Just released to breathless hosannahs on the Web is a new poster for the movie adaptation of Water for Elephants. Featuring heart throb Robert Pattinson (Twilight), it’s being called “HOT!” (co-stars, Reese Witherspoon and Christopher Weitz are in the background).

Thanks to excitement about the movie, the book jumped back on the 2/20 NYT Trade Paperback Best Seller list at #1, after being off for a few weeks.

The movie premiers New York on 4/17 and opens around the country on 4/22.

The original poster, which gives Witherspoon more attention, is the cover of the tie-in edition, releasing a a couple of weeks.

Water for Elephants (movie tie-in) Sara Gruen Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2011-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 1616200707 / 9781616200701

One of the YALSA Best Books of 2008, Jay Asher’s novel 13 Reasons Why has been acquired by Universal as a starring vehicle for Selena Gomez, who made her big screen debut in Ramona and Beezus last year (she is also know as Justin Bieber’s girlfriend).

MTV jumped in with casting suggestions for the other roles.

After a successful run in hardcover (two years on the NYT Childrens Chapter Books Best Seller list), the book will finally be released in paperback in June.

Thirteen Reasons Why Retail Price: $9.99 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Razorbill – (2011 -06-14) ISBN / EAN: 159514188X / 9781595141880

Above: Author Megan McDonald with Jordanna Beatty, who plays Judy Moody in the upcoming movie

The movie Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer will be released in the US on June 10, 2011.

Candlewick will publish five totally Moody movie tie-in titles which go on-sale May 24th.

In more Moody News, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Judy Moody books, Candlewick has reissued the entire series, with new covers (below is the first title; see them all in Candlewick’s Spring Catalog, pg. 92 or on the new Judy Moody Web site).

Judy Moody (Book #1) Megan McDonald Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Candlewick – (2010-02-09) ISBN / EAN: 0763648507 / 9780763648503

See Candlewick’s Spring Catalog, pgs. 93 to 95 for the movie tie-ins.

As Robin Brenner said in her most recent column, “Super heroes are everywhere lately.” That will only intensify at the movies this summer, as indicated by the Super Bowl ads. One movie news site calls it Comic Book Cacophony.

Below is the schedule, with the Super Bowl spots.

5/6 — Thor — Based on Stan Lee’s Marvel Super Hero series, and directed by Kenneth Branagh (!)

5/13 —Priest –  Not a Super Hero, but based on a manga series from TokyoPop.

6/3 —  X-Men: First Class — Based on another Marvel Super Hero series, this one did not get the Super Bowl treatment.

6/17 — Green Lantern — Based on a D.C. Super Hero series. Also no Super Bowl spot, outraging some fans.

7/22 — Captain America: The First Avenger – Marvel comics Super Hero adaptation.

7/29 — Cowboys & Aliens – The Western theme continues to be turned on its head; True Grit casts it in an ironic light. This adaptation of a non-Supero-Hero comic combines a Western with the theme of alien invastion. Highly anticipated, it’s directed by Jon Favreau and stars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.

The film adaptation of reader club favorite, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See, has been scheduled for a July 15 release date.

It is directed by Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club, Maid in Manhattan and Because of Winn-Dixie). No trailer is available yet, but some stills have been released.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See Retail Price: $23.95 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Random House – (2005-06-28) ISBN / EAN: 1400060281 / 9781400060283

See’s next book is Dreams of Joy, comes out in May.

Dreams of Joy: A Novel Lisa See Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Random House – (2011-05-31) ISBN / EAN: 140006712X / 9781400067121

Feeling left out because you didn’t see the Superbowl ads? No worries; you can see them on the USA Today site, minus the annoying interruptions, and ranked by a panel of viewers.

The cost of an ad this year? $3 million for a 30-second spot.

Among the movie ads, the top rated is children’s animation, Rango, with Johnny Depp as the voice of the chameleon Rango, arriving March 4th.

Below is the full trailer (but check out the spot — it gains in charm what it lacks in length).

