Great adaptations? Books coming to a screen near you

Nobody would ever accuse Hollywood of bursting at the seams with originality but even by its usual standards the entertainment industry has been lifting ideas from other sources with remarkable enthusiasm lately. The year ahead will see the latest instalment in a multibillion-dollar franchise based on a range of spiky toys with weird names – that’s Transformers, not the new Fifty Shades of Grey – while the comic book juggernaut is set to roll on as usual (it’s January, you’re glum, we’ll skirt around the grim reality that a Batman v Superman follow-up is indeed on the way).

But it’s books that have proved the most fertile inspiration with every genre imaginable eagerly tapped by cinema and television – from fantasy and science fiction via classical literature and sadistic slap and tickle (Fifty Shades of Grey, not Transformers). Judging by past results, many of these adaptations will bear at best a vague resemblance to the source material (Blade Runner, for example, omitted a detail or three in its retelling of Philip K Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – the sheep for starters). However, a worthy few will evoke the original work and one or two may even surpass it. Here we have collected a list of the adaptations to watch for.

Silence

What's it about?
Liam Neeson takes a break from bashing Euro-villains with his fists to play a Jesuit missionary bashing the unsuspecting citizens of feudal Japan with the word of God. When he vanishes, two disciples – Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver – set off to solve his disappearance.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Martin Scorsese had plotted an adaptation of Shusaku Endo's 1966 novel for years and the consensus is that he has been loyal to the novel's contemplative cadences and serious minded about the theological questions posed by the author.

Should I read it?
A slow-moving inquiry into the mystery of belief set against the backdrop of the pre-industrial shogunate is not for everyone. However, Endo offers deep insights into faith and humanity and, for those who stay the course, the novel yields a lingering magic.

How long do I have to read it?
Not terribly long…it was released on January 1at.

Live By Night

What's it about?
Ben Affleck is a cocksure Twenties gangster whose romance with a Cuban rum-runner brings down the wrath of the Ku Klux Klan. Elle Fanning, meanwhile, pops up as a drug-addicted actress turned moral crusader

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Too faithful, with writer/director/star Affleck insisting on cramming in many of the subplots and minor characters from Denis Lehane's 2012 novel.

Should I read it?
The Batfleck's fourth feature as director is glib and self-regarding, with scenes given over to its star looking moody in a panama hat. Don't let that put you off as the Lehane original a bustling caper that evokes the sleaze and excitement of the jazz age.

How long do I have to read it?
Live By Night was released last Thursday.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events

What's it about?
When the Baudelaire children lose their parents to a suspicious fire, they are sent to live with their wicked guardian, Count Olaf. Cue baroque song and dance numbers, mordant humour and deadpan dialogue as Netflix brings the cult children's series to the screen.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Author Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) helped write the eight part-series which is considerably more faithful to his best-selling children's novels than a clunking 2004 film version starring Jim "please take me seriously as an actor" Carrey as Count Olaf. This time, the villain's role goes to a joyously mugging Neil Patrick Harris.

Should I read it?
The books bring their own gothic pleasure. They are lovingly produced, with evocative illustrations and a vintage hard cover format. Should your sense of humour run towards the grisly you will moreover enjoy Handler's wry prose – which the show has a stab at but never quite captures.

How long do I have to read it?
Not long – it was released on Netflix on Friday.

Lion

What's it about?
In the Oscars run-up, Nicole Kidman and Dev Patel try to grab the attention of the Academy with showy turns in this drama about an Indian urchin separated from his family and rescued from an orphanage by a middle-class Australian couple (Kidman is the mother). Now 25 later, the adult Saroo tries to reconnect with his lost brother – starting, inevitably, with a search on Google Maps.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
The real-life Saroo chronicled his heartbreaking childhood in a memoir, A Long Way Home. This being Hollywood, liberties have been taken and fictional characters – including Rooney Mara as Saroo's love interest – crowbarred in.

Should I read it?
The expected Oscar buzz has yet to manifest (despite the film being backed by long-time Academy whisperer Harvey Weinstein). But the original non-fiction book is still worth your time, as it clips through the facts in far punchier fashion than Garth Davis's overstuffed movie. On the page, moreover, the denouement is incredibly wrenching.

How long do I have to read it?
Until January 20th.

iBoy

What's it about?
A superhero story with a unique origin story, in iBoy teenager Tom (Bill Milner) develops superpowers after he is coshed over the head with a smartphone. Emboldened he sets out to wreak vengeance on the thugs who have menaced best friend Lucy (Game of Thrones's Maisie Williams)

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Both the movie and Kevin Brooks's pugilistic 2010 YA novel take as their backdrop the concrete badlands of outer London and it appears director Adam Randall has been at pains to evoke the source material's gritty sensibility.

