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- [00:00]
A
Foreign this is the Book Riot podcast. I'm Jeff o'. Neill.
- [00:06]
B
And I'm Rebecca Schinsky.
- [00:08]
A
And today we're going to run through some of the notable adaptations coming out in 2026, at least that we know about at this point. Rebecca, because, like, it's a little more, it's a little more firm than books, just because the production budgets and everything. But we still get some movement, some other things will be announced. And it's looking to be a pretty dynamic year for adaptations.
- [00:31]
B
So there's a lot of variety. There's a lot of stuff happening in theaters and on streaming. I think we know pretty much what's going to be coming out in theaters, like, you know, all the way up through the holidays at the end of this year. The Thanksgiving movies have been announced. I haven't seen anything for Christmas. The streaming situation is a little bit more fluid. Like, one thing we won't be talking about is Florence Pugh's east of Eden adaptation, which was supposed to be on Netflix in late 2025, is rumored to be on Netflix instead in late 2026, but there are no actual dates anywhere for it. So there's stuff like that. Streaming tends to pop up a little bit faster, but there are a lot of things to look forward to.
- [01:12]
A
I added a couple things to your document. You've done this primarily, we're just going to walk through the year as far as we know it so far right now.
- [01:22]
C
I, I.
- [01:22]
A
You found this. I didn't see this. Dutchman, based on the play by the immortal Amiri Baraka, AKA Leroy Jones, is out now. I hadn't seen anything about this, which I guess I'm not surprised. It's an art house movie, but it has some people in it. And you can go see it in the theaters right now, I guess probably if you live in New York and la, I would guess probably primarily, yeah.
- [01:43]
B
I think you would need an art house theater or a special market. Shouts to our contributor, Jamie Cannabis. She does a lot of adaptation coverage on Book Riot, and she's paying special attention to adaptations by bipoc folks which are fewer and farther between, like source material by black and brown writers. Is fewer and farther between. Most of the adaptations we're going to talk about or that we do talk about on the show have people of color working on them, featured in them. But in terms of source material, it's a little bit rarer. And I'm just assume that I'm waving my hands at the history of Western publishing and American literary culture as the Reason that happen so shouts to Jamie for finding that Kate Mara and Andre Holland. I'm not familiar with the story of Dutchman. I know it's a like domestic thriller kind of.
- [02:32]
A
Yeah, I mean they've updated it to be now is written, I think original. I don't know the year. I think 1968, 1969. But it's a sexual politics, racial dynamic. Kind of a two hander between a black male lead and a white female lead in which the racial and sexual dynamics are, you know, all of, all of the loadedness that's into that is being investigated by Mary Baraka. And I, I didn't read an article. I don't know how much they've changed the dynamic. It's been a long time since I read it, probably 20 years. Zaze beats is in it as well and some other folks. So do your homework and see if you can find it. I will probably watch this eventually when it comes to streaming because you don't see Amiri Baraka adaptations at all. It's also it again, originally a play. I don't know if I said that. It's a brisk one hour and 28 minutes. I think the original might have been just one act.
- [03:25]
B
Oh, wow. Okay.
- [03:26]
A
And this, you know, comes out of the black arts movement where it was like people making xeroxes in basements and stuff. Like a very, very grassroots kind of effort. Which I'm sad to know that I didn't know about it. But I'm glad that you brought it up.
- [03:40]
B
Probably on demand pretty quickly, I would guess. A lot of the smaller films tend to be available at home pretty soon. So if you're interested in that, just make a note. Look for the Dutchman coming to you sometime. Next up is People We Meet on Vacation, adapted from the novel by Emily Henry. Of course, this is not the first Emily Henry book, but it is the first Emily Henry adaptation we get to see. This is a Netflix movie. It will be out by the time you're listening to this. It's coming out tomorrow as we're recording on January 9th. And this, if you like. I cannot keep track of which Emily Henry book is about which thing. This is about Poppy, who wants to explore the world, and Alex, who is more of a homebody, wants to be home with a good book. They are best friends. They live far apart, but for a decade they've gotten together once for one week of every summer to go on vacation. And they either meet other people or maybe they meet each other in a new light. Who? That's What I'm banking on. Sadly, reviews for this are not good, so.
- [04:41]
A
Oh, there are reviews. Sometimes Netflix doesn't put them out.
- [04:43]
B
I mean, the first looks. Yeah, the first looks that I've seen for people we meet on vacation are pretty disappointing. So not a great first outing for Emily Henry. The real test will be when the first one that's set for a movie theater hits theaters. And I believe that that is vacation. What is it? Vacation? Read Beach. Read Beach Reads.
- [05:08]
A
Yeah.
- [05:09]
B
The book that I thought was fake when it first came out.
- [05:12]
A
Well, I mean, I don't. Could this be review proof in a way? Like, do people reviewing this, Is that the same. Is that the same cohort that's going to be anticipating reading this? I don't know the answer. I don't.
- [05:22]
B
I mean, it's. We'll see.
- [05:24]
A
I have a different thought about this. In the wake of Heated Rivalry. Is this too vanilla?
- [05:31]
B
Listen, I started heated rivalry last night and this looks incredibly vanilla.
- [05:37]
A
But like, heated rivalry is. I mean, I don't have to tell anyone listening to this. You've already heard that it's a ginormous, like, yes, enormous, enormous hit. And it's spicy. It's way spicier than people we meet on vacation. And this may be like skating to where the puck was to excuse the hockey metaphor for he did Rivalry. But like, I think what people liked about that show, and then you look at this show, it looks just a little milquetoast, you know, it just looks a little hallmarky compared to what he did.