Official movie site: RangoMovie.com

Sterling has the tie-ins:

6 and up:

Rango: The Novel Justine Fontes, Ron Fontes Retail Price: $4.95 Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: Sterling – (2011-01-28) ISBN / EAN: 1402784430 / 9781402784439

4 to 8:

Rango: The Movie Storybook Justine Fontes, Ron Fontes Retail Price: $9.95 Hardcover: 48 pages Publisher: Sterling – (2011-01-28) ISBN / EAN: 1402784422 / 9781402784422

..

Rango: The New Sheriff in Town Annie Auerbach Retail Price: $3.95 Paperback: 24 pages Publisher: Sterling – (2011-01-28) ISBN / EAN: 1402784414 / 9781402784415

Beginning reader:

Rango: A Hero at Last Annie Auerbach Retail Price: $3.95 Paperback: 32 pages Publisher: Sterling – (2011-01-28) ISBN / EAN: 1402784449 / 9781402784446

Also getting the Super Bowl treatment was The Eagle, based on Rosemary Sutcliffe’s 1954 ALA Notable Children’s book, opening this Friday, as well as the following children’s titles, which arrive this summer:

Rio (voices of Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg and Jamie Foxx)

In Theaters: May 27

Official Movie site: Rio-TheMovie.com

Tie-ins: HarperCollins, April 15

Transformers, Dark of the Moon

In Theaters: July 1

Official Movie site:  TransformersMovie.com

Tie-ins: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, May 17

Kung Fu Panda 2

In Theaters: May 27

Official Movie site: KungFuPanda.com

Tie-ins: Penguin, 4/28

Long-time readers adviser favorite, Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin is set for the full Hollywood treatment, a Warner Bros movie with a $75 million budget. Casting is about to begin, according to the movie news site Deadline.

The movie will be directed by Akiva Goldsman, who wrote the scripts for A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code, Batman & Robin and I am Legend, for which he was also one of the producers.

Winter’s Tale Mark Helprin Retail Price: $16.00 Paperback: 768 pages Publisher: Mariner Books – (2005-06-01) ISBN / EAN: 0156031191 / 9780156031196

Continuing on its streak of success, the Scandinavian thriller Three Seconds, has just been optioned for a movie by New Regency.

The book #15 on the NYT Fiction best seller list, after three weeks, slipping from a high of #8 last week.

Three Seconds is the very first book from the new imprint, Silver Oak, a joint deal between six-year-old British Quercus Publishing (publishers of Stieg Larsson’s books in the UK) and Sterling Publishing in the U.S.

Three Seconds Anders Roslund, Borge Hellstrom Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: SilverOak – (2011-01-04) ISBN / EAN: 1402785925 / 9781402785924

Brilliance Audio; Unabridged Lib Ed; 9781455807222; 13 CD’s; $79.97

The movie version of the best-selling book Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, directed by Timur Bekmanbetov, with Tim Burton as one of the producers, is being called one of the hottest projects in Hollywood right now. Last week, Benjamin Walker was announced as the lead; yesterday, it was reported that Joaquin Phoenix is the front runner for the part of Henry Sturgess, Honest Abe’s vampire-killing mentor.

Two other film takes on our 16th president are also in the works. Steven Spielberg is set to direct Lincoln, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, with Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead.

Coming April 15 is the Robert Redford film Conspirator, about Mary Surratt, the lone woman accused of conspiring in the assassination plot. Robin Wright plays Surratt, Evan Rachel Wood her daughter Anna and Kevin Kline plays Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Lincoln is played by Lincoln impersonator Gerald Bestron. Since the majority of the film’s story takes place after the assassination, however, his screen time will be relatively short.

Conspirator is not based on a specific book, although, of course, there are many books on the assassination and several on Surratt specifically.

Official Movie Web Site: ConspiratorTheMovie.com

Abraham Verghese’s Cutting for Stone, at #4 the NYT Paperback Trade Fiction Best Seller list after 52 weeks, has just been optioned for a movie by Anonymous Content, the production group behind the Oscar Best Picture nominee, Winters Bone.

