In advance of the release of the Coen brother’s movie, True Grit, on 12/22, both Newsweek and the New York Times Magazine look at its true source; not the 1969 John Wayne movie, but Charles Portis’s book. Newsweek calls it,

…one of the great American novels, with two of the greatest characters in our literature and a story worthy of their greatness. It is not just a book you can read over and over. It’s a book you want to read over and over, and each time you’re surprised by how good it is.

The book rose to #341, from #846, on Amazon’s sales rankings over the weekend.

True Grit Charles Portis Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 256 pages Publisher: Overlook TP – (2007-08-28) ISBN / EAN: 1585679380 / 9781585679386

The movie adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s The Help is scheduled for release on August 12. It’s the directorial debut of Stockett’s childhood friend, Tate Taylor.

Below is a still. Featured in the center of the photo is Emma Stone as Skeeter. More stills are available at BuzzFocus.com (several were featured in People in early November).

The current tag line:

Based on one of the most talked about books in years and a #1 New York Times best-selling novel, The Help is a provocative and inspiring look at what happens when a southern town’s unspoken code of rules and behavior is shattered by three courageous women who strike up an unlikely friendship.

A trade paperback edition of the book is scheduled to release in April.

The Help Kathryn Stockett Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 544 pages Publisher: Berkley Trade – (2011-04-05) ISBN / EAN: 0425232204 / 9780425232200

A new trailer has just been released for Julie Taynor’s version of Shakespeare’s play. It debuts this weekend in select theaters.

Shakespeare might have enjoyed the star-studded premiere.

Official Movie Site: Tempest-TheMovie.com

The latest trailer for Beastly, based on the YA novel by Alex Flinn, has just been released.

The male lead is played by heart-throb-in-the-making Alex Pettyfer, who starred as Alex Rider in Operation Stormbreaker, based on the novel by Anthony Horowitz. He will also star in the Steven Spielberg-produced I Am Number Four (based on the YA novel by James Frey, writing as Pittacus Lore), coming February 18.

The female lead is Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) who also appears in another highly-anticipated film, Sucker Punch (which is NOT based on a book), also coming in March.

How time marches on; Mary-Kate Olsen is one of the “other actors” in the film.

A movie tie-in has been available since July, when Beastly was originally scheduled for release. The film was then moved to March 18 to make room for another teen movie based on a book, Charlie St. Cloud (based on The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, by Ben Sherwood). The tie-in is being re-released in February with a new cover.

Beastly Movie Tie-in Edition Alex Flinn Retail Price: $8.99 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: HarperTeen – (2011-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061963283 / 9780061963285

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Beastly Movie Tie-in Edition Alex Flinn Retail Price: $8.99 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: HarperTeen – (2010-07-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061963283 / 9780061963285

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Sweeping the British Indie Awards last week, The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush, has also been a hit in the six U.S. theaters in which it is currently showing.

Firth stars as King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II, who overcame a debilitating speech impediment with the help of therapist Lionel Logue (played by Geoffrey Rush). He went on to be beloved for his ability to boost morale in his countrymen during WWII.

The story is also told in book form by the grandson of Lionel Logue and Sunday Times of London journalist, Peter Conradi.

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

Catherine Hardwicke, the director of the first in the Twilight series (as well as Lords of Dogtown and Thirteen), has just finished Red Riding Hood, a movie that looks like it will have as much in common with the folktale as the song by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs.

Little, Brown’s Poppy imprint is doing a novelization.

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 next project will be based on James Dashner’s first book in the Maze Runner trilogoy, according to The Wrap.

Meanwhile, another dystopian YA book, The Hunger Games. is being adapted by Gary Ross (Seabiscuit), with plans to begin shooting in 2011.

And, according to Deadline, the search is on for a British kids fantasy franchise to replace Harry Potter. Among the candidates are Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking series and  Joseph Delaney’s The Spook’s Apprentice. Unfortunately, Artemis Fowl, is hung up in legal issues.

It took a while, and a couple of hints, but we have two correct answers to our pre-holiday quiz.

We asked what would tie together a list of 35 titles in a book display and why this display would be particularly relevant right now.

Most of you figured out that all books on the list have been made in to movies, or have been optioned for movies.

However, the correct answer is that producer Scott Rudin was involved in all of them. Rudin, who has been called “The Godfather of the Literary Adaptation” will receive the David O. Selznick Award from the Producers Guild of America on January 22nd.

The winner is J.P. Johnson, Adult Services, the Lexington (KY) Public Library. The runner-up is Sallie Swank of the Fort Worth (TX) Library. No prizes offered for this one, but they now have bragging rights to all their friends.

The rest of you may have been thrown off by a few of the titles.

Some of the books ended up with different names on the screen:

Jane Austen’s Emma was the basis for Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone.

Upton Sinclair’s Oil! became There Will be Blood.

Ben Mezrich, Accidental Billionaires is now in theaters as The Social Network and is an Oscar contender.

The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz is The Way Back, recently released in a limited run to qualify for the Oscars. It will expand to more theaters in January.

Three of the titles are often thought of as remakes of earlier movies:

The Stepford Wives, 1972 book by Ira Levin. The 1975 movie starred Katherine Ross; Nicole Kidman took on the role in the 2004 version.