- [06:05]
B
Rivalry and Hallmark is the example I was going to reach for because Netflix is no stranger to a rom com. They've done especially holiday rom coms pretty well for the last five years or so. Some of them are cheesier and softer and more vanilla than others. And like, nothing wrong with a vanilla rom com if that's what you're looking for. But I do think it will have trouble competing in the market of viewers who just came off of Heated Rivalry, which is not only spicy, but very good. Like, it's very well shot. There's filmmaking technique happening there and the actors know what they're doing and it. It doesn't look like it was produced as a. We'll just get the romance, girlies. They won't. They won't be. They won'. Care how good it is or not. They just want to see this adaptation. Which my impression from some of the early stuff I've seen about people we meet on vacation is like, that Netflix maybe phoned it in a little bit.
- [06:59]
A
Yeah, I, I mean they're both romances and come out of the romance boom that happened over the last five to ten years. But I, I think they're meaningfully different. And I don't think you could necessarily say, well, people will will watch this because look what they do with Heat Arrival. I think they're meaningfully different and that speaks to the diversity of spice levels and approaches in romance. But this feels to me like it's going to be the wrong version of this at exactly the wrong time.
- [07:23]
B
Yeah, I think there are, there's some overlap in the viewership for both. I'm sure that some people have read both of the heated rivalry books and the Emily Henry books, but that overlap is not a Venn diagram here. There are, there's some differences, I think, in some of those audiences. This podcast is supported by Quince A New Year and colder days are when your winter wardrobe really has to deliver. And honest. Lastly, this is where Quince shines. I've been a Quince customer for years, and back in the fall I gave my husband one of their Mongolian cashmere Henley sweaters. It's already become his go to. He wears it constantly. It's ridiculously soft, it still looks polished, and it hasn't pilled or lost its shape, even in such heavy rotation that I should just buy him one in every color. It's the kind of quality you expect from a much more expensive sweater without the sticker shock. Quince has everything you need to build a winter wardrobe that actually works. Men's Mongolian cashmere sweaters, wool coats, leather and suede outerwear that hold up to daily wear and still look great. Every item is made from premium materials by trusted factories that meet high standards for craftsmanship and ethical production. And by cutting out middlemen and traditional retail markups, Quince delivers the same high quality you'd find from luxury brands at a fraction of the price. The result is classic, well made pieces you can rely on year after year. Refresh your winter wardrobe with quince. Go to quince.com bookriot for free shipping on your order and 300 returns. Now available in Canada too. That's quincee.com bookriot for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com bookriot.
- [09:07]
C
Today's episode is brought to you by 23rd Street Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers of Of Swamp and Sea by Mia J. Bolton and Laurel Bolton. So Mercy Harding she's not entirely human, and she's not alone in that. Jonah once faced the monstrous final Visitor and now carries its deadly power, a gift that draws the creature closer each time he uses it. And as the visitor hunts them and Mercy's wolfish possession worsens, the pair hurry toward Port Fallrest. A troop of wandering musicians gives them a lift. But Mercy can't hide her wolf side forever, especially from the one performer intent on uncovering her true feelings for Jonah. So this is a webtoon hit. It had 260,000 subscribers, 12 million views on webtoon Fans have been asking for print edition Girl, here it is. It's got amazing story. The romantasy is hot, hot hot. It's perfect for fans of the Witcher, Nimona and Lore Olympus. So go ahead and pick up the print edition of Of Swamp and Sea by Mia J. Bolton and Laura Bolton. And thanks again to 23rd Street Books for sponsoring this episode.
- [10:18]
B
This episode is sponsored by Cozy Earth. This year I'm getting really intentional about resetting my home, especially my evening routine, because that five to nine window is the part of the day that really matters to me. I've been building this little nightly ritual with Cozy Earth, and honestly, it's becoming my favorite part of the day. I start with a bubble bath. Obviously I'm reading a great book, and then I wrap up in one of their luxe bath towels, which are so unbelievably soft, but they also dry you off really quickly. After that, I slip into Cozy Earth's bamboo stretch knit pajamas, which are the kind of comfort that feels effortless and still looks put together. And then there's the bedding. Climbing into fresh luxurious sheets at the end of the night makes my entire space feel calmer. It's the easiest way to signal to my body that it's time to slow down, to rest deeply, and to reset for the next day. Cozy Earth also makes it easy to try. There's a 100 night sleep trial and a 10 year warranty, which says a lot about their quality. If you're ready to start the new year with a TR True Reset, head to cozyearth.com and use code Book Riot for up to 20% off. And if you get a post purchase survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth right here. That's cozyearth.com using Code Book Riot for 20% off. Cozyearth.com Code Book Riot.
- [11:37]
A
Coming out. There's also you know, I just remembered this. I'll try to find it. Maybe while you're talking here in a second. There is an Agatha Christie adaptation coming to Netflix on January 15th. It's the one about the clocks, seven clocks, something like that. I know my family really likes to watch mysteries together, and there's not as many of them as you might think. And there has not as many modern Agatha Christie ones as you might think. There's been a couple of Brown ones that have done quite well at the box office, and I think this is a Netflix or other production company that sold it to Netflix. Attempts like this is IP that's ready to go, let's go do this and Agatha Christie are intricately plotted, so that's if you're interested in those. But coming to theaters the weekend after H is for Hawk. Claire Foy leads in the adaptation of Helen MacDonald's memoir, co written as you have here and have talked to these folks, Emma Donoghue and Philippa Lothorpe. One of our standard bearer favorite books of the last 10 years, you and I, Rebecca.
