Newsweek (9/1) reminds us that the summer is reaching an end, with their fall entertainment preview. Among their picks in movies, are three based on books (and, no, they don’t mention Twilight).

Check our “Upcoming Movies — with Tie-ins” section for tie-ins to these and other movies of the Fall.

• SEPT 26  Miracle at Santa Anna

Directed by Spike Lee, this story of black WW II soldiers is based on the book of the same title by James McBride.

• OCT 10   Body of Lies

Directed by Ridley Scott; starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, based on the book by David Ignatius.

• NOV 14 Quantum of Solace

(Newsweek lists the opening date as Nov 7th, but it was recently moved to the following week). The next in the 007 franchise, starring Daniel Craig, directed by Marc Foster (who directed The Kite Runner). Based on the collection of Bond short stories of the same title.

Unfortunately, turning to books, Newsweek’s “Guide to the Fall’s Hottest Reads” doesn’t engender much excitement for the nine selections. Each book gets a “Pro” and a “Con” with the cons being more persuasive. Page numbers come up a lot; the editors seem exhausted by the length of many of the books. Here’s hoping other fall book previews will exhibit more enthusiasm.

We’re pleased to see that some library web sites are doing “Read the Book Before You See the Movie” sections, based on our Upcoming Books to Movies information.

The number of movies based on books seems to keep growing and we’ve added several new titles. Links are to trailers, where available.

SEPT 26 - Limited

OCT 03 — Wide

Movie Title: Blindness

Director: Fernando Meirelles

Starring: Jullianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo

Based on: Blindness by Jose Saramago

• Paperback Tie-in: $15.00
• Publisher: Harvest Books; 1 (September 2, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0156035588
• ISBN-13: 978-0156035583

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OCT 03

Movie title: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

Director: Robert B. Weide

Starring: Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Danny Huston, Megan Fox, Jeff Bridges

Based on: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People by Toby Young

• Movie Tie-in Pbk: $14.95
• Publisher: Perseus Publishing
• Pub. Date: September 01, 2008
• ISBN-13: 9780306816130

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DEC 5

Movie Title: Youth in Revolt — no trailer yet

Director: Miguel Arteta

Starring: Michael Cera, Justin Long, Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta

Based on: Youth in Revolt by C.D. Payne

No tie-in edition announced yet

DEC 19

Movie title: Yes Man

Director: Peyton Reed

Starring: Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel

Based on: Yes Man by  Danny Wallace, 2005

Movie tie-in:

[no cover yet]

• Paperback: $12.99
• Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment; Mti edition (December 9, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 1416595538
• ISBN-13: 978-1416595533

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DEC 26  – Limited

Movie title: Revolutionary Road

No trailer yet

Yates biographer Blake Bailey looks at the rocky road from book to movie: Slate, 6/26/08

Director: Sam Mendes (American Beauty)

Starring:

Leonardo DiCaprio — Frank Wheeler

Kate Winslet — April Wheeler

Based on: Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates

[No cover yet]

• Publisher: Knopf, $14.95
• Pub. Date: November 25, 2008
• ISBN-13: 9780307454621
• Series: Vintage Contemporaries Ser.
• Edition Description: Media Tie

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FEB 6, ‘09

Film Title: Coraline

Director: Henry Selick

Animated, featuring the voices of: Dakota Fanning, Ian McShane, Teri Hatcher

Based on the book: Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Coraline Movie Tie-in Edition by Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: HarperEntertainment (October 28, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0061649694
• ISBN-13: 978-0061649691

It’s musical chairs. Shortly after Warner Bros. announced they were moving Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from Nov. 11 this year to July 17 next year, Summit Entertainment moved their big YA movie, Twilight, to fill the original HP spot, three weeks earlier than originally planned.

The fall preview issue of Entertainment Weekly hits stands today. Of course, the cover is devoted to THE big movie of the season, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

But, wait, Entertainment Weekly’s own web site reports that the movie has been moved out of the fall schedule to July 17, 2009. Obviously frustrated by this sudden change, they comment,

EW and Warner Bros. share a parent company, but they clearly do not share, you know, important friggin’ information.

EW isn’t the only one to be frustrated; the trailer is scheduled to run with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, opening today. It will likely feature the original release date.

Why the change? Reading the tea leaves of the corporate announcement, EW comes to the conclusion that, because the writer’s strike delayed some other productions, Warner needs a blockbuster for the summer. EW also says “others” have already speculated that Warner has plenty of profits on the books from Dark Knight. With that windfall, next year is in danger of looking anemic in comparison. HP to the rescue!

Trailers for two October book-to-movie releases appeared online today:

10/03 — Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

10/03 — What Just Happened?

Movie tie-in editions are also available, as listed in our Upcoming Movies, with tie-ins section:

10/03 - Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

Director: Peter Sollett

Starring: Michael Cera, Kat Dennings

Based on: Nick and Norah’s Infinte Playlist

Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

• Paperback - Movie Tie-In: $7.99
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Pub. Date: August 26, 2008
• ISBN-13: 9780375846144

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10/03 - What Just Happened?

