Netflix has released another trailer to promote the series adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events.

The newest look reveals much more than the first trailer from a month ago, including a look at Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf and all three of the Baudelaire children (Violet and Klaus played by Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes).

A bit more of the plot is also revealed, as is the general look and feel of the film.

As we wrote earlier, the first trailer offered none of the typical elements of a traditional trailer. Rather than building anticipation with a litany of exciting scenes and major stars, just one character appeared, Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket, wandering through the dimly-lit stage set, warning people to “look away.”

This new trailer continues on that dark theme while providing fans, as Movie Pilot details, a few more Easter eggs such as the The Bald Man lost in a hedge maze.

No tie-ins have been announced.

Filming has begun for Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of the beloved Newbery Medal-winning novel, A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle.

The LA Times reports that DuVernay tweeted out the news:

A behind the scenes look from the first day of production on #WrinkleinTime with director @AVAETC! pic.twitter.com/0JNxVUQxj8

— A Wrinkle In Time (@WrinkleInTime) November 3, 2016

ACTION. #WrinkleInTime pic.twitter.com/90JBOmDLCj

— A Wrinkle In Time (@WrinkleInTime) November 3, 2016

https://twitter.com/AVAETC/status/794763942992101376

She also tweeted that Scandal star Bellamy Young has joined the cast.

https://twitter.com/AVAETC/status/793590817273188352

Deadline Hollywood recently reported that Michael Peña (The Martian), Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover), Chris Pine (Star Trek), André Holland (Selma), and Levi Miller (Pan) will also be in the movie.

As we have written previously, Entertainment Weekly notes the film makes “DuVernay the first woman of color to direct a live-action movie with a budget of more than $100 million.” The Hollywood Reporter writes that “DuVernay is hoping to break ground with the movie, making a big tentpole with a cast that is multicultural.”

The film is expected in 2018.

The Cat From Hunger Mountain

Written and illustrated by Ed Young, Philomel Books.

The Dead Bird

By Margaret Wise Brown. Illustrated by Christian Robinson. Harper/HarperCollins

Freedom in Congo Square

By Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, S&S/Little Bee Books

Little Red

Written and illustrated by Bethan Woollvin, Peachtree Publishers

polar-bear

Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis

By Jabari Asim. Illustrated by E. B. Lewis. PRH/Nancy Paulsen Books

The Princess and The Warrior

Written and illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh. Abrams

The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank’s Window

By Jeff Gottesfeld. Illustrated by Peter McCarty, PRH/Knopf Books for Young Readers

A Voyage in the Clouds

By Matthew Olshan. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall, Macmillan/Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR

The White Cat and the Monk

By Jo Ellen Bogart. Illustrated by Sydney Smith, Groundwood Books

The influential list has been issued since 1952 and evaluates titles “purely on artistic merit.” As always, the jury includes a librarian. This year, that spot is filled by Cheryl Wolf who works at both the Neighborhood School and S.T.A.R. Academy in NYC.

The ten selections are listed below (and, for ordering purposes, on our downloadable spreadsheet, NYT Best Illus., 2016) :

The Cat From Hunger Mountain, Ed Young (PRH/Philomel Books; OverDrive Sample)

The Dead Bird, Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Christian Robinson (HarperCollins)

Freedom in Congo Square, Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie (S&S/little bee books)

Little Red, Bethan Woollvin (Peachtree Publishers)

The Polar Bear, Jenni Desmond (Enchanted Lion Books

Preaching to the Chickens: The Story of Young John Lewis, Jabari Asim, illustrated by E. B. Lewis (PRH/Nancy Paulsen Books)

The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes, Duncan Tonatiuh (Abrams; OverDrive Sample)

The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank’s Window, Jeff Gottesfeld, illustrated by Peter McCarty (PRH/Knopf Books for Young Readers; OverDrive Sample)

A Voyage in the Clouds: The (Mostly) True Story of the First International Flight by Balloon in 1785, Matthew Olshan, illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Macmillan /Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR; OverDrive Sample)

The White Cat and the Monk: A Retelling of the Poem “Pangur Bán,” Jo Ellen Bogart, illustrated by Sydney Smith (Perseus/PGW/Legato/Groundwood Books)

Even before Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in theaters on Nov. 18, Deadline is reporting that Johnny Deep will star alongside Eddie Redmayne in the upcoming sequel.

There is no word yet on his role, but Deadline says that it might be revealed via a Depp cameo in the first film.

Also making news, J.K. Rowling, who is the screenwriter for the film and serving as one of the producers, announced earlier in the month that there will be five films in the franchise. As we had noted earlier, the original plan was to create a trilogy: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 (2018) and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3 (2020).

The screenplay of the first film will be published on Nov. 19, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay, JK Rowling (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books).

The final trailer for the film is also available:

The author of the children’s classic Tuck Everlasting (Macmillan/Square Fish) has died from lung cancer. Natalie Babbitt was 84 years old.