- [12:32]
B
I'd say yes. Yeah. A book that we've both loved for a decade. We're not alone in that. It was among the New York Times Best books of the 21st century, nominated for awards, made all the lists the year that it came out, when it came out in 2015. And I think there had been conversation around trying to adapt it for a while. Anytime a book is as big as HS4 Hawk is, there's adaptation conversation. It's challenging because if you're unfamiliar, it is the author Helen MacDonald's story of around the same time that their father died, adapting, adopting a goshawk and training it. And Goshawks are famously difficult and require a lot of patience and stillness and a lot of skill. And as MacDonald is reflecting on training the Hawk and healing from their father's death, they're also incorporating all of this other stuff about goshawks, but especially there's a whole frame story device, really. Yeah. Yeah, really. A frame story, I would say, about T.H. white, who wrote the Once and Future King, among other things, and was a falconer and wrote a whole book about goshawks. And MacDonald is obsessed with it. And you move between kind of TH White's world and that of, you know, centuries ago and what MacDonald is experiencing. I got to talk to these folks for a roundtable. All the content from that is going to come out in a couple of weeks with a bunch of film and book influencer types. Got to do that right before the holidays, so I got to see a screener of the film. It's really beautiful. They had to drop a lot of the material from the book. Like, there's no th white frame story in this film because how do you do that? Claire Foy's work with real hawks in it is really stunning. And I think, I think this is a challenging task. Like memoirs can be low hanging fruit for adaptation. But this is a challenging one because it's mostly one person, often alone in a room or out in a field with a wild animal. And so much of the memoir is interior. They chose not to do voiceover. I found myself missing some of McDonald's writing and the real like sharpness and surprise in their sentences that make H is for Hawkes so special. But I think people who loved the book will be curious to see the film and will find a lot to appreciate.
- [14:54]
A
All right, moving on. From there, we enter into a one, two punch of romance. Bridgerton Season 4 needs no introduction on Netflix January 29th. This one is focused on Benedict Bridgerton. I don't know what that means, except that I guess it's a character people might care about. As these series move around, they focus on different characters. I wonder where the Bridgerton excitement is at this point. It feels like it's been some time. I haven't heard about it in a while, but again, this is not my particular cup of tea. I'm super happy people enjoy it. I guess I'll be able to tell when I open up the Internet on January 29th how excited people are.
- [15:34]
B
Yeah, they're doing the thing again where like the first half of the season drops and then there's a few weeks break and then the second half of the season comes out. I think Bridgerton has an established fan base and it is large. I don't know that we're getting like new viewers in at Bridgerton Season four.
- [15:50]
A
Someone's gonna try it season four for the first time.
- [15:52]
B
Even though you really can. Like the way that it's built is the way that a lot of those romance series universes are built where like the characters in the second series were minor characters in the first series and they, you know, sort of of span out from there. So Benedict Bridgerton is like this one, one of the older sons in the Bridgerton family. And it's going to be. He's been showing up in past seasons, but this will be his time to, to be the star and to find his love. Based on An Offer from a Gentleman, which I believe is the fourth book in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series.
- [16:24]
A
If I could take an aside to talk about Netflix release strategy because my family, along with many others, had a Stranger Things holiday season that went November to New Year's Eve. And I've got to say, Rebecca, I kind of enjoyed it. Now again, it's kind of. It's a, it is a one of one 10 years from your thing, the biggest thing. But the Thanksgiving, you get some on Thanksgiving, you get some on Christmas, and you get, you get three event moments over the course and that was pretty fun. So I don't know. I, I think we're. I think the truth is there's no one right way to do this. Like a full season drop. Half season. Half season. I don't recall anyone else trying something like this where you were porting it to specific days and chunking up that way over the course of several months. But I think it's. We're to the point where what the right release strategies for any given property is might be specific to that property.
- [17:13]
B
I was coming back to say that.
- [17:15]
A
I think the Pit is. The Pit is coming out tonight and that's very much a one a week for 10 weeks in a row because it is one hour. You. It would be tempting to drop it all at once, but then it's over. Right. Whereas I think one of the magic things about a show that picks up steam is that tends to pick up steam over the course of several weeks. I actually, I think heated rivalry was sequential. They didn't drop it all at once. I don't think I saw some. I was sort of paying attention through. Not through my fingers, but sort of sideways looking at. I wasn't getting too involved. But like I, I, at one point I knew that the cottage episode was out all of a sudden and that matters. So I think it's interesting and I don't know one versus the other. And maybe you won't know because you can't a B test the universe and you can't a B test those kinds of things. But maybe I should be more open to various kinds of release strategies. I have long been a. I want one a week for 10 weeks or five weeks or whatever. Some of that is self protection. It's like, don't open the whole bag of Doritos because I know what happens when the Dorito bag gets opened. But I will admit that the sense of event, the sense of having sort of Stranger Things season was pretty exciting. It was fun. Gave it a sense of occasion.
- [18:33]
B
Yeah, I think I'm of two minds about it when it's a, like a show where I really trust the showrunners or like the network. I'm so good for, like, here's the first two next week we'll give you the next two and then it's 11 11, which I think is what they did for Station 11, right?
- [18:52]
A
Yeah.
- [18:52]
B
And then there was maybe later in the season there was another week where there were two, but they had decided for story reasons this is how we're going to break them up. Apple does this a lot. You might get like the, I think like a two season or a two episode season premiere and then a two episode finale.
- [19:07]
A
Sometimes Disney's done the two, some of the Star wars and Marvel, if it's.
- [19:11]
B
All dropped at once. I tend to think this is intended for like the marathon binge watch crowd and there's nothing wrong with that. But it also makes me like, well, if, if the thing you're hoping I'll do is sit down and watch all 10 of them for 10 straight hours on Saturday, the assumption that they're also making is that I'm probably on a second screen while that's happening or at least some of the time that that's happening. And how good is this TV really going to be if it's made be taken down all at once like that? So I like the gradual rollout, but I think it nods at something about the quality of the content, which is, I don't know if that's accurate or not, but that's something that I'm reading into it as well.
