Category: News - NovelPro Junkie

Book-based film 'The Invisible Man' vanishes its competitors to dominate the box office

3/1/2020

Leigh Whannell's take to the classic novel The Invisible Man is dominating the box office. It made $26 million in its opening weekend. The film has also gain a strong critical and audience review.

The Second spot goes to Sonic the Hedgehog, a video-game adaptation film, with $15 million. So far it has made a total of $127 million.

The number three spot goes to another book-based film titled The Call of the Wild ( which is also based on a classic novel). It brought in $11 million and has made a total of $79 million so far.

Source material: variety.com

NAACP Image Award Winners & A Special Announcement

2/24/2020

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
Since the month of February celebrates African American History and the month of March celebrates Irish American Heritage Month, Novelpro Junkie will bring attention to some books and their film adaptation from these two cultures. This is to bring cultural awareness and educate others on their contribution to the arts. (hashtag: #Spotlighonbook/movie)

I will leave clues on my pinterest account(which would be shared on twitter) on which book/movie will be posted the next day. I hope you retweet/like/share these clues and challenge yourself to GUESS WHICH BOOK/MOVIE that i'll post on my blog the next day. Share the tweets with your families and friends to help you out on the GUESSING GAME (#guessthebook/movie) and support their work by purchasing the movie/book.

I also want to congrats NAACP 2020 winners. I hope they enjoy the ceremony and had a memorable night. Again, congrats to the following winners:

Outstanding Comedy Series
black-ish
Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson, black-ish
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Deon Cole, black-ish
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Marsai Martin, black-ish
Outstanding Drama Series
Greenleaf
Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series
Omari Hardwick, Power
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series
Harold Perrineau, Claws
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
Lynn Whitfield, Greenleaf
Outstanding Television Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special
When They See Us
Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special
Jharrel Jerome, When They See Us
Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special
Niecy Nash, When They See Us
Outstanding News/Information (Series or Special)
Unsung
Outstanding Talk Series
Red Table Talk
Outstanding Reality Program/Reality Competition Series/Game Show
Rhythm + Flow
Outstanding Variety (Series or Special)
Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé
Outstanding Children’s Program
Family Reunion
Outstanding Performance by a Youth (Series, Special, Television Movie or Limited-Series)
Marsai Martin, black-ish
Outstanding Host in a Talk or News/Information (Series or Special) – Individual or Ensemble
Jada Pinkett Smith, Red Table Talk
Outstanding Host in a Reality/Reality Competition, Game Show or Variety (Series or Special) – Individual or Ensemble
Steve Harvey, Celebrity Family Feud
Outstanding Guest Performance in a Comedy or Drama Series
Kelly Rowland, American Soul
Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction
The Revisioners, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction
The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations, Toni Morrison
Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author
I Am Dance: Words and Images of the Black Dancer, Hal Banfield (Author), Javier Vasquez (Illustrator)
Outstanding Literary Work – Biography/Autobiography
More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say), Elaine Welteroth
Outstanding Literary Work – Instructional
Your Next Level Life: 7 Rules of Power, Confidence, And Opportunity For Black Women In America, Karen Arrington (Author), Joanna Price (Illustrator), Sheryl Taylor (Forward)
Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry
Felon: Poems, Reginald Dwayne Betts
Outstanding Literary Work – Children
Sulwe, Lupita Nyong’o (Author), Vashti Harrison (Illustrator), (Simon & Schuster, BFYR)
Outstanding Literary Work – Youth/Teens
Around Harvard Square, C.J. Farley (Akashic Books)
Outstanding Breakthrough Performance in a Motion Picture
Marsai Martin, Little
Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture
Just Mercy
Outstanding Independent Motion Picture
Dolemite is My Name
Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance (Television or Film)
James Earl Jones, The Lion King
Outstanding Documentary (Film)
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
Outstanding Documentary (Television – Series or Special)
Hitsville: The Making of Motown
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series
Cord Jefferson, The Good Place, "Tinker, Tailor, Demon, Spy"
Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series
Nichelle Tramble Spellman, Truth Be Told, "Monster"
Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Television)
Suzan-Lori Parks, Native Son
Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Film)
Jordan Peele, Us
Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series
Anya Adams, GLOW, "Outward Bound"
Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Power, "Forgot About Dre"
Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Television)
Rashid Johnson, Native Son
Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture (Film)
Chiwetel Ejiofor, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Marsai Martin, Little
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Jamie Foxx, Just Mercy
Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
Tracee Ellis Ross, Blackish
Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series
Angela Bassett, 9-1-1
Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
Lupita Nyong'o, Us

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Michael B. Jordan, Just Mercy
Outstanding Motion Picture
Just Mercy

For the Full List of the Winner, go to billboard.com

Pinocchio and Bambi get the Disney's live action treatment

1/25/2020

With the success of live-action remake of The Jungle Book, Aladdin, and The Lion King, Disney studio has more remakes on the horizon. This time it's Bambi (authored by Felix Salten) and Pinocchio(authored by Carlo Collodi)'s turn to take suit. Bambi will follow the similar animation as The Jungle Book and The Lion King. Chris Weltz, Paul Weltz, and Andrew Miano ( Depth of Field production) will produce the project. Writing the script are Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. No director has been announced yet for Bambi.

