If you like to read the book before seeing the movie, here are 5 books which you can expect to see transformed into films on the big screen in 2019. Time to get reading!
1. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Gregory Maguire's
Wicked is a novel based loosely on Frank L. Baum's
Oz book series. However, the story is told from the point of view of Elphaba, known in the
Oz books as the Wicked Witch of the West. It's dark, nuanced and not for children.
Wicked has already been adapted into a successful Broadway musical, but now it's going to be a movie, directed by Stephen Daldry. The cast hasn't yet be announced.
2. Death on the Nile
Cover of the original 1937 edition of the novel.
is a mystery novel set in Egypt. It is the 17th mystery featuring the eccentric Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, but you don't have to have read the previous stories for it to make sense.
Admittedly anyone who hasn't found the time to read this one already in the 82 years between its first publication and the film's release probably shouldn't complain about spoilers, but if you would like to read it first, there's still time, since it is actually now due for release in 2020, not 2019 as was rumoured earlier.
This production of
Death on the Nile, starring Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, and Gal Godot as Linnet Ridgeway Doyle, is a follow up to the 2017 version of
Murder on the Orient Express, directed by and starring Branagh. It's hard to live up to David Suchet's excellent performance as Poirot in previous versions of Christie's work, but Branagh certainly gives it a red hot go. If it's anything like
Murder on the Orient Express it will be worth the price of admission for the frocks and scenery alone.
3. Pet Semetary by Stephen King
Stephen King's 1983 novel,
Pet Semetary is the creepy story of a family who move into a house near an unofficial cemetery where the town's children bury dead animals. It turns out to be on the edge of an ancient burial ground of the Micmac people, and corpses buried there can be resurrected with inevitably disastrous results.
The novel was adapted into a film in 1989, but now it's getting an update, with Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer as the directors. John Lithgow will play the neighbour, Jud, and Amy Seimetz, from
Stranger Things and
The Killing will play Rachel, the children's mother.
4. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Cover of the first edition.
The
Artemis Fowl series of sci fi/fantasy novels are about a teenage criminal mastermind who kidnaps a fairy and holds her to ransom, among other nefarious deeds. The film version will be directed by Kenneth Branagh and the cast includes Hong Chau and Judi Dench. It is due for release in August 2019.
5. The Knife of Never Letting Go- Patrick Ness
The Knife of Never Letting Go is the story of a 12 year old boy named Todd who lives in a town called Prentisstown, where all of the women and most of the men have been killed by a plague and the boys and men can hear each other's thoughts, as well as those of animals.
The Knife of Never Letting Go is the first book of a series called
Chaos Walking, which will be the title of the upcoming film adaptation. The screenplay is being co-written by Patrick Ness (who also wrote
A Monster Calls and the
Doctor Who spinoff series
Class), Charlie Kaufman and John Lee Hancock. It will star Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland.
