Bookshelf to Screen: Seven Old Favorites Getting the Film Treatment This Fall (And Beyond)

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Adapting literature into movies is nothing new, of course, but it sure feels like there's a lot of that going on this fall, doesn't it? Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers' Where The Wild Things Are is generating most of the buzz (check out Paste's September issue for more on that), but a slew of other much-beloved stories are getting the silver screen treatment, too—some for the first time, others not so much. Here's a look at the classics coming soon to a cinema near you, and check back soon for more peeps at upcoming book-to-film adaptations.

A Christmas Carol
Release date: Nov. 6, 2009
Source material: Charles Dickens' 1843 novel A Christmas Carol—which, as we know, no one has ever attempted to adapt as a film ever before.
Director/screenwriter: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Voices of Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn and more


The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Release date: Nov. 25, 2009
Source material: Roald Dahl's 1970 children's novel of the same name, trading in Quentin Blake's darling original illustrations for stunning stop-motion animation.
Director/screenwriter: Wes Anderson
Starring: Voices of Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman and more


Where The Wild Things Are
Release Date: Oct. 16, 2009
Source material: Maurice Sendak's 1963 picture book of the same name (and, most likely, a good bit of Eggers' The Wild Things novelization).
Director: Spike Jonze
Screenwriter: Dave Eggers
Starring: Catherine Keener, Max Records, Mark Ruffalo and the voices of Lauren Ambrose, James Gandolfini, Forest Whitaker and more