Silver Screen News

In cleaning out my Google Reader, my Twitter favorites, and my Gmail (this blog-laziness really makes it pile up), I ran across references to a number of kidlit movie adaptions that are coming down the pike. Here they are, bundled for your convenience.

• Did you know Wes Anderson was filming Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox in animated form? Due out in November--mark your calenders! Thanks for the news to a long-ago Tweet from abbylibrarian.
• More new movie news: Jarrett J. Kros . . . Korc . . . gah. You know who I'm talking about. His "Lunch Lady" series is already being talked about for a movie, with Amy Poehler, no less. Not bad for a book whose pristine spines haven't even hit shelves. Thanks to 100 Scope Notes for the heads-up.
• Comingsoon.net, bless their little chips, got a couple of production stills from "Beastly," adapted from the Alex Flinn novel of the same name. The stills are of the main character, played by Alex Pettyfer, in before and after mode. Not bad, makeup department. Not at all bad.
  
• Speaking of casting, we know that The Hunger Games is set to be a movie. Mitali Perkins Tweet-speculates: Would you cast this girl as Katniss Everdeen? Actually, I would. There's a look about her eyes that makes me reluctant to be in a brutal reality show fighting for my life if she's there too. Who else would you like to see in that arena? (Let me emphasize--there has no announcement about casting and I know nothing. Mere speculation.)
• Ooo! Speaking of wildly popular YA novels being adapted: the lowdown from Scott Westerfeld on the progress of the possible Uglies movie.
• In news of the weird, USA Today posted a first look at the Tim Burton-led Alice in Wonderland movie. It's very . . . Burton-esque. I swear I see something slithering in that foliage.
  
• Finally, there's this very hee!-worthy post from PopWatch about the style of the new Harry Potter posters, which seem to be less about You-Know-Who and more about Gushy Stuff, Like, Ewwwwwwwww! Meg Cabot reacts hilariously here, including a not-to-be-missed discussion of brooms. Yes, really. Somewhere (I can't remember where now!), it was posited that this switch in focus is due to the popularity of the Vampires Who Must Not Be Named and their accompanying clinchy posters. You have to admit, the Potter posters are surprisingly heavy on what were, at best, some of the book's B-plots. I kinda want to poke Ron in the stomach to see if he'll deflate. I also want to take Lavender by the hand and lead her gently off a cliff. She's so busy gazing starry-eyed at Won-Won that she won't notice a thing.