Director: Barry Levinson

Starring: Robert De Niro, Catherine Keener, Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, Kristen Stewart, Robin Wright Penn, Michael Wincott, Lily Rabe

Based on: What Just Happened?: Bitter Hollywood Tales from the Front Line

Art Linson

• Paperback: no price; listed as “not yet available”
• Publisher: Grove Press; Revised edition (October 3, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0802143385
• ISBN-13: 978-0802143389

If you haven’t seen it already, stop whatever you’re doing and take a look at the Marley and Me trailer. Like me, you may find yourself playing it repeatedly. It gives you real hope for the film (as does the fact that it is directed by David Frankel who also directed The Devil Wears Prada). The movie is scheduled for 12/25.

Brideshead Revisited did well in the box office last weekend despite it’s limited release and will open in more theaters this Friday.

The Time Travelers Wife, which looked like it was lost in production for a while (it was originally scheduled for June and then dropped out of sight), has resurfaced with a 12/25 opening date. Still no word on what’s happened to The Friday Night Knitting Club.

The teen movie Angus,Thongs and Perfect Snogging has opened to good reviews in the UK. Someone must have gotten cold feet about the title. As the Telegraph notes, 

Bad title? It could have been worse. At one point, the posters for Gurinder Chadha’s adaptation of two Louise Rennison books read as Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: not just lame [Ed. note; hey, wait a minute -- it didn't hurt the book any!], but - given the rating - a violation of the Trade Descriptions Act.

The review goes on to say the movie is “premium-grade candyfloss, sugared by some of the director’s best choices to date.” That director is Gurinder Chadha, known for Bride and Prejudice, Bend It Like Beckham and Bhaji on the Beach. According to Variety, a US release date has not been set yet.

Below are the new additions, by release date, to our listing of Upcoming Movies, with tie-ins. Links to trailers, when available, appear at the right, under “Books to Movies.”

The first trailer for the movie of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince just appeared on the Web and has fans atwitter. It will appear in theaters this Friday. The movie is scheduled to release 11/21.

MTV has already done an “exhaustive” shot-by-shot analysis. and the site Rotten Tomatoes thinks it contains a spoiler. The big news is that the trailer shows Voldemort as a child. Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch Blog says the “gray, bleak dread here is unrelenting,” which is odd, since star Danial Radcliffe told the L.A. Times in March that the movie is “the funniest of the films so far.”

The last book in the series, HP and the Deathly Hallows, is being filmed as two movies, to be released Nov, 2010 and May, 2011.

You may have noticed in our listings of movie tie-ins, that Harper has developed “I Can Reads” to tie in to both Iron Man and the Dark Knight.

Slate takes a look at this phenomenon in a slide show/essay, “See Iron Man Run; Hollywood Wants to Teach Your Kid to Read.” Tracing the history of early readers, beginning with Dr. Seuss, the article points out what makes a really good early reader, with some great examples. And now, Frog and Toad now have company;

Some of this summer’s hottest new early readers are based on movies like Prince Caspian (PG), Iron Man (PG-13), The Incredible Hulk (PG-13), and The Dark Knight (PG-13). In fact, at many chain bookstores there is now a specifically labeled “At the Movies” tier on the early-reader rack.

The article is aimed at helping parents select good titles and most of the movie tie-in titles fall short, although “some of them are not awful.” I Am Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda: Po’s Crash Course get the best marks.

The author tells parents, “Because there are so many early readers to choose from, I suggest enlisting the help of a savvy librarian or bookseller in the selection process.”

Kung Fu Panda: Po’s Crash Course

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
• Paperback: $3.99
• Publisher: HarperTrophy (April 22, 2008)
• ISBN-10: 0061434612
• ISBN-13: 978-0061434617

The movie version of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons has been shooting in Rome, with an expected release date of May, 2009.

The NY Times recently ran a story about an anticipated increase in tourism to Rome because of the movie (the Da Vinci Code did wonders for French and Scottish tourism). On Saturday, the Boston Globe took a look at the “Angels and Demons” tours that are already gearing up. By the way, if you want to doing your own Angels and Demons tour can prove difficult; Brown’s book is not exactly geographically accurate.

As you may have heard, the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight broke box office records this weekend. The effect on books was pretty stunning as well.

Curiously, in books, it is the NEXT Batman movie (I should have said, “the NEXT movie based on a famous DC Comics series.”  Thanks for the correction, Katie and the others who wrote in!) that generated the most sales. Not due out until March 2009, anticipation for the Watchmen is already building. A Watchmen trailer preceded showings of Dark Knight, sending the book it’s based on to #2 over the weekend (still not managing to unseat Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn) where it remains. (For Watchmen titles, see earlier post).

Below are the other Batman titles now on the Amazon Top 100:

#12 Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 

by Frank Miller, Lynn Varley (Colorist), Klaus Janson (Illustrator) 

Listed as not in stock until August 24

• Paperback: $14.00
• Publisher: DC Comics; 10 Anv edition (May 1, 1997)
• ISBN-10: 1563893428
• ISBN-13: 978-1563893421