Cloud Atlas
The book adaptation is a permanent feature of the big screen as some of the best and much loved novels are made into movies.
This week sees Cloud Atlas get the silver screen treatment and we take a look at some of the novels that are being turned into films over the next twelve months.
- Cloud Atlas
Let's kick off with Cloud Atlas a complex and multi-storied novel by David Mitchell.
The film sees Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer and Andy Wachowski return to the director's chair for what is set to be a complex and sprawling film.
Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving and Jim Sturgess are just some of the names on a very impressive cast list - and they will all be playing multiple roles throughout the film.
Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future.
Action, mystery and romance weave dramatically through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future.
Having read the novel Cloud Atlas is a huge undertaking as a film project and it promises to be like nothing else that we see this year.
- The Great Gatsby
One of the book adaptations that I am really looking forward to in 2013 is The Great Gatsby as Baz Luhrmann returns to the director's chair.
The movie is an adaptation of the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald and sees Luhrmann reunite with Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time since Romeo and Juliet.
DiCaprio leads a terrific cast as Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton and Isla Fishers are all set to star.
Early footage from the film promises to be a visual treat as the director brings the 1920's alive.
Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbour, Jay Gatsby.
He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.
- The Host
Stephenie Meyer has already enjoyed huge box office success with The Twilight Saga being a box office smash and now The Host has been adapted for the big screen.
This time around we are treated to a sci-fi story as Andrew Niccol takes the reigns of the project.
Saoirse Ronan has delivered some terrific performances during her short career and she will take on the lead role of Melanie Stryder in the film.
She is joined on the cast list by Diane Kruger, Jake Abel, Max Iron and William Hurt.
The Host is a riveting story about the survival of love and the human spirit in a time of war. Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy.
Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact. Most of humanity has succumbed.
- Parker
You have got to love a bit of Jason Statham and he is back on the big screen later this year with his new action film Parker.
The movie sees Statham doing what he does best - kicking the crap out of the bad guys - as he teams up with Jennifer Lopez for the very first time.
The film is a big screen adaptation of Flashfire - the nineteenth novel in the Parker series - by Donald Westlake.
Taylor Hackford is in the director's chair for the film while John J. McLaughlin has penned the screenplay.
Parker (Statham), is a hardened professional criminal who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, living by his own code of ethics - don’t steal from people who can’t afford it and don’t hurt people who don’t deserve it.
But when he’s double-crossed by his crew and left for dead, it’s time for payback.
Assuming a disguise and forming an unlikely alliance with a sexy local Palm Beach resident (Lopez), he tracks down the gang, aiming to take everyone out and hijack the score of their latest heist.
- Safe Haven
Nicholas Sparks has been an author who has had a range of his novels adapted for the big screen including The Notebook, Dear John and A Walk To Remember.
Safe Haven is the latest novel of his to get the big screen treatment as Lasse Hallström returns to the director's chair.
This is the first film for Hallström since the super charming Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.
Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel lead the cast while Noah Lomax and Cobie Smulders also star.
A young woman with a mysterious past lands in Southport, North Carolina where her bond with a widower forces her to confront the dark secret that haunts her.
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
If there is one book adaptation that everyone is excited about this year then it is The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - the second film in the franchise.
The Hunger Games was a huge box office success last summer and saw Jennifer Lawrence turn into heroine Katniss Everdeen.
She is back in the lead role while Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson and Elizabeth Banks are also back.
But there are some excited additions as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jena Malone and Sam Claflin.
The film follows Katniss and Peeta as they return to the arena for the Quarter Quell - but things are not as they seem.
Cloud Atlas is released 22nd February
Tagged in The Hunger Games