- [19:54]
A
I mean the other problem streaming services have, and now they're all streaming services to a first approximation, is how even if someone tries your first show, if they're all not out then how are they going to remember when they come out? What day did they watch it? There's no date. I mean it's actually, I mean it says every Tuesdays or new episodes Tuesdays. But I think there's a real chance you lose a lot of people. There's something to be said for all the they're all out now and you can watch them now and maybe if you don't watch them now, at least you know they're all out so you can return to them at your leisure. And you're not confused. Is that new one out at this some specific time? So long story short, Stranger Things had its own opportunities and problems, but one opportunity had is Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, the final season.
- [20:33]
B
Pretty smart.
- [20:34]
A
Pretty smart. Pretty smart to do. I don't know if this is going to be smart. Is this. Yeah, I guess we're trying to do the same transition in two different ways.
- [20:42]
B
Wuthering Heights on Valentine's Day, from Emerald.
- [20:46]
A
Flannel maybe this is maybe. Maybe now Fennell looks like a genius in the wake of heated rivalry to do Withering Heights this way.
- [20:55]
B
I mean, yeah. Emerald Fennell, creator of Saltburn, Very spicy. This is, if you have not yet seen a trailer for it, a pretty unconventional looking spin on Bronte's novel. The review like this debuted at some of the festivals last fall and so we have early reviews that describe the opening scenes like relatively graphic, pretty spicy. She's going for some kind of shock value, I think. Stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Though I have to say I am currently suffering through Wuthering Heights as a reading.
- [21:28]
A
Spill it. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. Don't spoil it. We're doing zero to well. Red Weathering Heights will be out in anticipation of this. So. Yeah, I don't know if this is going to be good. I think it's going to be a moment. I. I don't know. Was Saltburn did. Was Saltburn successful for what it was trying to do? It made memes.
- [21:49]
B
I don't know how.
- [21:49]
A
I don't know if people like salt. Do people think about salt berm at all?
- [21:52]
B
I think people talk about it because it was sensational and it was divisive. Some people really liked it and a lot of people really didn't. I think Fennel is. She goes for sensational. This is what like the mode she works in. But if you didn't see Saltburn, you might not know that that's the kind of thing you're getting into. I think a lot of people are going to be real surprised on their Valentine's dates, for better or for worse.
- [22:20]
A
That's I agree. But maybe they've been pre warmed by heated rivalry. Maybe they're ready to, you know, get a little. Get a little steamier than maybe we're used to in sort of generally useful, you know, what was it like those series of like Valentine's Day, New Year's Day ensemble mish mosh vignettes of nothingness that used to come out. Anyway. Up next, also kind of times for that Valentine's Day weekend, season two of like Water for Chocolate, which is a series that I didn't know existed until actually relatively recently. This is a love story. Also pretty. I'm not an expert and it's been a long since I'm. Since I've read the book and then of course the, the original 1992 movie and the director of that movie escapes me now, has a bit of magic realism Going on, too. I. This makes sense as a series. I kind of want to check this out.
- [23:17]
B
Yeah, it's on hbo. Max. So you've got some time you could catch up on the first season before February 15th.
- [23:24]
A
Sure. Looks like it's going to be the final of two seasons of six episodes each. The author is Laura Esquivel. I should shout that out. 1989. And then there was.
- [23:37]
B
And produced by Salma Hayek.
- [23:38]
A
1992. This series, the original movie, was not produced by Salma, just for record. Alfonso Araus. And that. I remember that I was a teenager when that came out, and there was a lot of talk about that being spicy, I think, at the same time, but I don't. Yeah, I don't know. We were very prudish then, so it could just been like someone looked at each other.
- [23:57]
B
My memory of, like, Waterford Chocolate was that at some point after the book was out, like, it was definitely making the book club rounds. And my family went on a summer road trip to, like, from Kansas City to Lake of the Ozarks. So what, like, four hours maybe, with our neighbors to a lake house for the week. The moms had, like, Water for Chocolate as a book on tape, and they wanted to listen to it in the minivan, but all of the kids were also in the minivan. And there was a lot of negotiation about, like, how they were going to do that, if they were going to do it. Were we just all going to have to do earmuffs for certain parts? I don't remember what they landed on, but this is what I think of every time, like, Water for Chocolate comes up. And it makes me assume, still, that, like, well, my mom said I couldn't listen to it when I was a kid.
- [24:45]
A
Okay, that'll be very interesting. The Count of Monte Cristo, starring Sam Claflin and with the participation of Jeremy Irons. What does that mean on a poster? What. What am I supposed to take?
- [25:00]
B
I don't know what with the participation of Jeremy Irons means. Yeah, this is going to be available March 1st on PBS, Passport and Amazon Prime. Sam Claflin, the most interesting thing, researching this, he is really no stranger to adaptations. He was Finnick in the Hunger Games adaptations. He was in the 2016 adaptation of Me before youe. He was Billy in Daisy Jones and the Six. He was in Enola Holmes, which is kind of an adapted property.
- [25:32]
A
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
- [25:34]
B
Like, he's getting around the bookish stuff. Sam Claflin. I don't know if this will be good or not. There are so many adaptations of the Count of.