In addition to Tuck, which as been adapted into films and a Broadway play, Babbitt is also known for the Newbery Honor book Kneeknock Rise and the National Book Award finalist The Devil’s Storybook (both from (Macmillan/Square Fish). Five of her books have been named ALA Notable Children’s Books.

Her other honors include the inaugural E.B. White Award for achievement in children’s literature and being the U.S. nominee for the biennial international Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Bustle reports that Tuck, which marked its 40th anniversary in 2015, has sold over 3.5 million copies since publication and has never been out of print.

Her most recent published  book was The Moon Over High Street (Scholastic/Michael di Capua Books, 2011).

Published in July, the middle-grade novel, The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (Workman/Algonquin Young Readers) received rapturous reviews, including stars from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal and Booklist plus the NYT Sunday Review, which wrote, “Kelly Barnhill’s wonderful fourth novel … educates about oppression, blind allegiance and challenging the status quo while immersing the reader in an exhilarating story full of magical creatures and derring-do.” It also has a large number of “Much Love” ratings from booksellers and librarians on Edelweiss.

Word has made it to Hollywood. Fox Animation has picked up the movie rights. Deadline reports, it  “is expected to be a hybrid live-action/animation.”

The script will be written by Marc Haimes, co-wrote the script for the well-received adaptation, Kubo and the Two Strings.

To mark the upcoming film premiere of The Dark Tower, Stephen King has written children’s book, Charlie the Choo-Choo: From the world of The Dark Tower, Beryl Evans, illustrated by Ned Dameron (S&S/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; 11/22/16).

Like J.K. Rowling’s publications of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them or The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Charlie the Choo-Choo is a fictional book mentioned in The Waste Lands, book three of the Dark Tower series. Entertainment Weekly says the book helps lead the character Jake in the direction of the Gunslinger.

It is written by “Beryl Evans” a character in the Dark Tower series and King uses that pseudonym on the cover of the real publication, under  a blurb in his own name: “If I were ever to write a children’s book, it would be just like this!”

It is illustrated by the real life artist Ned Dameron who created some of the art in King’s The Waste Lands, including, says EW, the cover of Charlie the Choo-Choo.

The picture book, about a sentient train who is best friends with his engineer Bob, first attracted attention during Comic-Con when it was offered as a real-life Easter egg for devoted fans, who stood in line, reports EW, in hopes of getting one of 150 copies signed by an actress playing the role of Evans.

The site Dread Central offers a full synopsis and six page spreads.

Rising on Amazon’s sales rankings is Frazzled: Everyday Disasters and Impending Doom, Booki Vivat (HarperCollins; HC Audio; OverDrive Sample), a debut novel about middle schooler Abbie Wu who is full of worries.

The book is soaring up the charts on the strength of an NPR feature on All Things Considered, moving from #6,572 to #76.

Vivat tells NPR that the highly illustrated novel was born from her own daily planners which she fills with images and doodles.

Through what she calls “a series of very fortunate events” her planners ended up in the hands of a HarperCollins editor who found an “illustration that I had done in a moment of extreme crisis and very dramatic emotion that read, I live my life in a constant state of impending doom. And she pointed to the girl in that picture and said, there’s a story here; that’s our girl.”

Abbie, that very anxious girl, starts sixth grade full of doubts about what her “thing” will be, “The thing that makes her who she is, the thing that everyone knows her for, her capital-T thing.”

She does not find it in the first book, but she does manage to start an “underground lunch revolution” and set things up for a cliffhanger ending that will be followed up by a Frazzled two.

Someone had amazing foresight when they decided to hire Alec Baldwin to voice the Baby in DreamWorks Animation’s adaptation of Marla Frazee’s Boss Baby (S&S/Beach Lane, 2010).

The trailer has just been released and, naturally, allusions are being made to the host of The Apprentice.

Directed by Tom McGrath (Madagascar), it also features the voices of Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow as the Baby’s parents. It is set for release well after the election, on March 31.

The movie is described as “inspired” by Frazee’s picture book and adds several story lines. The tie-in, coming in February, is a novelization of the movie script:

The Boss Baby Junior Novelization
Tracey West
S&S/ Simon Spotlight
February 14, 2017
Hardcover and trade paperback

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Publishers are looking beyond movies and TV to see the potential for tie-in marketing to plays and musicals.

Case in point, the upcoming US debut of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: The New Musical, opening on Broadway March 28, 2017 (previews, full roll out on April 23).

Ads are running and trailers were released in August. Forthcoming is a tie-in book edition: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Broadway Tie-In by Roald Dahl (PRH/Puffin Books; Feb. 7, 2017).

Entertainment Weekly reports the show will “reunite the creative team behind Hairspray on Broadway: director Jack O’Brien and musical collaborators Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.”

