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| Lance Fry / Scroll |
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Musicals
After a summer of superheroes, movie remakes and prequels, moviegoers might be surprised to find themselves singing their way through the concession line this fall.
Filmmakers are once again reinventing the Broadway-to-Hollywood translation of musical blockbusters. In fact, this fall will turn up three more musicals-gone-movies: The Producers, Rent and Oliver Twist.
The Producers is the first movie based on a musical. Mel Brooks’ 60’s satire about a Hitler-themed musical that’s designed to flop will reunite original co-stars Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane.
Director Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) has taken on Rent, Jonathan Larson’s 1996 Pulitzer and Tony winning rock version of La Boheme. According to www.siteforrent.com, actors taking on lead roles include Rosario Dawson (Josie and the Pussycats) as Mimi and Taye Diggs (How Stella Got her Groove Back) as Benny.
Theater fans might remember hit musical Oliver!, based on Charles Dickens’ classic tale Oliver Twist. The upcoming big screen version of the same name won’t be the familiar song-and-dance flavor, but promises to be a winner with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski’s (The Pianist) cinematic expertise.
For the most part, recent remakes have had fair success in the box office. Chicago (2003) was more than successful, boasting a scandalous story line with merry murderesses, tabloid fame and an all-star cast with Catherine Zeta Jones, Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere. It not only made big bucks in theatres but also scored six Oscars, including Best Picture.
Just last year Phantom of the Opera had film fanatics and Broadway buffs falling in love all over again with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s romance. Phantom grossed $154.5 million worldwide and earned three Academy Award nominations, according to www.boxofficemojo.com.
Big-name celebrities also cashed in on the movie musical frenzy, taking on starring roles that have become iconic fixtures in Hollywood history. John Travolta, for instance, starred in the 1978 film Grease, which was wildly successful due in large part to its pop-rock soundtrack.
Box office numbers this Fall will prove if musical remakes can compete once again. Oliver Twist hits theaters Sept. 30, Rent on Nov. 11 and The Producers on Dec. 23.
Movies
Hollywood isn’t just interested in your checkbook, but also in what you read.
The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Count of Monte Cristo, Forrest Gump, to name a few, are some of today’s most popular films. However, these films were first introduced to the world as a book.
Although J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has flown off the shelves, it is not an assumption it will become a movie, it is a reality. Already three other Harry Potter books have become box office hits.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Nicholas Sparks’ A Walk to Remember and The Notebook have gone from page to screen as well. C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe comes out on Dec. 9.
Hollywood has been adapting books for the big screen for years.
One of the most famous adaptations is Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind.
Even though Hollywood traditionally relies on book plots, is it necessarily a bad thing?
“In a commercial sense, if a novel is successful there is less risk in making it into a film because it has a built-in audience … it is easier to use a story that is already written than to think up a new one... I have enjoyed so many films based on novels when the film tries to capture the essence of the book, but so many films are just made to make a buck and that can kill any film,” said Omar Hansen, BYU-Idaho theatre faculty member.
According to the Association of American Publishers most recent figures show 2.3 billion books were sold in 2004. However, from 2003 to 2004, the number of books sold worldwide dropped by 44 million.
“I’d rather watch a movie where I don’t have to put as much time and effort into it as I do with reading,” said Lee-Ann Thigpin, a freshman from Hanford, Calif.
“I read a lot and I think with more and more books being turned into movies it shows that screenwriters and directors are starting to run out of ideas … Seeing a book made into a movie is no excuse for not reading the book. Being a well-rounded literate person means reading the book, not watching the movie of the book,” said Jessica Kern, a sophomore from Elizabeth, Colo.
