Big-budget, family-friendly blockbusters are as much a part of summer vacation as Little League baseball, lemonade stands, and traffic-jammed trips to the beach. (Not to romanticize it or anything.) They’re also consistently among the top-grossing films each year (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; and Up in 2009). This summer, several major franchises are back with sequels and threequels (Iron Man 2; Toy Story 3; and Eclipse), while studios are turning to diverse source material for other films: video games (Prince of Persia: Sands of Time), the funny pages (Marmaduke), animated cartoons (The Last Airbender and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), and fiction (Ramona and Beezus and Beastly). Here’s a preview of what moviegoers—and booksellers—can look forward to.
| may |
Iron Man 2
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson
Directed by Jon Favreau
Release date May 7 (Paramount Pictures/Marvel, wide)
Tie-ins from Little, Brown: Iron Man 2: The Junior Novel by Alexander Irvine (Apr.; 100,000 paper); Iron Man 2: Iron Man’s Friends and Foes by Lisa Shea (Apr.; 125,000 paper); Iron Man 2: Meet the Black Widow by Lisa Shea (Apr.; 125,000 paper); Iron Man 2: Iron Man vs. Whiplash by Jodi Huelin (Apr.; 100,000 paper); Iron Man 2: Iron Man Fights Back by Jodi Huelin (Apr.; 100,000 paper); Iron Man 2: The Reusable Sticker Book by Alice Render (Apr.; 100,000 paper)
Iron Man was the second highest-grossing film of 2008, earning more than $318 million in the U.S. That may have been a dark horse success, but it means expectations are high for this sequel, which also features Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Mickey Rourke as Whiplash.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina
Directed by Mike Newell
Release date May 28 (Walt Disney Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, wide)
Tie-ins from Disney Press: Prince of Persia: The Road to Sardis (Aug.; paper); Prince of Persia: Walls of Babylon (Aug.; paper)
Tie-in from DK: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: The Visual Guide (Mar.; paper)
Tie-in from Roaring Brook/First Second: Prince of Persia by A.B. Sina, illus. by LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland (Apr.; 50,000 paper)
Jordan Mechner—who designed the classic 1989 video game on which this film is based—also collaborated on the script as well as the graphic novel tie-in (above) from First Second. With Jerry Bruckheimer producing, movie-goers can expect no shortage of action and special effects. Could this be this year’s Pirates of the Caribbean?
| june |
Marmaduke
Starring Owen Wilson (voice), William H. Macy, Judy Greer
Directed by Tom Dey
Release date June 4 (20th Century Fox, wide)
Tie-ins from HarperCollins: Marmaduke: Meet Marmaduke by Kirsten Mayer (Apr.; 50,000 paper); Marmaduke: The Junior Novel by J.E. Bright (HarperFestival, Apr.; 60,000 paper)
The larger—and clumsier—than life Great Dane jumps from his comic strip to the big screen. Several major actors lend their voices to the project: Owen Wilson voices the title role alongside Kiefer Sutherland, George Lopez, and Stacy Ferguson (aka Fergie). Talking (and singing and dancing) dogs and cats may not be for everyone, but, hey, Beverly Hills Chihuahua opened at #1 in 2008, so who’s to say it doesn’t have a shot?
Toy Story 3
Voices of Tom Hanks, Joan Cusack, Tim Allen
Directed by Lee Unkrich
Release date June 18 (Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation, wide)
Tie-ins from Disney Press: Toy Story 3: Friends Stick Together (May; 150,000 novelty); Toy Story 3: Meet the Gang! A Moving Pictures Book (May; 100,000 novelty); Toy Story 3: Read-Along Storybook and CD (May; 100,000 paper); Toy Story Storybook Collection (May; 250,000); Toy Story 3: A Busy Day by Lara Bergen (June; 250,000 novelty); Toy Story 3: Mix and Match (July; novelty)
Tie-ins from DK: Toy Story 3: The Essential Guide (May); Toy Story 3 Ultimate Sticker Book (May; paper)
Tie-ins from Random/Disney: Buzz to the Rescue! Go-Along Board Book; Toy Story 3 Junior Novel; Woody’s Wild Adventure; Toy Story 3 Read-Aloud Storybook; Toy Story 3 Magnet Book; Big Hugs Big Coloring Book; Play Day! Reusable Sticker Book; Spring into Action! Deluxe Coloring Book; Sunnyside Up Hologramatic Sticker Book; Toy Trouble; Great Toy Escape Step into Reading, Step 2; Toy to Toy Step into Reading, Step 1 (May; 2,575,000 total)
The first two Toy Story films were bona fides smashes (grossing more than $846 million worldwide), so there’s some expectation resting on this third installment, in which Buzz, Woody, and the other toys have to face the fact that Andy is heading to college. The previous two movies were rereleased in Disney Digital 3-D this past October, further ramping up anticipation.
