1 'Where the Wild Things Are'
For a long, long time no one thought Maurice Sendak’s 1963 book “Where the Wild Things Are” could be brought to the big screen. But Sendak selected co-writer/director Spike Jonze to take on the project, and the rest is (a long, complicated, expensive) history.
This certainly isn’t the first time the cinematic adaptation of a book has been risky business. With that, a look back at the risks and results of other recent page-to-screen gambles. – Matt Pais
2 'Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' (2001)
Why: Seriously, Peter Jackson? As if anyone could adapt J.R.R. Tolkien’s dense journey, much less while filming them all at once?
Result: Oh, just a gigantic, worldwide smash, including a great film (“Fellowship”), a decent one (“Two Towers”) and a good one (“Return of the King”) that won Best Picture and earned Jackson a Best Director prize. Plus nine other Oscars.
3 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone' (2001)
Why: J.K. Rowling’s richly detailed fantasy series swept the entire world, but just because a magical world works on paper doesn’t mean a filmmaker can capture all of the little quirks and flourishes of imagination that make the book shine.
Result: Hiring director Chris Columbus was a bad call. So was hiring child actors not yet ready for the big time. Fortunately, Columbus was out after “Chamber of Secrets,” and Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have, with this year’s “Half-Blood Prince,” finally all grown into their roles.
4 'The Passion of the Christ' (2004)
Why: If we have to explain it, perhaps you’ve never heard of the book.
Result: Mega, mega-controversy, but still a film that earned heaps of money and certainly captured the visceral experience of unyielding pain. Me, I prefer Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto.”
5 'The Da Vinci Code' (2006)
Why: Say what you want about Dan Brown’s writing style (and I will too; it stinks), the guy had seemingly everyone everywhere reading his religious thriller. And controversial religious content plus Tom Hanks in ridiculous hair is a good formula to get people riled up.
Result: A major success by a junky movie that in 2009 yielded an even junkier one (“Angels and Demons”).
6 'Brokeback Mountain' (2006)
Why: A tender story about the love between two men (and cowboys, nonetheless) is guaranteed to be a hot-button debate in America. And director Ang Lee’s take on Annie Proulx’s short story received plenty of it.
Result: A very good film, featuring a great performance by Heath Ledger, that unfortunately lost Best Picture to the far inferior “Crash.”
7 'The Kite Runner' (2007)
Why: Khaled Hosseini deals with difficult elements of Afghan culture, and Marc Forster’s film brought with it plenty of challenges and concerns for the young actors, due to Afghan feelings about the subject matter.
Result: What seemed like a legitimate Oscar contender didn’t make much noise during awards season. Why? The film was slow, heavy on coincidence and just not very good.
8 'Twilight' (2008)
Why: Stephanie Meyer’s series about forbidden vampire love has such a stronghold on teen hearts that the pressure was on to make Edward and Bella’s desire come alive on film, without getting too cheesy about it.
Result: Robert Pattinson is now a superstar, the series is still super-popular, “New Moon” opens Nov. 20 … and the first “Twilight” movie, aside from Pattinson’s performance,” was pretty lame.
9 'Watchmen' (2009)
Why: Many considered the graphic novel unfilmable, and creator Alan Moore had no interest in being attached to the project. Plenty of comic tales have been turned into movies, but few as complex and heavy as “Watchmen.”
Result: A clunky, nearly 3-hour movie that succeeded financially (earning $55 million on opening weekend) and certainly got fans and non-fans arguing. Our take: It stunk.
10 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' (2009)
Why: Based on “The Darjeeling Limited,” Wes Anderson seems out of ideas, and who knows if he can pull off a stop-motion animation version of Roald Dahl’s classic.
Result: Unknown. The film, opening Nov. 13, features the voices of A-listers like Bill Murray, George Clooney and Meryl Streep and could go either way in terms of quality. Baseless prediction: Good, not great.
11 'Adaptation' (2002)
Why: OK, "Adaptation" isn't exactly an adaptation (though it is somewhat of a rumination on Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief"), just Spike Jonze's awesome take on Charlie Kaufman's crazily complicated script about what it takes to craft a story in the first place.
Result: Jonze and Kaufman prove that if you can put it on the page (which is hard enough to do on its own), you can get it onto the screen. Great movie.