Pinocchio is next as well. This project will be similar to the live-action remake of Aladdin which had live-action performances and real-world sets that interact with digitally invented characters. Tom Hanks is currently in talks to play Geppetto. Robert Zemeckis, an Oscar-winning filmmaker, will direct and co-write the feature.

Source material: deadline.com

Photos from the film adaptation of The Turning (based on a novella)

10/8/2019

Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, here are official photos of The Turning. Starring Ms. Mackenzie Davis (The Martian), Brooklynn Prince (The One and Only Ivan), and Finn Wolfhard (IT, The Goldfinch), The Turning is based on hauntingly good novella ( The Turn of the Screw) by Mr. Henry James. The movie will be directed by Floria Sigismondi. Roy Lee and Scott Bernstern are producing the feature. Writing the screenplay are Jade Barlett, Chad Hayes, and Carey W. Hayes.

The Turning will be release on January 24, 2020.

Here is the goodreads' synopsis of The Turn of the Screw by Mr. Henry James:

A very young woman's first job: governess for two weirdly beautiful, strangely distant, oddly silent children, Miles and Flora, at a forlorn estate...An estate haunted by a beckoning evil.

Half-seen figures who glare from dark towers and dusty windows- silent, foul phantoms who, day by day, night by night, come closer, ever closer. With growing horror, the helpless governess realizes the fiendish creatures want the children, seeking to corrupt their bodies, possess their minds, own their souls...

But worse-much worse- the governess discovers that Miles and Flora have no terror of the lurking evil.

For they want the walking dead as badly as the dead want them.

Source Material: http://ew.com

Interview with Mr. Adrian Mckinty, author of The Chain

10/4/2019

October is here and do i have an intense, thrilling novel for you. If you haven't heard of The Chain yet then you are in for a terrifying treat. This book, written by Mr. Adrian McKinty, has receive praises from Dennis Lehane, Tana French, and even Stephen King. Don Winslow, however, has the best line for this thrilling novel: "This book is Jaws for Parents."

So, I hope you take this time to know this author and how his latest novel came to be.

1. What is the genesis of your novel The Chain?

I wrote the first draft of The Chain in Mexico City in 2012 after learning about the Mexican concept of exchange kidnappings whereby a family member offers him- or herself as a replacement hostage for a more vulnerable kidnap victim. I tied that idea to an event from the late 1970s—the era of poisonous chain letters. The part of Ireland I grew up in was very superstitious and we completely believed in the power of written enchantments. My fifth-grade teacher told the class to bring in any of these letters that were upsetting us, and I gave her a chain letter that was worrying me. She destroyed it along with the others, defying the author’s promises of jinxes, disasters, and bad luck and effectively breaking the chain. This incident deeply impressed me as a kid and it stayed with me.

2. What research did you do when writing The Chain?

I did a lot of research on kidnappings for money, both historic kidnappings and current trends. The FBI has a database on kidnappings in the United States and very up to date stats.

3. What was your writing schedule when you wrote The Chain?

I wrote the book over about a year. Usually I would make the kids breakfast and get them to school in the mornings and then I would work in the afternoons before picking them up again. I tend to work best in daylight although sometimes when I have a deadline I will work late at night or even pull an all nighter.

4. Do you ever get writer’s block when writing The Chain? How did you get back on track?

I've had writers block in the past several times but not on this book. Once I had set up the logical elements of the premise it all flowed pretty logically from that. The book more or less wrote itself once the internal logic and clockwork was in place.

5. Which fictional character (besides yours) would you like to sit down and chat with?

I would love to talk to Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. I kind of fell in love with her when I did that book in school when I was 12 and I'm still a bit in love with her!

6. What was your favorite book when you were a kid? Do you have a favorite book now?

No question The Lord of the Rings when I was a kid. I read it four times. Now I don't really have a favourite book I have favourite writers: Don Winslow, James Ellroy, Jim Thompson, Dashiell Hammett, David Peace, Val McDermid, Lou Berney, Alicia Stallings, William Gibson, Jesmyn Ward, Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy, Steve Hamilton et al.

7. Congrats on your novel being made into a film by Paramount. Would you like to make a cameo?

It would have be a VERY small cameo. I am not a good actor!

8. Silly-Game question: From The Chain novel, could you please leaf through the pages and point at a random place. What is the full sentence? And what is the page number of this random sentence?

"The Google map making its own zodiac."
This is at the beginning of chapter 39 page 224 of the PDF (I'm in a coffee shop and dont have the book on me but its the beginning of chapter 39 a third of the way down the page)

9. How did you celebrate when your first novel "Dead I well May Be" got published?

I remember it very well. I was living in Denver and I took the wife and my daughter Arwynn (my daughter Sophie wasnt born yet) to a restaurant called Racines and we had a fantastic meal.