NYT‘s ArtsBeat blog writes the show, which has been running in London since 2013, will be revamped and made new for its US debut, making it more familiar to fans of the Gene Wilder film edition, including songs made famous by the movie. Quoting director Jack O’Brien: “Since the first production was created for London it’s only fair we do an American version, and in America, our connection is to the 1971 movie and the indelible impression of Gene Wilder as the slyly wicked Wonka.”

The NYT also has a profile of the lead actor playing Wonka in the US run, the two-time Tony winner Christian Borle. The paper’s chief theater critic describes him as “a master of carefully stylized excess.” It is “these qualities,” continues the profile, that “make his casting as Willy Wonka a walkover.” O’Brien says Borle offers “innocence and menace and mystery and charm.” Borle himself says he wants to stress the “humanity and sweetness” of the character.

Several teasers have been released:

The first trailer for the Netflix adaptation of Daniel Handler’s (aka Lemony Snicket) A Series of Unfortunate Events (HarperCollins) has just been released. In keeping with the books’ tongue-in-cheek tone, it is not a traditional trailer. Rather than building anticipation with a litany of exciting scenes and major stars, just one character appears, Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket, wandering through the dimly-lit stage set, warning people to “look away.”

The entire series will be available on Netflix beginning January 13, 2017 (which happens to be a Friday).

Watch closely, several visual jokes are embedded in the teaser.

According to Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Count Olaf in the show, the series is Netflix’s most expensive production to date. While co-hosting Live! with Kelly last month, he described the new adaptation as “super dark … a much darker take on the material than has been seen before”  but also “fun” and “exciting” and said it’s been planned as a “four-quadrant show,” to appeal to kids, teens, 20-somethings, and adults. The eight-episode first season will cover the first four titles in the 13-book series.

So far, no tie-ins have been announced.

Heading off the comic page and onto the silver screen is Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke (Macmillan/First Second; 2/1/11; OverDrive Sample) reports Deadline Hollywood. Fox Animation has acquired rights to the trilogy. Morgan Jurgenson and Alex Ankeles (Robodog) will adapt the books.

The graphic novel trilogy, created by award-winning Hatke, follows the adventures of Zita as she learns to be brave and navigate her far out world. Bleeding Cool lists it as one of the “Essential 8 Comics For Kids,” writing:

“… everything I love about comic books; adventure, humor, humanity and a big heaping dose of wonder … Hatke has made something really special here … original and fun. It’s completely appropriate for kids but like the best stories, I think everyone will appreciate it.”

The other books in the trilogy are:

Legends of Zita the Spacegirl (9/4/12; OverDrive Sample)

The Return of Zita the Spacegirl (5/13/14; OverDrive Sample)

Hatke won an Eisner Award for Little Robot. His other books include Nobody Likes a Goblin, and Julia’s House for Lost Creatures.

First Second reports that “Of all our books, Zita the Spacegirl has earned the most fan photos and cosplay” and provides some images to prove it.

Wired interviewed the author shortly after the second book in the trilogy hit shelves (accompanied by bonus illustrations).

Jennifer Weiner’s debut book for children, The Littlest Bigfoot (S&S/Aladdin; S&S Audio; OverDrive Sample), will be adapted as an animated feature reports Deadline Hollywood. The first in a planned trilogy, Deadline reports that Weiner is writing the second, titled Little Bigfoot, Big City, expected in November 2017.

Weiner will serve as executive producer. Chris Bender (We’re the Millers) and Jennifer’s brother Jake Weiner (A History of Violence) will create the feature with 20th Century Fox Animation. Keeping it all in the family, brother Joe Weiner, negotiated the deal.

Pre-publication reviews are strong. Publishers Weekly described it as a “witty story of outcasts coming together,” adding, “Well-drawn characters, high comedy, and an open-ended finale will leave readers eager for the next installment.”

Neil Patrick Harris co-hosted Live! With Kelly this week and spilled some Lemony Snicket news.

He has been in Vancouver this summer, playing the lead in Netflix’s adaptation of Daniel Handler’s books,  A Series of Unfortunate Events.

He tells Kelly that the new adaptation will be “super dark … it is a much darker take on the material than has been seen before” but also “fun” and “exciting.”

The older version he references is the 2004 film, starring Jim Carrey, which compressed the 13 book series into a single movie [CORRECTION: As pointed out in the comments, Harris exaggerated, the movie was actually based on just 2 titles from the series]. Harris reports that the Netflix series will treat each book in 2 episodes, so the show will be much more expansive. The cast and crew have finished filming the first four titles.

The plan is to create what is called a “four-quadrant show,” one that appeals to a range of audience demographics including kids, teens, 20-somethings, and adults.

He also says the series is Netflix’s most expensive production to date.

Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) is the executive producer and directs half of the episodes.

There is no trailer yet and Harris declined to say much more, but Flickering Myth has some more details, including photos of Harris in costume.

The series is expected to begin on Jan. 10, 2017.