Should I read it?
The novel is recommend for readers age 13 and above, though if you are resistant to YA fiction watching the movie will probably convey much the same experience.

How long do I have to read it?
iBoy debuts on Netflix on January 27th.

SS-GB

What's it about?
London has fallen to the Third Reich and the Swastika flutters from every lamp post in the UK. In this five-part alternative history from the BBC, written by James Bond screen writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, dark dealings are afoot in a Seventies Britain firmly under the Nazi jackboot. In this age of Brexit and the alt.right, it should make for a chillingly timely watch. Control's Sam Riley plays a minor cop drawn into a murky conspiracy.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
In its broader details it appears the screenwriters have held true to Len Deighton's 1977 novel, which imagined Britain overwhelmed by German sea invasion in 1940, with Churchill executed and George VI chucked into the Tower of London. It's Netflix's The Crown meets Philip K Dick's The Man in the High Castle.

Should I read it?
Even setting aside its fascinating counter-factual aspects, the book is an old-fashioned romp, that piles on the mystery in suffocating layers. Our advice is to dash out and procure a copy immediately.

How long do I have to read it?
TBC…February likely

Fifty Shades Darker

What's it about?
It's a case of spank you and good night as the second instalment of the Fifty Shades S&M saga reaches the screen. A mildly embarrassed Jamie Dornan returns as businessman / bondage enthusiast Christian Grey.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
The EL James novel is regarded as the kinkiest in the series – though the first movie toned down much of the bedroom excesses. Once again, expect a relatively restrained tour of the rough 'n' tumble side of romance.

Should I read it?
Nobody's stopping you – though we would be grateful if you would refrain from providing us with plot updates while we're eating.

How long do I have?
Until February 10th.

Trainspotting 2

What's it about?
Your favourite Edinburgh smackheads are back, still communicating in Irvine Welsh's tone-poem street slang. More than 20 years since Renton absconded with the loot at the end of the first movie, the old gang reach out to him at his club in Amsterdam. The idea is that they all go into the pornography business together and make a packet. What could possibly go awry?

Will it stay faithful to the book?
They've changed the name from Porno to Transpotting 2 which isn't the most positive of starts. However, Danny Boyle returns to direct and will no doubt prove once again that he is the perfect pick to translate Welsh's scorched-earth dialogue and woozy prose to screen.

Should I read it?
Your enjoyment of the film won't be impacted either way – but if you have a weakness for Scottish street-slang and gross-out set-ups…well, why not?

How long do I have to read it?
Until March 3rd.

Electric Dreams: The World of Philip K Dick

What's it about?
Channel 4 pulls a Black Mirror with a dystopian anthology series tapping into the paranoid visions of science fiction's most deranged visionary. Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston will star, with Battlestar Galactica show runner Ronald D Moore presiding over the nightmare-scape.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
PKD's work is often unfilmable, with screen adaptations mostly swapping out his feverish sensibility for a more generic "cyberpunk" aesthetic (a movement that did not even exist during Dick's lifetime). It remains to be seen whether this latest tilt at bringing him into our living rooms will be any different, though Moore's involvement is a positive note (we can at least assume he is familiar with the author's output).

Should I read it?
Philip K Dick was a genius, though those who pick up his work expect Star Wars-style sci-fi are likely to be simultaneously frazzled and underwhelmed. Go for it – but be aware he isn't for everyone.

How long do I have to read it?
Spring.

Wilson

What's it about?
The eponymous protagonist (Woody Harrelson) is a middle-aged curmudgeon slouching through life. When he discovers that he has a teenage daughter who was put up for adoption, he resolves to track her down and make something of their time together.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Hopefully not. Daniel Clowes's original comic strip was a collection of meandering vignettes, with little in the way of plot.

Should I read it?
Clowes is worth discovering – no other writer, in graphic novels or any other genre, captures the often crushing tedium of suburbia so effectively.

How long do I have to read it?
Until March 24th.

The Lost City of Z

What's it about?
Sons of Anarchy's Charlie Hunnam plays an early 20th-century British cavalry officer who becomes obsessed with discovering a mythic metropolis in the deepest Amazon. Back home – in Cork! – meanwhile his wife (Sienna Miller) and children must pay the price for his long absences and deepening obsession.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Percy Fawcett was a real-life explorer who – mild spoiler alert – vanished along with his son while searching for the Lost City of "Z" (his name) in 1925. It remains to be same how true to the original tale the film will cleave.

Should I read it?
David Grann's 2009 book – expanded from an earlier New Yorker piece – paints a gripping portrait of obsession and and evokes a time, not terribly long ago, when vast swathes of the planet were still largely undiscovered. It's a rollicking chunk of period reportage.

How long do I have to read it?
Until March 24th.

