Bookshelf to Screen: Eight New Classics Becoming Movies This Fall (And Beyond)

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Last week, we took a look at seven old favorite books getting the film treatment this fall (and beyond—damn you, Alice in Wonderland, March is too long to wait!). A few readers piped up to ask inquire the absence of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men in that roundup, but never fear, it wasn't forgotten. David Foster Wallace's short story collection, like the other seven picks on this week's list, just aren't quite "old favorite" material yet—but check back in ten years or so. By then, we may know better which of these titles will stand the test of time, and how their film adaptations stack up.

The Road
Release date: Nov. 25, 2009
Source material: Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel could be heavy lifting, but the director was specifically tapped for the project before the book was even published, so we're feeling good about it (despite the overwrought trailer).
Director: John Hillcoat
Screenwriter: Joe Penhall
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron
(Watch trailer here).


Youth In Revolt
Release date: Oct. 30, 2009
Source material: C.D. Payne's Youth In Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp, published in 1993, back when Michael Cera was but a wee man-boy.
Director: Miguel Arteta
Screenwriter: Gustin Nash
Starring: Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis, Portia Doubleday


Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
Release date: Sept. 18, 2009
Source material: Judi and Ron Barrett's 1978 picture book, which framed the tale of spontaneous culinary precipitation as a charming breakfast-time story, rendered in charming, simple illustrations. But, shamefully, food falling from the sky seems to be the only common element between the book and the movie. Excuse my ire, but this is literally the first book I remember reading in kindergarten, and I feel it deserves far more than the obvious CGI, inane mad-scientist protagonist and superfluous backstory Sony's conjured up for it.
Directors/screenwriters: Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Starring: Voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Neil Patrick Harris, Mr. T, Al Roker (yes, really) and more


The Lovely Bones
Release date: Jan. 15, 2010
Source material: Alice Sebold's breathtaking, heartbreaking first novel, published in 2002.
Director: Peter Jackson
Screenwriters: Jackson, Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens
Starring: Saoise Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon