Debuting last night on HBO, a documentary titled, Mavis! about Staple Singers’s lead, Mavis Staples.

The film is getting kudos from many sources, including the Daily Beast, which proclaims, “50 Years Before Beyoncé’s Black Lives Matter Anthem, Mavis Staples Led a Movement.”

Staples, released a new album, Livin’ on a High Note last month.

The author of the following book on the group is featured on the documentary.

I’ll Take You There:
Mavis Staples, the Staple Singers, and the Music That Shaped the Civil Rights Era, Greg Kot

Trade Paperback

Ironically, for a year in which most of the Oscar categories were dominated by literary adaptations, the Best Picture winner, Spotlight was one of the few not based on a novel. The film does, however, have a book connection. Based on the story of the Boston Globe‘s Pulitzer Prize winning investigation into charges of sexual abuse in the Catholic church, the articles were published in book form in 2003 and re-released as a tie-in, Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church: The findings of the investigation that inspired the major motion picture Spotlight, The Investigative Staff of the Boston Globe, (Hachette/Back Bay).

If the Oscars had a category for Book That Benefited Most from Film Adaptation, the winner this year would be Michael Punke’s The Revenant (Macmillian/Picador), which propelled the 2002 novel from obscurity to best seller lists. It also won in three official Oscar categories, Best Actor, Director and Cinematography.

The author, while able to attend the Oscars, is prohibited by his day job from appearing on the red carpet, the New York Times reports in a profile. As the United States ambassador to the World Trade Organization, he is not allowed to do any publicity for the movie, or even his own book.

Also benefiting from its film incarnation is Andy Weir’s The Martian (PRH/Broadway), which made its own unlikely journey from a series Weir offered for free on his web site to a best selling book, with the film adaptation bringing it to even wider readership. Despite its being nominated in six categories, the Academy passed over the movie, denying it a single win.

Both movies got special attention from Oscars host Chris Rock in the show’s opening parody.