Ghost in the Shell

What's it about?
Scarlett Johansson plays a cyborg killing machine whose violent flashbacks hint at a past life.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Unlikely – the movie, directed by Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman), is in large part inspired by a 1995 anime feature which was, in turn, adapted from a manga comic book. Controversy has already attended the casting of a Western actress in the lead. Other aspects of the story will surely have been tinkered with along the way too.

Should I read it?
Dark Horse comics has published translations of the original strip, though they are currently out of print. Mint editions of the graphic novel can cost upwards of $139. Best wait for Scarlett, perhaps.

How long do I have to read it?
Until March 31st.

The Handmaid’s Tale

What's it about?
America has fallen victim to a right-wing dictatorship and the Old Testament is now the ultimate source of law (yes there's a Donald Trump joke in there somewhere…but honestly.. could you be bothered?). Oh and women are mostly sterile, with the few who are fertile kept as "breeding tools".

Will it stay faithful to the book?
The broad sweep of a television series will presumably give the producers greater scope to stay true to Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel. Joseph Fiennes will hope to shrug off the ongoing Michael Jackson "white-face" controversy to play a wicked apparatchik who arranges for a slave woman to provide him with children.

Should I read it?
Without question – Atwood evokes the horrors of a dystopian future with bare-boned prose and sharply drawn characters. Whether it will enhance your experience of the series is too early to say. But the book is nonetheless worth spending quality time with.

How long do I have to read it?
Until April 26th.

The Circle

What's it about?
Imagine if a major tech corporations such as Apple, Google or Facebook was in truth a wicked profit machine intent at stripping away your privacy? Far fetched but stay with us as we tell you that The Circle stars Emma Watson as a young employee at a tech giant who gradually finds her sense of identity eroded.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Dave Eggers novels are invariably a triumph of tone and dialogue over plot. So if The Circle does hold true to his 2013 book, don't count on too many riveting action scenes.

Should I read it?
Eggers's sentimental style is an acquired taste – by all means dip in but aware that his prose can veer towards cloying.

How long do I have to read it?
Until April.

American Gods

What's it about?
Having run dry of believers in the old country, the deities of Norse myth have relocated to North America, where they merrily continue their feuding and flirting. Ian McShane stars as one-eyed god Odin. There's a sentence we've waited years to write.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
The 2001 Neil Gaiman novel is a proper blockbuster, crammed with plot. He's involved with the adaptation, though it seems that some of his denser storylines will be stripped away. It has also been confirmed that he has developed an original character especially for the Amazon adaptation.

Should I read it?
Gaiman divides opinion among fantasy and horror fans. Some in the community reckon American Gods is an overcooked load of smite. But if you can adjust yourself to the multitude of narrative strands and sometimes languid pace, his world-building is awe-invoking.

How long do I have to read it?
Until April.

Alias Grace

What's it about?
You wait an eternity for an Margaret Atwood adaptation (well some of us do) then come along two – and on rival streaming services to boot. Unlike The Handmaid's Tale, Alias Grace is a historical novel based on the true story of a housekeeper convicted in 1843 of killing her employer and another servant.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Netflix is renowned for letting show-runners tell their stories in whatever fashion they deem fit. One imagines, the makers of Alias Grace will be at liberty to incorporate as much of the source material as they consider appropriate.

Should I read it?
Atwood utilises a stream of consciousness, with results that may jar if you are expecting a straightforward true crime read.

How long do I have to read it?
TBC

Captain Underpants

What's it about?
In suburban America two 10-year-olds accidentally bring to life an imaginary comic book hero, the titular Captain Underpants. Yes, it's for kids.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
The Dreamworks film will depart from the popular books in at least one key aspect – Captain Underpants starts out as an unpleasant school principal rather than as, in the novels, a copybook doodle brought to life.

Should I read it?
Your enjoyment of a animated feature about a super hero in giant Y-fronts will be in no way impeded by failure to study the source material.

How long do I have to read it?
Until May 26th.

My Cousin Rachel

What's it about?
Daphne du Maurier's classic mystery-romance is set amid the dramatic cliffs and cornices of a postwar Cornwall estate. Rachel Weisz will don vintage skirts to play a love interest who may be more than she seems (and not in a good way).

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Too early to say, with only a few stills from the Roger Mitchell-directed feature yet released. That said, Weisz has a track record in projecting moral ambivalence while wearing period-appropriate frocks.

How long do I have to read it?
Until June 9th.

The Dark Tower

What's it about?
Stephen King regards this sprawling western-dark fantasy hybrid as his definitive work. The slipstream romp will be brought to the screen by Danish writer/director Nikolaj Arcel, with Idris Elba as mysterious gunslinger Roland and Matthew McConaughey as a "vicious sorcerer". Are you going to say "no" to a movie in which Matthew McConaughey plays a vicious sorcerer?