Shaft, Ernest Tidyman adapted his novel into the movie starring Richard Roundtree in 1971. “The Theme from Shaft” by Isaac Hayes won an Oscar for Best Original Song. The 2000 version starred Samuel L. Jackson.

True Grit, Charles Portis. It may seem ridiculous, but there’s at least one writer who appears to have no idea that this was a more intersting book than the 1969 John Wayne vehicle. The new version, directed by the Coen Brothers, is supposed to be truer to the original.

A few of the movies have not yet gone in to production:

Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian — in fact, this one may never see its name in lights; in a recent interview, William Monahan said that although it’s the best script he’s ever written, it’s unlikely to get made because it is too violent.

Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close — this one is also iffy. In August, Deadline reported that Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks were interested, but that the book is “not the easiest film adaptation.”

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff — Angelina Jolie has been flirting with this one for months.

One is currently filming — The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (English-language version), directed by David Fincher, who also directed The Social Network.

Two have not been released:

True Grit — Directed by the Coen brothers, starring Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges. However, it sounds like the real star will be the young actress playing the lead, Hailee Steinfeld. It is scheduled for release on 12/22.

Moneyball — Based on the best selling book about baseball by Michael Lewis is scheduled for 9/23/2011, starring Brad Pitt.

Will David Mitchell’s 2004 Booker Prize finalist, Cloud Atlas, be made into a movie?

In June, Production Weekly reported that offers had been made to several actors, including Halle Berry, Natalie Portman, Tom Hanks, James McAvoy and Ian McKellen, for a movie version produced by the Wachowskis, but there has been little news since.

In a recent interview, Halle Berry indicates that the film is a go, saying she’s,

…going to do a movie probably in the summer with the Wachowskis…..A really interesting movie; sort of what they did for The Matrix. They have another really amazing idea that’s gonna stretch our brains even further… that’s with Tom Hanks and Natalie Portman.” (Film, via Word and Film)

Coming March 11th is an animated feature based on Berkeley Brethed’s Mars Needs Moms.

Below is the trailer (that’s Joan Cusack’s voice as Mom).

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Official Web Site: Disney.com/MarsNeedsMoms

Philomel is releasing a tie-in edition in January:

Mars Needs Moms! Berkeley Breathed Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Philomel – (2010-01-06) ISBN / EAN: 039924736X / 9780399247361

Based on the legal thriller by Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer, starring Matthew McConaughey, is scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 18. Below is the first trailer.

Director: Brad Furman
Starring:

Matthew McConaughey … Mickey Haller
Ryan Phillippe … Louis Roulet
John Leguizamo
Marisa Tomei
Michaela Conlin … Heidi Sobel
William H. Macy

Official Web site: TheLincolnLawyerMovie.com

Tie-in:

British actor Daniel Day-Lewis has played several fictional American figures in the movies. He is about to take on an iconic real-life American figure, as the star of the movie Lincoln, based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. Steven Spielberg will direct. The screenplay is being writtern by Tony Kushner (Angels in America). Filming is expected to begin in the fall of 2011, with release sometime in late 2012.

In other Lincoln-movies-based-on-books news, casting has begun for Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, produced by Tim Burton and directed by Timur Bekmambetov. The movie will begin shooting in New Orleans in March.

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Doris Kearns Goodwin Retail Price: $21.00 Paperback: 944 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster – (2006-09-26) ISBN / EAN: 0743270754 / 9780743270755

The film adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s novel, Barney’s Version, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, will be released in a limited number of theaters on Dec. 24, to qualify it for the Oscars. It will open across the country on January 14.

The first full-length trailer has hit the web (we showed you an earlier version back in August).

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Director: Richard J. Lewis

Starring:

Dustin Hoffman … Izzy
Rosamund Pike … Miriam
Paul Giamatti … Barney Panofsky
Minnie Driver … Mrs. P
Rachelle Lefevre … Clara

Official Website: BarneysVersion.com

Barney’s Version (Vintage International) Mordecai Richler Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 432 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2010-05-04) ISBN / EAN: 030747688X / 9780307476883

Following the opening of HP and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 this Friday, two major children’s movies arrive to help fill family holiday time.

Tangled, based on Rapunzel, opens next week, 11/24. Several clips are available on the official Web site. Disney Books for Young Readers is doing several tie-ins.

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A new trailer for the next movie in the Chronicles of Narnia just appeared on the Web (official web site, Narnia.com). The movie arrives on 12/10.

HarperCollins Childrens is releasing the tie-ins.

One of the big films of next year is based on an ALA Notable Children’s Book from the 1950’s. Rosemary Suttcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth has been adapted for the screen as The Eagle, 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 25.

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Official Website: FindtheEagle.com

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

According to the latest rumors, Carey Mulligan is now the lead contender to play Daisy in Baz Luhrmann’s version of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Earlier bets were on Scarlett Johansson, but she is now set to star in a movie based on a much more recent book, We Bought a Zoo (Weinstein Books, 2008), directed by Cameron Crowe.

Meanwhile, a movie based on fellow jazz age writer Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Garden of Eden, was recently scheduled for release in the U.S. on Dec 10,  in a bid for Oscar attention.

Hemingway did not publish The Garden of Eden in his lifetime, abandoning it after 15 years of work. It was edited and released in 1986, years after his death. It is said to be based on Hemingway’s honeymoon with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer.

Official Movie Web Site: GardenofEdenMovie.com