We scoffed when the pregnancy bible, What to Expect When You are Expecting, by Heidi Murkoff (Workman), was optioned for a movie last fall. Looks like that unlikely project is going forward. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cameron Diaz is in final negotiations to star. Kirk Jones (Nanny McPhee) will direct.The description of the plot proves, as expected, it will be somewhat different from the book; “The story follows five couples who suffer the many joys of the childbirth process.”

Perhaps Diaz will be on the cover of the book’s next edition.

The trailer for the adaptation of One Day, has just appeared on the Web. The film, which opens July 8, is already the clear winner in the “Best Attempt at Making Anne Hathaway Look Nerdy” category.

The tie-in arrives 8/19

One Day (Movie Tie-in Edition) David Nicholls Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2011-08-19) ISBN / EAN: 0307946711 / 9780307946713

Before the Wimpy Kid endured his travails, a kid named Alexander had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which may also make its way to the screen.

According to Variety, director Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) is negotiating for rights to Judith Viorst’s 1972 picture book. The story notes that, since there are two other titles in the series, “the pic could blossom into a successful franchise along the lines of Fox’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.”

The official trailer for the “Epic Conclusion of the Worldwide Phenomenon” appeared on the Web yesterday. The film premieres in London on July 7 and will be released on July 15.

Movie news has brought World War Z (Crown), Max Brooks’ “historical account” of a future battle against world domination by zombies, back to best seller lists.

Brad Pitt’s production company bought the rights to the book before its 2006 publication, but as late as last month, it looked like the project would sink under the weight of its $125 million budget. A new source of funding came through recently and director Marc Forster has begun hiring, with a view towards a June start date and release next year.

Brad Pitt will star. Yesterday, it was announced that Mirelle Enos, star of AMC’s new crime drama The Killing, will play his wife.

Pitt’s next book adaptation is Moneyball, based on the book by Michael Lewis, and slated for release on Sept 23rd of this year. He is currently filming Cogan’s Trade, based on the George V. Higgins’ mystery, with a planned release of March 3, 2012 (for a full schedule of books-to-films, check our Upcoming — with Tie-ins listing).

After being signed based on a manuscript back in 2007, there’s been little news about the adaptation of last summer’s debut sci fi hit, The Passage by Justin Cronin (Ballantine). That changed this week with the announcement that Ridley Scott’s been replaced as director by Matt Reeves and the script is being rewritten, with Scott producing. Reeves, who directed Let Me In, is described by The Hollywood Reporter as “thoughtful and intellectual.”

The book was planned as the first in a trilogy. When will the next one come out? Random House tells us that book 2, The Twelve is scheduled to pub summer 2012.

The trade paperback of The Passage arrives next month, with quite a different cover from the hardback.

The Passage: A Novel Justin Cronin Retail Price: $16.00 Paperback: 800 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books – (2011-05-17) ISBN / EAN: 0345504976 / 9780345504975

Here’s a genius idea; rebuild fan frenzy for the long-delayed movie of The Hobbit by releasing regular vlogs from the set. Below is the first, hosted by the director, Peter Jackson.

The production has suffered through changes of director, financial problems at MGM, a New Zealand actors’ guild standoff, followed by Jackson being hospitalized for a perforated ulcer. The vlog goes a long way to restoring faith that filming has actually begun.

The epic will be released as two films, a year apart; the first arrives in December, 2012.

Official Movie Site: TheHobbitBlog.com

Here it is:

British actor Hugh Laurie, known for his role as the acerbic main character on the TV series House, has won the lead role in a movie adaptation of Mister Pip, the novel by Lloyd Jones. Production will begin in New Zealand next month. Laurie will play Mr. Watts, a teacher in a school on the island of Bougainville during its civil war in the 1990’s. He reads Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations to the children, who become fascinated with the character of Pip. (Deadline)

The book was the winner of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and was short-listed for the Booker, losing that year to Anne Enright’s The Gathering. Lloyd Jones’s next book Hand Me Down World, published last fall in the UK, will be released here by Bloomsbury in September.

