Book to Screen in 2018

While it seems there has always been a lot of books being adapted to movies and television shows, 2018 just feels extra full of 'em. We'll leave it up to you to decide whether you're excited or apprehensive about these. Here's a (by no means comprehensive) list:

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Release date: July 2018

HBO is producing a limited series, starring Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina, Eliza Scanlen, Elizabeth Perkins and Matt Craven.

Synopsis: Based on the book by the author of Gone Girl: a reporter (Amy Adams) returns home to cover a grisly murder.

• Watch the trailer for Sharp Objects.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette
by Maria Semple

Release date: May 11

• Richard Linklater will direct Cate Blanchett as Bernadette. Kristen Wiig, Billy Crudup, and Judy Greer are attached as well.
See the whole cast here. The screenwriters behind the film (500) Days of Summer are adapting the screenplay.

 
 
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Release date: May 19 at 8pm on HBO

• Michael B. Jordan, Michael Shannon, Sofia Boutella, Lilly Singh, and Laura Harrier will star. Directed by Ramin Bahrani.

• Watch the NEW trailer for Fahrenheit 451.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Release date: June

 The UK series is coming to the U.S. on Cinemax, re-titled "C.B. Strike."

 Watch the original U.K. trailer here.

 
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Release date: Aug. 17

Constance Wu and Ken Jeong will star. Jon Chu is directing

Three Seconds by Anders Roslund
and Borge Hellström

Release date: Aug. 17

Rosamund Pike, Clive Owen, Ana de Armas, and Joel Kinnaman will star.

 
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Release date: Aug. 31

Domhnall Gleeson, Ruth Wilson, Will Poulter, and Charlotte Rampling will star.

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Release date: Sept. 14

• Amandla Stenberg will play Ruby, and Mandy Moore will also star.

Boy Erased by Garrard Conley

• Release date: Sept. 28

• Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Joel Edgerton will star.

First Man: The Life of Neil A.
Armstrong
by James R. Hansen

• Release date: Oct. 12

• Ryan Gosling has been cast as Neil Armstrong. The actor will be reunited with La La Land director Damien Chazelle. Claire Foy of The Crown is playing Janet Armstrong.

The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz

Release date: Oct. 19

• Claire Foy is playing Lisbeth Salander.

Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

Release date: Dec. 14

• Peter Jackson will direct. Hugo Weaving, Jihae, and Robert Sheehan have been cast.

• Watch the trailer for Mortal Engines.

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

• Release date: TBD in 2018

• Julianne Moore, Ken Watanabe, and Demián Bichir will star.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

• Release date: TBD in 2018

• George Tillman Jr. will direct. Amandla Stenberg, Anthony Mackie, and Regina Hall will star.

The Black Hand by Stephan Talty

• Release date: TBD in 2018

• Leonardo DiCaprio will star and produce.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato
Peel Pie Society 
by Mary Ann
Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Release date: TBD in 2018

• The movie will be titled Guernsey. Michiel Huisman, Lily James, and Glen Powell are starring.

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Release date: TBD

 Kenneth Branagh is set to direct.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Release date: TBD

Jennifer Lawrence is attached to star.

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

• Release date: TBD

• Slated as a TV series (with no network yet attached for distribution).

• “Happy!” showrunner Patrick Macmanus will produce, and has stated that the series will expand on the world of the novel.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Release date: TBD

Starring and directed by George Clooney, it will be a six-episode mini-series on Hulu.

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

Release date: TBD

Written and directed by Barry Jenkins (director of Moonlight). Starring Kiki Layne, Stephan James, Brian Tyree Henry,
Dave Franco, Diego Luna, Regina King, and Colman Domingo.

Synopsis: A woman in Harlem desperately scrambles to prove her fiancé innocent of a crime while carrying their first child.

 
 
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

Release date: TBD

Written and directed by Jacques Audiard. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Carol Kane, Riz Ahmed, and Rutger Hauer.

Synopsis: A ridiculously fun buddy western set in the 1850s that follows two notorious assassin brothers. Much delightful chaos ensues.

The Dry by Jane Harper

Release date: TBD

Reese Witherspoon will produce. (She produced the Gone Girl film adaptation.)

Synopsis: A policeman's childhood best friend is the perpetrator of a murder-suicide. Secrets of the cop’s past rise to the surface.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Release date: TBD

Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) will adapt it for Netflix.

Synopsis: Jake is on a road trip with his girlfriend when an unexpected detour causes tension and sheer terror to erupt.

Projects Due After 2018

Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

• Leonardo DiCaprio will produce and star.

• Adaptation will be undertaken by screenwriter John
Logan, whose previous credits include The Aviator,  
Genius, Specter, and Skyfall.

Rabbit, Run by John Updike

Four "Rabbit" novels will be brought to television.

• Andrew Davies will adapt. (He was the
screenwriter behind the BBC’s beloved 1995 
Pride and Prejudice mini-series.) 

.

The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer

This is being developed into a TV Show. No air date yet.

 

Previous Releases in 2018

 

Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton

• Release date: Jan. 19

• The book was re-issued under the title 12 Strong, which will also be the title of the new film.

• Chris Hemsworth, Elsa Pataky, and Trevante Rhodes will star.

• Watch the trailer for 12 Strong.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

• Release date: Jan. 22

• Ten-episode series airing on TNT

• Watch the full first episode here!

 
The Death Cure by James Dashner

• Release date: Jan. 26

• Watch the trailer for The Death Cure.

Fifty Shades Freed by EL James

• Release date: Feb. 9

• Watch the trailer for Fifty Shades Freed.

 
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Release date: Feb. 23

Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez, Oscar Isaac, and Tessa Thompson will star.  Directed by Ex Machina's Alex Garland.

Watch the trailer for Annihilation.

Every Day by David Levithan

Release date: Feb. 23

Angourie Rice, Maria Bello, and Justice Smith will star.

The War With Grandpa by Robert Kimmel Smith

Release date: Feb. 23

Robert De Niro will play Grandpa. Uma Thurman and Christopher Walken will costar.

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews

Release date: March 2

Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, and Charlotte Rampling will star.

Watch the trailer for Red Sparrow.

 

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

• Release date: March 9

• Ava DuVernay will direct. Mindy Kaling, Oprah Winfrey, and Reese Witherspoon will star as the three witches. See the whole cast here.

• Watch the trailer for A Wrinkle in Time.

Murder Games by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

• Release date: March 11

• Instinct (previously titled Murder Gameswill be a new TV series on CBS starring Alan Cumming. 

 
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
by Becky Albertelli

• Release date: March 16

• Katherine Langford from 13 Reasons Why and Nick Robinson from Everything, Everything will star. Greg Berlanti will direct.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Release date: March 30

• Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, and Simon Pegg will star. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

• Watch the trailer for Ready Player One.

 
Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings

• This April, BBC America will premiere “Killing Eve” a brand new series based on the Villanelle novels, starring Sandra Oh.