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner
Directed by David Slade
Release date June 30 (Summit Entertainment, wide)
Tie-ins from Little, Brown: Eclipse (trade paper tie-in) by Stephenie Meyer (May; two million); Eclipse (mass market tie-in) by Stephenie Meyer (June; two million); The Twilight Saga Eclipse: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion by Mark Cotta Vaz (June; one million paper)
Tie-in from Ulysses Press: Bella Should Have Dumped Edward by Michelle Pan (June; 20,000 paper)
Easily one of the summer’s most anticipated films, the third film based on Stephenie Meyer’s megabestselling Twilight saga promises all the dreamy vampires and werewolves fans could want. Little, Brown is clearly confident in the film’s ability to rule the box office, given its substantial tie-in program (not to mention Meyer’s novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, which pubs May 5).
| july |
The Last Airbender
Starring Dev Patel, Jackson Rathbone, Noah Ringer
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Release date July 2 (Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies, wide)
Tie-ins from Random/Golden: Air Strike!; Fire Power!; Secrets of the Avatar (May; 125,000 combined paper)
Tie-ins from Simon Spotlight: The Last Airbender Movie Novelization by Michael Teitelbaum (May; 150,000 paper); Aang’s Destiny by Emily Sollinger (May; 100,000 paper); Avatar’s Return by Irene Kilpatrick (May; 100,000 paper); Battle of the North by Brian James (May; 125,000 paper); Trial by Fire by Michael Teitelbaum (May; 125,000 paper)
The Last Airbender can’t seem to catch a break: it had to change its name (it’s a live-action adaptation of the cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, and that name wasn’t going to work post–James Cameron); fans complained about “race bending” in the casting (changing the ethnicities of some characters); and it’s opening just a couple of days after Eclipse. But the animated series has racked up fans and awards, and Shyamalan’s direction could be a draw.
Despicable Me
Voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Miranda Cosgrove
Directed by Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, Sergio Pablos
Release date July 9 (Universal Pictures/Illumination Entertainment, wide)
Tie-ins from Little, Brown: Despicable Me: The Junior Novel by Annie Auerbach (May; 100,000 paper); Despicable Me: My Dad the Super Villain by Lucy Rosen (May; 85,000 paper); Despicable Me: The World’s Greatest Villain by Kirsten Mayer (May; 85,000 paper); Sleepy Kittens by Jodi Huelin (LB Kids, May; 75,000)
Plenty of big names contribute their voices to this computer-animated 3-D movie—among them Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Russell Brand, and Kristin Wiig—about an archvillain planning to steal the moon. This one may not have the buzz of Toy Story 3, but from Dr. Evil to Darth Vader, people do like a good supervillain.
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
Starring Nicolas Cage, Alfred Molina, Jay Baruchel
Directed by Jon Turteltaub
Release date July 16 (Walt Disney Pictures/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, wide)
Tie-ins from Disney Book Group: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: Arcana Cabana Catalogue (Disney Press, June; 75,000 paper); The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Junior Novel by James Ponti (Disney Press, June; 100,000 paper); The Answer Is Yes: The Art and Making of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Michael Singer (Disney Editions, June; 35,000).
Jerry Bruckheimer’s second Disney film this summer is a live-action reinterpretation and extrapolation of the animated short of the same name in Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia. Don’t go looking for Mickey in this one, though: Baruchel (Knocked Up) plays a college-age apprentice to Cage’s sorcerer. Turteltaub and Bruckheimer previously worked together on the National Treasure films.
Ramona and
Beezus
Starring Joey King, Selena Gomez, John Corbett
Directed by Elizabeth Allen
Release date July 23 (Fox 2000/Walden Media, wide)
Tie-in from HarperFestival: Beezus and Ramona Movie Tie-in Edition by Beverly Cleary, illus. by Tracy Dockray (June; 350,000 paper); Ramona’s World Movie Tie-in Edition by Beverly Cleary, illus. by Tracy Dockray (June; 250,000 paper)
The title of Beverly Cleary’s 1955 book Beezus and Ramona gets flipped in this film adaptation, which marks the first time the beloved Quimby siblings will appear on the big screen. The title isn’t all that’s changed, though. In the book, the girls are four and 10; in the movie, Beezus (played by Disney Channel darling Selena Gomez) is a teenager, which has sparked a bit of online grumbling.
Beastly
Starring Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer, Mary-Kate Olsen
Directed by Daniel Barnz
Release date July 30 (CBS Films, wide)
Tie-in from HarperTeen: Beastly Movie Tie-in Edition by Alex Flinn (June; 150,000 paper).
One of the first movies from CBS Films, this supernatural teen drama is based on Flinn’s 2007 YA novel, which PW called “a lighthearted and contemporary twist on Beauty and the Beast.” The cast is well positioned to get teens into theaters, with Hudgens (of High School Musical fame),
Pettyfer (who played Alex Rider in Stormbreaker), Olsen, and Neil Patrick Harris (456,000 Twitter followers and counting).