Librarians embraced the book, beginning with Verghese appearance at ALA Midwinter 2009 in Denver, where he spoke at the Breakfast and BookTalk sponsored by the AAP Trade Libraries Committee.

Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 688 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2010-01-26) ISBN / EAN: 0375714367 / 9780375714368

Fans have a little over a year to wait for the movie version of Hunger Games; the release was just scheduled for March 23, 2012. Production is set to begin later this spring.

Director Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) has not yet cast the lead. Currently, speculation is focused on Hailee Steinfeld, just nominated for an Oscar for True Grit.

Leading the Oscar nominations, announced this morning, is The King’s Speech. It received 12 nominations, including best picture, best director and best actor. It is based on historical events, not on a book. However, a book by Mark Logue, the grandson of the king’s speech therapist draws on the same historical material and was published as a tie-in.

The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy Mark Logue, Peter Conradi Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Sterling – (2010-11-26) ISBN / EAN: 140278676X / 9781402786761

Four of the other nine nominees for Best Picture are book adaptations;

• 127 Hours — based on mountain climber Aron Ralston’s Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Atria
• The Social Network, based on Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
• True Grit, based on the 1968 novel by Charles Portis, Overlook Press
• Winter’s Bone, based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, Back Bay

True Grit, which the NYT regards a the “biggest surprise,” came in second, with ten nominations.

Once considered the front runner, The Social Network, came in at third place, with eight nods.

Winter’s Bone, which came out in June, received three other nominations in addition to Best Picture — Actress (Jennifer Lawrence); Supporting Actor (John Hawkes) and Adapted Screenplay.

The full list is here. The other nominations for movies based on books are:

Director Catherine Hardwicke’s next film after the first in the Twilight series is Red Riding Hood, coming to theaters March 11.

As the new trailer makes clear, it draws more on Twilight than on the fairy tale.

Hardwicke contributed an intro. to the novelization, which releases tomorrow.

Red Riding Hood Sarah Blakley-Cartwright, David Leslie Johnson Retail Price: $9.99 Paperback: 352 pages Publisher: Poppy – (2011-01-25) ISBN / EAN: 0316176044 / 9780316176040

Hardwicke’s upcoming projects include two YA titles; James Dasher’s Maze Runner, now in the scripting stage, and James Patterson’s Maximum Ride.

The roar is building for one of the major book-to-film adaptations of 2011, The Eagle (based on Rosemary Sutcliffe’s 1954 ALA Notable Children’s book, The Eagle of the Ninth).

How do we know it’s major? It’s among the films that will be promoted on the SuperBowl broadcast.

Directed by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, State of Play), starring Channing Tatum as Marcus Aquila, the movie is scheduled to open on February 11.

Among the new material now available on the film’s web site, FindtheEagle.com, is a behind-the-scenes video.

Tie-in:

The Eagle of the Ninth (The Roman Britain Trilogy) Rosemary Sutcliff Retail Price: $8.99 Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: Square Fish – (2010-11-09) ISBN / EAN: 0312644299 / 9780312644291

Author Ben Mezrich’s book, Accidental Billionaires, was the basis for the movie The Social Network, which is not only a success at the box office, but just won Golden Globes for best drama, best director and best writer (for the screenplay by Aaron Sorkin). It is also surrounded by Oscar buzz.

The production team that put together Social Network has turned its attention Mezrich’s next book, Sex on the Moon, coming in July. According to the L.A. Times, it is,

…the story of Thad Roberts, a once-promising young scientist working for NASA who back in 2004 hatched a crazy plan to steal highly prized moon rocks from his bosses at the Johnson Space Center and sell them on the Internet. The motivation: wanting to impress his girlfriend (i.e., “giving her the moon”).

The L.A. Times wrote about the heist in 2004.

Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History Ben Mezrich Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Doubleday – (2011-07-12) ISBN / EAN: 0385533926 / 9780385533928