- [25:42]
A
There are so many. I saw the trailer and I guess maybe I ran over it. Looks like Jeremy Irons is going to play the. The guy who mentors him in the. In the prison. I think it looks pretty good. But this is a cool story like this. There's a reason this gets adapted a million times. There's a reason this is sold a million copies. Like, it is an awesome story. You've got to suspend your disbelief about, you know, kind of Batman or, or. Or Clark Clint style. Like, people actually don't recognize this guy. You've got to remember this is set before there's daguerreotypes even at this point. So it's like, what was that guy looking like? I think this is going to be good. And I've been toying with having the kids watch a Dumas adaptation. I was thinking Three Musketeers or something like that. Some of those are kind of dated, but this one looks pretty cool. I will give everyone their literary fact. They may or may not know that Alexander. Alexander Dumas, black, his grandmother was an enslaved woman who bore the son of the Marquis D. Alexandra Dumas de Parille, and they changed all their names around. But that's a. That's something that surprises people a lot and doesn't get talked about, but it's worth knowing. I would. Rather than another Count of Monte Cristo, I would like to see a biopic of Alexander Dumas.
- [26:55]
B
Ooh, I love this idea because you.
- [26:57]
A
And I had occasion to be looking up the backstory or like the history, the biography of Jules Verne, which is something I shockingly knew nothing about. And Alexandre Dumas was like a mentor to Jules Verne. Yeah. Sounds amazing.
- [27:09]
B
So interesting. And I agree that this looks pretty good. The Count of Monte Cristo is Bob's all time favorite book. Is that right? Yes. Ahead of Master and Commander.
- [27:17]
A
There's a few ships in it, I guess.
- [27:19]
B
He loves the Count of Monte Cristo and every couple of years there's a new adaptation that he kind of watches the first 30 minutes of and concludes for the most part, they're not very good. But this one looks like it deserves. I think March 1st comes around and we're going to be giving this one a little attention in our house.
- [27:35]
A
We'll see in the movie. You can. This one is screaming to be a series, by the way.
- [27:40]
B
It's a huge book.
- [27:42]
A
It's a huge book. And also it's just episodic by nature. There's some natural breaking points. I don't know if you want to tell Bob about this, so leave this to your own recognizance, because I don't know if you want to be traveling for this event, but every year there's an honorary swim where you swim from the island prison rock to the shore, just as Edmund Dante's does. So if you're ever interested in doing that, you can tell Bob, and I'm sure he'll go over there.
- [28:06]
B
How long is the swim, though? Like, how much cardio are you gonna have to do?
- [28:09]
A
I don't. I don't really remember. I remember it's a pretty good haul. It's not like English Channel or anything, but I think it's pretty good, especially if you've been starved and living on a rock for a while. Left for dead, this one. Okay, Jesse Buckley, star on the rise. Really hitting a peak here. We also got a Frankenstein in the fall. I don't know how the makers of the Bride are feeling right now. I guess you hope that Frankenstein's in the air and you have a star on the rise. What else can you ask for? This is an adaptation, of course, written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The bride of Frankenstein March 6th in theaters. I'm afraid this is going to tank. Not because it's going to be bad. I just don't. Who's going to go see this?
- [28:49]
B
I know, and I feel like I've been seeing the trailers for it forever, so. And March is a weird time for a Frankenstein adaptation. Maybe they just didn't want to with Guillermo del Toro because that was the. His adaptation of Frankenstein was out, you know, this past Halloween. I don't know. I mean, the Oscars are, like, one week after this comes out, so Jesse Buckley's name is definitely going to be floating around. Christian Bale plays Frankenstein's monster. Jesse Buckley plays the Bride. It looks like it could be really weird and cool, but it also looks like it could be just not great and, like, more of a spectacle than an actual piece of cinema. Who knows? Who knows? Like, I'm gonna be very curious.
- [29:37]
A
I'm so curious. But I'm hoping my interest is more interesting for its own sake than rubbernecking. And I feel. I'm afraid I'm gonna be rubber.
- [29:44]
B
I think that's a good way to put it. Yeah, I'm a little bit afraid of rubbernecking on that one, too. I'm also intrigued that it's the Bride exclamation point. Point is the title.
- [29:52]
A
Why do you Cannot put an exclamation exclamation point on non satirically. Right. Or you have to know what you're doing. When's the last movie that earnestly had an exclamation point?
- [30:03]
B
Oh, God.
- [30:05]
A
I mean, didn't I think airplane kind of ruined it? Because I think airplane had an exclamation point. And then forever after, like, you know what?
- [30:11]
B
It has to all the pissed cheek.
- [30:13]
A
Yeah, I would put an exclamation point after Project Hail Mary. This is maybe my most anticipated movie of the year. Rebecca. March 20. Ryan Gosling stars in Andy Weir's new. This is also a term I learned from researching Jules Verne, the novel of science that Jules Verne invented. And Andy Weir is very much. We would call it like hard sci fi today, though Verne really was. Anyway, I'm getting down a rabbit hole no one cares about.
- [30:37]
B
Come on back.
- [30:38]
A
The less you know about this, the better it's gonna be. Big space spectacle with some cool science and a nerdy, lovable, maybe slightly obtuse protagonist in Rebecca every day and twice on Sundays for me, if I could.
- [30:49]
B
Yeah, put it in my veins. Everyone I know wants to go see this, like, this appointment movie of the year for people who just like movies. Like, you don't need to be a movie nerd. You don't need to have read the book like it will. It's just going to be a good time. And they know that it's such a mainstream hit that they debuted the trailer for this at Comic Con last year, which is not just for the people who attend Comic Con, but for all of the media that comes out of Comic Con. Ryan Gosling showed up and they started talking about Project Hail Mary. It looks great. I'm so ready. Like, just, what are we doing? Let's just do it. Why are we waiting?