The movie is set to be directed by the seemingly unlikely choice of Andrew Adamson, co-director the first two Shrek movies and director of the first two The Chronicles of Narnia films.

Hand Me Down World: A Novel Lloyd Jones Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Bloomsbury USA – (2011-09-27) ISBN / EAN: 1608196992 / 9781608196999

Dragonflight, the first novel in Anne McCaffrey’s extensive science fiction series, The Dragonriders of Pern, is being scripted for a live-action feature, with a plans to begin production some time next year. The series includes 21 novels and novellas as well as several short stories. One of the producers noted, in a bit of an understatement, that there is plenty of material for a franchise. No director or cast has been announced yet.

Pern fans should not hold their collective breaths, however, this is not the first time an adaptation has been attempted.

Daniel Radcliffe’s post-Harry-Potter career includes his current Broadway run in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He also stars in the upcoming film adaptation of Susan Hill’s 1983 ghost tale, The Woman in Black. A very brief taste is offered in the teaser trailer just released online.

Radcliffe plays a young lawyer, who, while sorting through the papers of a dead client in an appropriately creepy British village, encounters terror and a mysterious woman dressed in black. British author Susan Hill’s book has also been adapted as a play that has been running in London’s West End since 1989.

[UPDATE: The movie is now scheduled for release in the US on 2/3/12, according to IMDB]

Radcliffe is also attached to star in a new adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, planned for 2012.

For those of you suffering Harry Potter separation anxiety as the series draws to a close on July 12th, a behind-the-scenes Deathly Hallows documentary is in the works.

The Woman in Black is currently available in an illustrated edition from Godine. Vintage/Knopf is releasing a movie tie-in in September (an audio version is coming from Blackstone).

Hill is also known for her Simon Serrailler mystery series, published in the U.S. by Overlook Press.

Ann Hood’s reading group favorite, The Knitting Circle has been optioned by HBO Films. Katherine Heigl (Gray’s Anatomy) will produce and star in the film. Hood learned the news second hand from dozens of congratulatory emails.

Heigl will appear as Stephanie Plum in One For The Money, based on the first in Janet Evanovich’s mystery series. It will be released next January.

What happens when a director of disaster epics, such as Independence Day and 2012, turns his attention to the controversy about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays?

From the trailer of director Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous, released yesterday, the result looks like Dan Brown meets the Elizabethan Era.

That’s Derek Jacobi in the beginning of the trailer. Also featured are Vanessa Redgrave as Queen Elizabeth I (Redgrave’s daughter Joely Richardson plays the younger Elizabeth). Rhys Ifans plays Edward de Vere, the 17^th Earl of Oxford, regarded here as the true author of Shakespeare’s plays.

The movie is not  based on a specific book. For those interested in learning more, several books explore the various theories, including last year’s well-reviewed Contested Will by James Shapiro (S&S), which arrives at the conclusion that the author of Shakespeare’s plays is … William Shakespeare.

The movie is scheduled to release on Sept. 30.

Official Web Site: Anonymous-Movie.com

Below, Shapiro says he wrote Contested Will as a way at looking at “why smart people think dumb things.”

It’s a big book series and an equally big adaptation. Stephen King’s Dark Tower is planned as three movies, with two TV series between the films. The first of each will be directed by Ron Howard. According to Deadline, Javier Bardem (Eat Pray Love) is close to signing on as the lead and production will begin in September. No news on whether the release date of 5/17/13 is still firm.

King recently announced on his Web site that another installment in the series, The Wind Through the Keyhole, will be released in 2012.

The long-postponed trade paperback edition of the best selling phenomenon, The Help, is finally available. It’s also available in several other formats, including downloads from OverDrive, but no mass market as yet.

Many libraries are still showing 2:1 holds ratios, despite owning hundreds of copies.

The movie version arrives this summer, on August 12th. Previews last week at the theater owners convention, CinemaCon, impressed several viewers. A trade paperback movie tie-in is planned for July. No cover art is available yet.

The Help Kathryn Stockett Retail Price: $16.00 Paperback: 544 pages Publisher: Berkley Trade – (2011-04-05) ISBN / EAN: 9780425232200 / 9780425232200