children's & YA recommendations on the go
John Fusco has been hired by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment to adapt the popular children’s book PAX which the production company wrangled away after winning a bidding war last year. The book was No. 1 on The New York Times best-selling children’s book Pax from author Sara Pennypacker. It will be produced as a live-action feature through SKE with Carla Hacken.
John Fusco To Pen Feature Adaptation Of Popular Children’s Book ‘PAX’
Based on Brian Selznick’s 2011 children’s book of the same name, Wonderstruck tells the story of two children separated by time and, initially, by space—but brought together by a history of feeling.
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It’s simply not the kind of movie we typically give to children—primarily because we underestimate their intelligence. Brian Selznick also wrote the book that became the basis for Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, which is a good movie (especially for film history nerds) but not, to my mind, a satisfying children’s feature. Something about it feels too anchored to the real world—Scorsese flirts with fantasy and the fanciful, but the movie doesn’t really fly off the rails.
Wonderstruck, by contrast, seems to play by its own rules. Its high emotional stakes make sense, in the end, but it’s Haynes’s wide-eyed filmmaking that makes the job of guiding these young adventurers through a vast, complicated world feel like an adventure in itself.
from Den of Geek review
Much of Goodbye Christopher Robin is utterly charming, with just enough of a darker edge to stop it from becoming too twee. Gleeson is excellent in a role the requires him to be ultimately reserved and unemotional, and Robbie is an absolute delight throughout. Flighty and overdramatic, Daphne is both the comic relief and the emotional heart of some key moments. It’s lovely to see both of these actors doing something so different.
The film falters when it allows Christopher to grow up and become a teenager (Alex Lawther) struggling with the legacy of his childhood stories. It’s a third act that’s hindered by its dual responsibility to tell the truth of events and tie everything up into a nice satisfying bow, and the film may have been better served with an extension of the middle in which the books first rise to fame.
Goodbye Christopher Robin is overall a quiet but uneven film about people doing their best but unintentionally damaging those around them anyway. There’s something to be said for the simplicity of that concept, just like there is for the whimsical tales of a stuffed bear, his woodland pals, and his very best friend Christopher Robin.
full review: http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/goodbye-christopher-robin/52177/goodbye-christopher-robin-review
Highly, highly, highly recommended…
Long interview with S. E. Hinton:
For the 50th anniversary of The Outsiders, the author formally known as S.E. Hinton undertook a book tour to promote the anniversary edition of her most famous novel, and fortunately, The A.V. Club was one of the stops. Unfortunately, the video interview in our studio was unusable due to a microphone malfunction, but still wanting to release the interview, we’re publishing the edited transcription below. Hinton was invariably magnificent, offering us many wonderful stories from her legendary literary life.
via Outsiders author S.E. Hinton is still gold after 50 years · Interview · The A.V. Club.
Two PW writers were invited to a recent screening of the film adaptation of Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls, directed by J.A. Bayonne, with a screenplay written by the author. For more behind the movie, read our Movie Alert. Here our moviegoing duo talks tear-jerking scenes, monsters, morality, and sharp acting. Be warned: spoilers from the book and movie are below!
In bringing together a 15-year-old author, a toon production company and the world’s largest SVOD service, new young-adult film The Kissing Booth tells a lot about evolving creative processes in 2016.
Netflix is adapting the novel written and published by rookie teen author Beth Reekles on Wattpad, where it garnered more than 19 million views on the online free publishing site. UK-based film and TV production company Komixx Media Group is producing the feature-length film for the SVOD, with writer/director Vince Marcello (Teen Beach Movie) on-board to direct from his own screenplay.
For Komixx, which produces preschool series Toby’s Travelling Circus and Wanda and the Alien, the Netflix commission represents a milestone in its strategy to acquire and produce more YA drama for tweens and teens.
via Kidscreen » Archive » Netflix-Komixx adapting Wattpad story into YA film.
Peter Jackson is finally moving forward with Mortal Engines, with his long-time collaborator Christian Rivers directing.
The New Zealand filmmaker is adapting Philip Reeve’s novel into a big screen production, having first gained the rights to the book years ago but never finding the “right time” to begin work on it. Jackson has penned the script with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, with whom he worked on both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, and the movie marks Rivers’ first major directing stint.
In a lengthy Facebook post, Jackson shared the exciting news with fans.
“Hi Folks, it’s been a quiet few months, but I’m very happy to tell you that our next project is now underway. WingNut Films be producing a feature film based on Philip Reeve’s book Mortal Engines, to be directed by Christian Rivers,” he wrote. “Some of you may recall that Christian was going to direct the Dambusters (sic) a few years back.”
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“If you haven’t read the books, you should. They present a stunning look into the future, when all of Earth’s major cities are now mounted on wheels, roaming across the landscape as massive ‘Traction Cities’,” he explained, with Mortal Engines focusing on a “steampunk” version of London struggling to survive as the world runs out of resources. “The moment we read these novels, we knew what exciting movies they’d make. I literally can’t wait to see them!”
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Production begins in New Zealand in March 2017.
via Peter Jackson sets wheels in motion for Mortal Engines – Film-News.co.uk.
The A Wrinkle in Time movie is rapidly adding to its cast. Deadline reports that Chris Pine has joined the cast as Mr. Murry. The Star Trek alum (who we’ll see as Steve Trevor in next summer’s Wonder Woman) plays the husband of Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Meg Murry and Charles Wallace’s mother, Dr. Murry, in the adaptation of the beloved Madeline L’Engle novel.
Finding Neverland and The Life of Pi screenwriter David McGee is writing the script for The Silver Chair, which takes place years later as Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter in the last film) and his classmate Jill battle to find King Caspian’s son Prince Rilian after he goes missing.
via Narnia franchise to be rebooted with fourth movie The Silver Chair.
Andrew Adamson in negotiations to direct and co-write Curious George, a live-action adaptation for Universal Pictures based on the children’s book series written by Margret & H.A. Rey. Adamson, who showed a flair for family fare in directing, producing and scripting the first two installments of The Chronicles of Narnia series, will executive produce. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard will produce for Imagine Entertainment, alongside David Kirschner and Jon Shapiro. Imagine’s Erica Huggins also will produce. Universal first turned Curious George, with the adorable primate and the man in the yellow hat, into an animated feature.
via Andrew Adamson To Direct Live Action Curious George Film For Universal | Deadline.
Peter Jackson is finally moving forward with Mortal Engines, with his long-time collaborator Christian Rivers directing.
The Chronicles of Narnia franchise has lain dormant since third movie The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was released in 2010 but is being rebooted to bring the fourth novel in the classic children’s book series to the silver screen.