- [31:27]
A
Yeah, I was actually like, I, I'm out over my skis on this because I'm like, why isn't this a huge summer movie? And I was looking, it's like, we've got Mandalorian and Grogu from Memorial Day. We've got The Odyssey on July 17th. I'm like, well, what about July 4th? Well, you want more than two weeks of the big IMAX movie screen. So maybe they get all the IMAX large format stuff here. I, I, I'm really excited for this. I think it's going to be. If you've seen the Martian, you know, I think that's kind of the, that's on the high end of the versions you we would have expected of the Mar the Martian, I think it was. I thought it was going to be a good movie and it was better than even I thought. And some of they poured a million dollars to it. It looks like it looks amazing. This one has the chance to have maybe hit harder emotionally, but it also has a chance in it if you've read the book or listened to it, you know what I'm talking about. To just not work for a big piece of this movie to not work. And so I think it's either going to be really amazing or damn too bad. That's where I am on Project Hail Mary.
- [32:25]
B
Yeah. I think knowing everybody who's involved with it, my confidence is pretty high. That the. That one complicating piece they will have done pretty well. We'll see. If it's bad, we're gonna know very quickly.
- [32:37]
A
Let me just say sometimes you get Yoda and sometimes you get Jar Jar Binks and the same people made both of those things.
- [32:43]
B
That's. Oh boy.
- [32:45]
A
I'm just Rebecca. I've been around, man.
- [32:47]
B
I know. I. This is a good moment to say if you have not read Project Hail Mary and you want to before the movie comes out, listen to it on audio. It is a God level audio experience.
- [32:58]
A
One of the greats, I think. Speaking of things with a high floor, I think the chance that Margo's got money trouble on Apple TV being bad is pretty low. I think at the very least it's going to be interesting. Elle Fanning stars with Nicole Kidman. Nick Offerman, unexpectedly wholesome. I don't know if that was your phraseology or something you borrowed from someone else. I think that's quite right about a young mother who starts an only fans account to pay the bills. A good hook, good characters.
- [33:26]
C
It's so.
- [33:27]
A
I expect this to be really something that people like.
- [33:30]
B
Yeah, it's so endearing. She's starting her only fans account. Her dad is a former pro wrestler. So we get Nick Offerman playing a former pro wrestler who's like warmly giving his daughter in her early 20s advice about like wringing the most entertainment value possible out of her OnlyFans account. And unexpectedly wholesome is the phrase I landed on when I read the book. And it's just the thing I'm going to say every time we talk about Margot's got money troubles. Great cast. There's no like big variable here. Like, it's not special effects you're counting on. This is really how good is the script and how good is the cast? And Apple has all the money in the world. And they like to give it it to, you know, well written stuff. So let's do it.
- [34:14]
A
Let's talk ceilings and floors. I like this ideas of comp. Where the. I mean, Lessons in Chemistry did not work. That. That adaptation did not work. You could have said many of the same things we're saying about Margot. Margo's got Money Troubles right now about it. On the other hand, like, what's the ceiling version of this?
- [34:33]
B
Well, but. But Lessons in Chemistry is weirder, like as a. As a property than Margot's Got Money Troubles is. I think Margo's got Money Troubles is actually pretty straightforward. Like the tone of Lessons in Chemistry is strange. And remember when we read it and we were both like, how do we know?
- [34:51]
A
I think you're right. I think you're. I think you're. But having said that, it's got good characters and a good story.
- [34:57]
B
It's a harder plane to land.
- [34:59]
A
Yeah, but people love that. Many, many more people love Lessons in Chemistry than I've even heard of. Margot's got money troubles.
- [35:04]
B
Yeah, I agree. I just think that as an adaptation, it's a harder plane to. And then Mario's got many troubles.
- [35:10]
A
Speaking of hard, the hardest adaptation to land of all time. Literally hard to land your boat. If you're Odysseus Tooks, you take you a couple decades. The The Odyssey on July 17. The film event of the year.
- [35:24]
B
Yes.
- [35:24]
A
I don't think there's any question. There are many ways this could go wrong. The initial trailer doesn't tackle any of them. I think I've said on this show before. Well, not unlike. Not unlike Project Hail Mary. There are some moments of this that if it doesn't work, if it doesn't land, it's gonna seem super dumb and weird. On the other hand, the whole thing is the greatest road novel story of all time. That people know they spent all the money on it. I was reading this interview with Matt Damon. He said he was. He said he told Affleck that every day on the Odyssey was harder than the hardest day of any movie he's ever done. He got down to £167, carved out of. Carved out of wood. John Bernthal as Aries, I have to say, gives me a lot of pause. I don't know how they're gonna do this. I hope it all works. I want it to be good. I so want it to be good. I'm freaking myself out. Rebecca. That's right.
- [36:26]
B
I mean, I feel a lot of confidence in the cast and In Christopher Nolan, I think I've landed in. This will probably be a good movie. Will it be a faithful adaptation of the Odyssey or will it have a lot of the components of the book? I have no idea. Will it need to be as long as it is, like, I'm firmly in the camp of the third hour of Oppenheimer is almost unnecessary and too long. The Odyssey is a long story. Do we need three hours of movie? I don't know.
- [36:58]
A
It's a lot of episodes though. I mean, one of the things that I'm. I don't. I. You might be able to make a good movie out of the Odyssey. Is it a good adaptation of the Odyssey? Because the Odyssey is so oral, epic, literary, weird, strange, you know, kind of does its own thing.
- [37:14]
B
Is this like the greatest hits? Like, is it.
- [37:17]
A
What can it be?
- [37:18]
B
A couple upright. A couple of the big episodes?
- [37:20]
C
Like.
- [37:20]
B
I. I don't know.
- [37:22]
A
I don't know. At the very least you're going to get some tall ships. Where's Bob on the Odyssey. Does this. Does this qualify for tall ships? Ship land.
- [37:29]
B
He's ready? Yeah, Bob's ready.
- [37:31]
A
Okay. All right. This one I dropped in. You didn't have this in here, but I'm quite excited for this. The Dog stars Aug. 26, which is Ridley Scott's adaptation of Peter Heller's 2012 novel starring Josh Brolin and Jacob Elordi.
