Focus Features' 3D animated Coraline made more than $16 million in its opening weekend.
Photo: © Laika, Inc.

As the worldwide children's book industry convenes in Bologna later this month (March 23—26), new economic realities mean that attendance will likely be down and business potentially slower. But despite the slump in the book business, which has even affected the comparatively robust children's market, the film side remains a particularly bright spot. Harry Potter's reign may be over, but the phenomenal success of J.K. Rowling's series—and subsequent film adaptations—“made Hollywood sit up and realize films based on kids' books are profitable,” in the words of Fox scout Riley Ellis.

This year, the presence of studios and Hollywood people, which exploded in Harry Potter's wake, is expected to be just as strong. Prominent film buys of children's books over the last several years include Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, released last year by Summit, and Christopher Paolini's Eragon, brought out by Fox in 2006, as well as Newbery winner Neil Gaiman's Coraline, just released by Focus; Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief, in pre-production at Fox, and Warner Brothers' much-delayed adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, finally due to appear in theaters this fall.

Ellis, who will be attending the fair, said that she sees “no difference between now and a couple of years ago” when it comes to the flourishing business of children's books-to-film. “Thank you, J.K. Rowling,” she joked, but 12 years since the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, children's books are “coming into their own in terms of film adaptations,” Ellis said. Nancy Gallt, a children's book agent who sold children's rights at Harper & Row in the 1980s, said that back then, “you couldn't give film rights away”; Ellis estimated that pre-Harry Potter, children's books comprised only about 20% of the book-to-film market. That figure today is closer to 50%.


Summit Entertainment is ramping up its Twilight sequels, with the fall release of New Moon, followed by Eclipse in 2010. Photo: Deana Newcomb.

“Kids' and YA publishing have strong footholds in the top Hollywood films” these days, said Gotham Group manager and producer Eddie Gamarra. And it seems to make increasing sense for studios to pursue children's books: looking at the top 10 grossing films of 2008, Gamarra said, “all of them were family movies.”

The fair itself has reflected this increased Hollywood-ization in recent years. Six years ago, Ellis estimated that there were only two other film people at Bologna, and now it's up to 15 or 20. “They all started going at once,” agreed children's film and television agent Jody Hotchkiss.

And while film deals don't typically get done at the fair—whether or not a studio already has a producer in place, scouts and other film people looking for projects don't have the power to buy outright—it is a place where film projects germinate. Ellis found out about Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid there, now in pre-production at Fox; Gamarra discovered M.P. Robertson's Big Brave Brian, now in development at CBS Films. “There's no one in film who doesn't take children's books seriously anymore,” Ellis said.

Rights Market Strong

Though the book industry is struggling, there's a sense among editors and agents that film people are still comparatively flush. “From studios, to mini-majors to indie producers, it's been solid business,” said Gamarra, who said he's been very busy since the beginning of the year closing book-to-film deals; while the majority are still under wraps, Gamarra mentioned 21 Laps' acquisition of the adaptation of Nathan Hale's The Devil You Know, as well as Universal's buy of Michael Reisman's Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper as a few recent deals he's worked on. John McLay, a scout in England for HarperCollins UK and Gallimard Jeunesse in France, among others, noted, “There are always a lot of options bought, year in and year out, but my perception is that more films based on children's books are actually being made.”

That's not to say that studios are throwing money at any ersatz Potter fantasy. Given the current economic climate, insiders expect studios to be increasingly measured in the way they look for projects. Specifically, the moment for the blockbuster fantasy may have passed; the frenzied acquisition of this kind of material over the past few years has had mixed results. Though the Harry Potter series thrived on the big screen, as did the first film installment of the Chronicles of Narnia, the second Narnia movie was widely perceived to be a commercial disappointment, as were adaptations of Eragon and Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass. (The third Narnia installment, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is in preproduction at Fox, after Disney jumped ship.)

“Kids' fantasies are very expensive to make,” Hotchkiss pointed out. And these days, Walden Media's Debbie Kovacs said, “Everybody's looking at everything they do extremely carefully.”

Nevertheless, scouts and agents agree that the market for children's books-to-film has really opened up. Part of the Harry Potter legacy, said Mary Pender-Coplan, who scouts for Warner Brothers on behalf of Maria Campbell Associates, is that there are wider possibilities in terms of the material studios are willing to look at. “Twilight crossed into the adult market; Diary of a Wimpy Kid crossed into the adult market,” she said. “Studios concerned with hitting the four quadrants find that they can find these stories in children's books.”

And the success of several recent book-to-film projects like Twilight, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has reinforced this notion, said McLay. “After a couple of years of modest returns,” he said, these movies may have “restored faith in the viability of children's books as big films.”

The Four Quadrants

So what are studios looking for? The aforementioned four quadrants—young, old, male, female—is the catchphrase most frequently invoked in Hollywood when it comes to successful “family” movies (as opposed to “children's” movies, a descriptor film people shy away from). A number of scouts and agents cited the film adaptation of Marley & Me as a prime example of the kind of project studios covet these days—a film with mass appeal that, unlike large-scale fantasies, didn't cost a lot to make.

And even though everyone's definition of what will attract all four quadrants is different, adult characters definitely augment a project's appeal. “I like things with kid-friendly adults in major roles,” said Ellis. Kovacs is excited about the film version of Ingrid Law's Newbery Honor book Savvy, which Walden is currently developing, and cites the range of ages among the book's characters. “I'm hoping it will appeal the same way across audience sectors,” she said. In some cases, if there isn't an adult, a studio may add one.

Gamarra invoked the Ben Stiller vehicle Night at the Museum as a prototype of “grounded fantasy” that remains a top request for buyers, and he is focusing much of his efforts on looking for this kind of material. Hotchkiss emphasized the “high-concept family movie” as a promising area for studios, citing recently sold options on Grandma's Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast (Disney picked it up), or Dino Trucks, a Transformers-like project in which dinosaurs morph into trucks.

“Producers seem to be mining backlists too, not just frontlist titles,” said McLay; one example is Beezus & Ramona, based on the Beverly Cleary books, which Walden is doing with Fox, and which Kovacs described as a “strong evergreen.”

A well-loved book has a semi-built-in audience when it comes to the movies, not that this is any guarantee of success. But kids' books may lend themselves more easily to the medium, said Pender-Coplan. For one thing, “they travel in a way that adult books might not.” Stumbling blocks for adult books—whether a book is '“too American,” for example—are less relevant to children's books, which tend to mine universal themes. This flexibility can be an asset in a saturated marketplace.

Even though Bologna is an increasingly popular destination for studios, this year's muted dynamic is uncharted territory. Ellis conceded that a missing editor can be a “blow to the material” since she (or he) is often able to convey an enthusiasm for titles that rights people simply don't have the time to develop. In this respect, for a number of publishers, BEA will become all the more important this year. Nevertheless, insiders remain sanguine about future attendance in Bologna. Kovacs, who isn't going this year, declared 2009 “an anomaly” in the number of book people skipping out. “It's a fantastic opportunity for the entire field,” she said. “All of us would find the field gravely diminished without it.”

So what is the future? Books may be struggling, but “as long as publishers keep publishing,” said Ellis, studios will scour the market for “everything that's worthwhile.” Fewer books may mean fewer movies, but “there's still room for stories,” Ellis insisted, “and kids' books are the most beloved of all literature.”

What seems unmistakable is that the relationship between children's book publishers and Hollywood studios and producers will become further entrenched, as each attempts to profit from the other. And increasingly the dynamic is working both ways. These days, when publishers are considering a children's book, Hotchkiss said, “Now more than ever, they're looking for movie potential—can this be a movie?”