Will it stay faithful to the book?
The eight-volume saga flips between timelines, dimensions and genres. The movie, however, is billed as a sequel that builds upon the events in the final scene of the last book. King will be a jumping-off point rather than the guiding light.

Should I read it?
The Dark Tower is a pulp masterpiece and will, it appears, enhance your understanding of the film.

How long do I have to read it?
Until July 28th.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

What's it about?
Two space-and-time travel agents (Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne) hopscotch across the universe for a series of mind-bending, budget busting adventures. Bizarre aliens and swooping star ships feature prominently in the synapse-frying trailer.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
The 1967 comic book was a hit in its native France but is hardly a household franchise elsewhere, meaning director Luc Besson has carte blanche to utilise whatever aspects of the original story he sees fit as he returns to science fiction for the first time since The Fifth Element.

Should I read it?
Fourteen English-language volumes of the Valérian and Laureline comic strip have been published – a boon to anyone who enjoys fast-moving escapism with an eye for spectacle.

How long do I have to read it?
Until August 4th.

The Coldest City

What's it about?
Intelligence agencies have been in the spotlight recently so this trip back to the late Cold War feels timely. With the Berlin War poised to fall, British counter-espionage agents are being targeted by a mysterious assailant. Into the gloom is parachuted MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) with orders to save Britain's most sensitive files from slipping into the wrong hands.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
The 2012 graphic novel by Anthony Johnston was a slow-burn masterpiece – director David Leitch (who had an unlikely previous life as Brad Pitt's stunt double) will surely use it as a roadmap.

Should I read it?
Johnston's original is a gripping read – but haven't we had enough for the moment of crazy capers involves spooks from the United States, Russia and Britain?

How long do I have to read it?
Until August 11th.

It

What's it about?
The clock has just struck Creepy Clown O'Clock, with this adaptation of the Stephen King's 1986 bestseller. Seven children are victims of the "It" of the title, who targets his prey by assuming the form of their greatest fear (hence the clown).

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Stephen King adaptations are a mixed bag and all of five writers are credited with the script to It (one of whom, True Detective season one director Cary Fukunaga, was initially to oversee the film). A muddled production or smorgasbord of talent? It remains to be seen.

Should I read it?
The novel functions both as a straight-up chiller and as an unnerving meditation on small-town life and its multitude of hypocrisies. King's prose doesn't sing, exactly, but he provides a dependably sturdy narrative.

How long do I have to read it?
Until September 8th

Murder on the Orient Express

What's it about?
A train,a dead body, a Cluedo box worth of possible suspects – what else do you need? Kenneth Branagh directs an adaptation of the 1934 Agatha Christie classic from a screenplay by Michael Green (also co-writer of the forthcoming Bladerunner sequel). An appropriately glammy cast is headed by Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench and Penelope Cruz, with Star Wars' Daisy Ridley also starring.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Expect the feverish claustrophobia of the original to be retained even as the plot details are fine-tuned for modern sensibilities.

Should I read it?
Christie is regarded as a quaint read nowadays, though many crime aficionados continue to hold a candle for her. There's not much grit or fashionable moodiness – but her prose has a wry style and is shot through with bleak humour.

How long do I have to read it?
Until November 24th

The Cuckoo’s Calling

What's it about?
The first in a triptych of adaptations of JK Rowling's Cormoran Strike detective novels (originally published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith). Strike is a hard-bitten investigator with a background in the British intelligence services and, oh yes, a rock star father. Tom Burke dons the tatty overcoat of our huffing anti-hero.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Rowling is executive producing the BBC series so we can assume any diversions from the books will have her blessing.

Should I read it?
The Strike books were released under an assumed name because Rowling wanted to avoid the Potter hype that dogged her every undertaking. And they were positively reviewed, even before their provenance was rumbled. Even if you couldn't tell a muggle from a monkey, here Rowling weaves a fascinating tale.

How long do I have to read it?
Late 2017.

Today Will Be Different

What's it about?
Fed up with being walked all over by family and colleagues, Eleanor Grant (Julia Roberts) resolves to set right the wrongs in her life. She confronts her wasteful husband, her lazy son and a co-worker who has damaged her career, with the action unfolding in a single day.

Will it stay faithful to the book?
Roberts is on board as producer so will have considerable say regarding the tone of the mini-series. However, the author of the original comedic novel, Maria Semple, has been hired to write – so expect the film to echo the sensibility of the book.

Should I read it?
Former Arrested Development scriptwriter Semple is a master of socially awkward comedy – Today Will Be Different is both hilarious and perceptive. That's a yes from us.

When's it out?
Late 2017.