- [37:47]
B
I just missed this was coming out.
- [37:48]
A
I think this could be very good. I love this book. It's. It's a two hander set in sort of the foothills of Colorado after some sort of apocalypse where two, a younger guy and an older guy begrudgingly team up. And I think this could be really good because Scott's shooting. It's going to look great. Brolin or Lordy, they might be good enough. And I think the source material is sufficiently cool that I. I feel pretty good about this. I don't know if anyone's gonna go see it, but I feel good about this being a cool movie.
- [38:18]
B
I don't care what it is. It's two hours of Josh Brolin doing things like I'm going to.
- [38:23]
A
Yeah. Shot by Ridley Scott. Yeah. Come on now.
- [38:27]
B
I'm definitely not going to the next one. You just.
- [38:29]
A
Well, I thought I'd fly out. We could all go to the outer bank together. Yeah.
- [38:33]
B
Yes. If you would like to fly out and like have a few drinks while we watch Remain by M. Night Shyamalan, based on the novel that he co wrote with Nicholas Sparks, which I remember you told me about. I think on a deals, deals, deals episode, you were like, nicholas Sparks has a new collaborator and you're never going to guess who it was. And you were right.
- [38:54]
C
Right.
- [38:55]
B
I would never have gotten there.
- [38:57]
A
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, a. A grieving architect. A widowed architect played by Jake Gyllenhaal comes to aller banks and things happen. I don't know much more about the plot. Here's my question to you. Is there a chance that M. Night Shyamalan lost some sort of bet?
- [39:16]
B
Well, this whole thing reads to me like, these people like money. Why do you make this? Because you like money.
- [39:22]
A
Yeah, I guess that's true. This. I. You could have given me a hundred guesses on who M. Night Shyaman was pairing up with. I had.
- [39:33]
B
Yeah.
- [39:33]
A
They don't seem like they go together.
- [39:35]
B
No, they don't.
- [39:37]
A
Is it going to be a mystery? Starry? Is someone going to turn into a fish? Like, what's the twist going to be?
- [39:42]
B
Have you seen any of their press together? They. They've done some media together and they look like they don't know what to do with each other. Other. It's like the weirdest buddy comedy in the world. Yeah. Because they don't. This is.
- [39:53]
A
This is like peanut butter and staples like this. I don't even. It's not even food. I don't.
- [39:57]
B
The book came out earlier. Well, it came out in 2025 and it's on. I was in my Barnes and Noble last week, just sort of wandering around. It was on one of the new and noteworthy shelves and I got to have one of those wonderful moments where I was just browsing And I heard two women, I think, like in their mid-60s, I would guess, behind me being like, oh, that's the new Nicholas Sparks. Wait, it's with M. Night Shyamalan. I stopped reading him 10 years ago because all the books were the same and I wanted to turn around and like high five them. Like, I love the welcome, ladies.
- [40:26]
A
I heard nothing about this book. I don't think I read one word about this book. Maybe we should read three chapters or something.
- [40:33]
B
Yeah. The most interesting thing about it is that Nicholas Sparks co wrote it with M. Night Shyamalan. Like, you know what a Nicholas Sparks book is? We just know that. But what's the M. Night Shyamalan of it all is the question.
- [40:44]
A
How do you. How do you. How they have a Google Doc. They're jamming together like, nice point, Nick. Yeah, thanks. Knight Long.
- [40:53]
B
Just long walks on the beaches of the Outer Banks, collaborating Maybe voice memos. Your face when voice memos come up is just really classic.
- [41:03]
A
I don't like that at all. That's not something I need to hear about from anybody. November 20. Top three adaptation of the year. Sunrise at the Reaping, which is, of course, the adaptation of the most recent prequel that Suzanne Collins has blessed us with in the Hunger Games expanded universe. This pitch of this one is. Is simple. It's the store. Haymitch Abernathy's Hunger Games, his origin story. The book is good. It's going to rip your heart out. Out. They spent all the money on it. I think this has a high ceiling, high floor. I don't think that there's a version of that. This is quite bad. Yeah, it's coming out. It's going to be the big feed. Well, we don't know because we'll get to that in a second. The big Thanksgiving movie for. For people to go see.
- [41:54]
B
Yeah. I think I'm gonna have to catch up. I've sat out the Hunger Games since Mockingjay. Like, everything.
- [42:02]
A
But read this one. I think.
- [42:03]
B
I think I'm gonna catch up.
- [42:04]
C
Yep.
- [42:04]
B
I'm looking forward to seeing this. I'm gonna get back in on Hunger Games.
- [42:07]
A
Should we do Hunger Games for zero? The well read in anticipation of this, Jeff.
- [42:10]
B
It's already on the list.
- [42:12]
A
Hey, good. Good idea, Rebecca. Thanks so much. I'm glad we agreed. And I totally knew what was happening there. Something else we're gonna have to really consider, if it's not already. The magician's nephew, November 26, which is the first of Greta Gerwig's Narnia series. Daniel Craig and Carey Mulligan lead us into the world beyond the Wardrobe. Of course, everyone knows that most people start with the lion, the Witch in the Wardrobe, but chronologically, in the world of these books, the magician's nephew comes first. I have no idea what to expect from this. I think Gerwig is very good. The last couple Narnia things have been bad. I just don't know, Rebecca. I just don't know. I'm very curious to see how this is going to play out.
- [43:00]
B
This one. I think I'm more. I have more question marks about this one than about the Odyssey or Project Hail Mary. Because we haven't seen a trailer. Maybe we haven't seen a trailer. And there are just so many ways it could go wrong.
- [43:14]
A
How bad do the CGI animals look?