10. If you had to describe Mr. Don Winslow using three words, they would be?

Mensch. Genius. Mensch.

11. In your experience, what would you say it takes to be a successful author?

Dedication. 80% of everything is hanging on in there when the odds are against you. Eventually the Earth will spin on its ellipse and spring will come.

12. What’s the best advice you have ever received about writing?

Write every day even when you don't want to.

13. Have you ever considered writing a screenplay?

I love the screenplay form for its concision and haiku like beauty and would definitely like to write a screenplay or two.

14. Of the novellas you wrote, which one do you think would make a great movie or TV series and why?

I think my first book Dead I Well May Be has a lot of potential.

15. What is your favorite TV show that is currently on air?

I have loved all the seasons of Fargo and am looking forward to S4.

16. What do you love the most about Northern Ireland?

The craic.

17. Last question, which historical figure would you like to have tea with?

Without any doubt at all Socrates. What a brilliant, curious, inquiring mind.

So there you have it. A wonderful interview with a fantastic writer. I hope you go and check out The Chain and see what the fanfare is all about. It's the idyllic read for the October season. I would like to give my appreciation to Mr. Adrian Mckinty for giving up his time to answer my questions. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the readers for reading this and coming to my blog as well. I hope each and everyone of you have a joyful and happy October season. Take care.

Check out his CBS This Morning interview as well, if you will:

Dark Water(based on an article) Trailer will take you to troubled waters

9/18/2019

In the Tall Grass (based on a novella) Trailer is not for the faint of heart

9/17/2019

David Slade directs the film adaptation of Dark Harvest

9/15/2019

Mr. David Slade (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, 30 Days of Night) is directing the film adaptation of Dark Harvest. Michael Gilio is adapting the screenplay while David Manpearl and Matt Tolmach is producing the project.

Here is the goodread's synopsis of Dark Harvest, written by Norman Partridge:

Winner of the Bram Stoker Award and named one of the 100 Best Novels of 2006 by Publishers Weekly, Dark Harvest by Norman Patridge is a powerhouse thrill-ride with all the resonance of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery."

Halloween, 1963. They call him the October Boy, or Ol' Hacksaw Face, or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, everybody in this small Midwestern town knows who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.

Pete McCormick knows that killing the October Boy is his one chance to escape a dead-end future in this one-horse town. He's willing to risk everything, including his life, to be a winner for once. But before the night is over, Pete will look into the saw-toothed face of horror--and discover the terrifying true secret of the October Boy . . .

"This is contemporary American writing at its finest."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Dark Harvest.

Source Material: deadline.com

Hulu takes home 'The Mysterious Benedict Society' book series

9/15/2019

The Mysterious Benedict Society series has found a home in Hulu. The best selling YA novel, written by Trenton Lee steward, will be co-produce by Sonar Entertainment and Disney TV Studios' 20th Century Fox TV. Mr. Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay are writing the screenplay.

Mr. James Bobin is directing the pilot episode while Hay, Tarses, Manfredi, and Karen Sherwood are executive producing the project.

Here is the goodread's synopsis of The Mysterious Benedict Society(book one):

"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" ad attracts dozens for mind-bending tests readers may try. Only two boys and two girls succeed for a secret mission, undercover and underground into hidden tunnels. At the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, the only rule is - there are no rules.

Source material: deadline.com

Amanda Seyfried takes the lead in Netflix's All Things Heard & Seen

9/14/2019

Negotiations are currently going on in regard to Ms. Amanda Seyfried taking the lead in All Things Heard & Seen. Directing the project are Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (American Splendor). They will also adapt the screenplay. Peter Cron, Stefanie Azpiazu, and Anthony Bregman are producing it along with Ms. Julie Cohen. Hudson Valley, New York is where the production would take place. It starts in October 2019.

Here is the goodread's synopsis of All Things Cease to Appear (renamed All Things Heard & Seen for the film adaptation):

Late one winter afternoon in upstate New York, George Clare comes home to find his wife murdered and their three-year-old daughter alone--for how many hours?--in her room down the hall. He had recently, begrudgingly, taken a position at the private college nearby teaching art history, and moved his family into this tight-knit, impoverished town. And he is the immediate suspect--the question of his guilt echoing in a story shot through with secrets both personal and professional. While his parents rescue him from suspicion, a persistent cop is stymied at every turn in proving Clare a heartless murderer. The pall of death is ongoing, and relentless; behind one crime are others, and more than twenty years will pass before a hard kind of justice is finally served. At once a classic "who-dun-it" that morphs into a "why-and-how-dun-it," this is also a rich and complex portrait of a psychopath and a marriage, and an astute study of the various taints that can scar very different families, and even an entire community.

Source: HollywoodReporter.com