- [43:16]
B
Yeah. What does the world look like? You know, like we've seen Gerwig create a big world but that was Barbie. And that world looks constructed and kind of silly because it's supposed to look constructed and kind of silly. But Narnia is supposed to be like, like this all consuming place you sort of fall into. I love Greta Gerwig, I have a lot of confidence in her. But this is a huge swing and I'm curious about how it's going to be marketed. Like, are they going to lean into the Greta Gerwig of Little Women? Is that the audience?
- [43:53]
A
I mean, I think it has to be the audience that wants to go see Lord of the Rings movies for six years in a row. Yeah, I think that what or it's Narnia is somewhere between Hogwarts and Middle Earth. Right. You know, it's not as hardcore high fantasy as Middle Earth because you have real kids in the real world going into a wardrobe. But it's also, it's not kid fair. But it's not totally adult fair. I think if done right, it could be a juggernaut. But the, the likelihood of that is.
- [44:24]
B
It seems, and I think the deal is for like six movies. Like that's so many movies.
- [44:29]
A
I'm sure there's out clauses. I'm. If this one sucks and it tanks, they write her a check and she goes away.
- [44:34]
B
I think I would have rather just seen Greta Gerwig's Narnia. One big two and a half hour greatest hits situation.
- [44:43]
A
I don't. I mean, you do line. The witch in War Group. Again, that's the one that people know. But that's been tried a couple times at this point. Speaking of things that's been tried a couple times at this point. Dune Part 3, December 18th. This third installment is and probably final of this particular grouping of, of talent of Dennis Vilu's adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune. This one, if you don't know, you do. Now. The first two movies were just the original Dune novel and this one adapts Dune Messiah. And I have here. I just said it will be odd.
- [45:15]
B
Yeah, things get weird is what I.
- [45:16]
A
Things get extraordinarily weird. But you know what? It is so pretty and so cool and people are into this and Chalamet is Chalamet at this point. And you get Josh Brolin and you get some other people back. Or wait, I may be spoiled or not spoiled that. Ignore all that. Everyone there. Yeah, you're gonna get a lot more Florence Pugh. You're gonna get some more of the Emperor. And boy, oh boy, it's just gonna really be something. I hope you're ready for some visions out there? Because you're gonna get some visions and Dune Part three. Okay, Rebecca, let's each pick our three.
- [45:51]
B
Oh, the last one. You missed the last one.
- [45:54]
A
Oh, I'm sorry. House of the Spirits. There's a whole other page. You take the.
- [45:57]
B
Yeah. Amazon Prime. There's not a date released for this yet, but Amazon prime is doing an eight episode Spanish language adaptation of Isabel Allende's. Yeah. Multi generational family saga. I would imagine we'll see more around it when there's a release date. And I'm happy to see them do something like Allende or somebody's work like Allende in Spanish language. Do this with subtitles and not dubs, please. And let's, let's get in there. This could also also, like, go a bunch of ways because the magic realism of it all is complicated.
- [46:34]
A
Well, we talked about earlier, there's a 100 Years of Solitude. There's also like Water for Chocolate. Like we, I think we're sort of the secondary beneficiaries of these streaming services making tentpole properties for Spanish markets.
- [46:47]
B
Yeah.
- [46:47]
A
And just releasing them on the platform. Anyway. This seems, that seems to me to be a Latin America, South American focus, like for those markets directly. But we're going to get it anyway because why not make it available? I don't think it's made sort of to get people in Minnesota super jazzed about it of their own accord. But if they want to watch it, that's great.
- [47:05]
B
Shots fired at Sheboygan again.
- [47:07]
A
No, I, you know, Kansas, Portland. Throw any of us into the. In the blender. All right, your three. The three you're most interested in seeing, not that you think are going to be the best, but the three that you're like, once you fire up, you hit stream or you sit down in your seat, you're like, all right, let's see what this is going to be. Odyssey one for both of us. Maybe.
- [47:28]
B
I think so. Odyssey one, Project Hail Mary two. And then I am most likely to. The third one I'm most likely to see is Margo's got money troubles. That'll be like, I will watch the first episodes on April 15th when it lands. We'll see if I stick with the whole thing.
- [47:47]
C
And then.
- [47:47]
B
Yeah, Narnia.
- [47:49]
A
Probably for Narnia, because that could be anything right now because those are pre trailer. Like it literally could look like anything. Those are my three. The one that I have the most confidence in. I would say Project Hail Mary, but I've got that one thing I Still don't know. That's a super big wild card.
- [48:08]
B
Yeah. That's where I met too.
- [48:09]
A
Even though I haven't seen a frame of it. I feel like the dog stars is going to be cool.
- [48:13]
B
Yeah. I probably have the most or high confidence. Sunrise on the reaping. Just those. Those movies have been good. The book was well reviewed.
- [48:22]
A
The book is well reviewed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The variance on that's going to be. The variance is pretty low. We even kind of know what happens happens or I mean especially the book is out. But like I think people have a sense of what that's going to be about. Dune Part 3 I think is going to look cool. But like what are they going to do about the story? Which really gets quite a bit stranger there. So. All right, Rebecca, that was fun. Shoot us. Email podcastriot.com if you've got something that we missed. We may do another one of these mid year as we get sort of prestige award. Things will start popping up. There's a lot of Christmas time, you know, more dramatic kind of stuff that comes out and then fall season.
- [49:00]
B
Yeah. And if that Florence Pew east of Eden adaptation gets a release date, that will be big news for us.
- [49:07]
A
I would love to watch that.
- [49:08]
B
Me too.
- [49:08]
A
It's a little packed though. I mean, God, there seems like there's a lot of these. It seems like there's a whole bunch of big time adaptations right now. I mean any year you get remain, you know, to note that. All right, Rebecca, we'll talk to you later.