Off Topic: Movie Tie-In Editions

[Greg Cox]

More nuances:

Typically, you're more likely to see a novelization of a movie based on a pre-existing book if the book is in public domain. Any living author (or active estate) is likely to insist that the original book be reprinted instead--and probably still controls the literary rights to the property. I know of at least one instance where the studio would have preferred to put out a novelization, but this suggestion was nixed by the original author.

Meanwhile, on the flip side, as I understand it, the screenwriters have to sign off on their work being novelized. Typically, this is just a matter of course, but there was another instance where I wanted to publish a novelization of a certain movie, but the screenwriter would not allow it. He was willing to have his original script published in book form, but would not consent to it being novelized. (I passed.)

And, come to think of it, there was a momentary hiccup on another novelization when it was discovered that, due to a bureaucratic oversight, one of the ten screenwriters who had worked on a certain movie had never signed the necessary paperwork to allow a novelization to be published. Fortunately, this was straightened out in a matter of days . . . and the book came out on schedule.

 

[Christopher]

In contrast to the cases I mentioned before, here's one I've read about: Martin Caidin's novel Cyborg was rather different from its screen adaptation The Six Million Dollar Man, in that Steve Austin was more of a ruthless killer, his bionic eye was just a camera and couldn't see, he had a poison dart gun in one of his fingers or something, etc. But several of the novelizations of 6M$M episodes altered the stories to make Steve more like his novel equivalent! Which must've been confusing to fans of the show.

 

[Greg Cox]

Another interesting case: The Roswell TV series was based on a pre-existing series of YA novels, but eventually there was also a line of tie-in novels set in the continuity of the TV series, not the original books. (I wrote the first one of those.)

Meanwhile, Keith: Do I gather from your post that you were actually shown advance footage of Darkness Falls? Wow.

 

[KRAD]

Meanwhile, Keith: Do I gather from your post that you were actually shown advance footage of Darkness Falls? Wow.

Not of the whole movie, just of the changed ending, and it was a rough cut. I was very pleased and very impressed. This is in direct contrast to the Resident Evil films, where I didn't even get script revisions, just whatever version of the script happened to be current when I signed the contract. (This resulted in my novel of Apocalypse having a way different ending than the movie, something I was actually able to address in the novelization of Extinction.)

I also got to see a rough cut of Serenity, but so did everyone else -- that wasn't anything special I got from novelizing the film, I just went to one of the rough-cut screenings Universal did throughout 2005 to drum up interest in the film.

 

[Greg Cox]

Interesting . . . .

Getting script revisions is not all that common. Fortunately, somebody at the studio has to read and approve the finished ms. and this is often where any changes from the original script get caught:

"Oh, we cut the windmill scene. And that kindly old doctor? He's now a sexy babe."

This is generally your last chance to fix things, although there are always going to be minor discrepancies between the movie and the novelization, simply because the writer has never seen the movie!

 

[Lonemagpie]

Good point. Logan's World, the sequel to the novel Logan's Run, didn't literally ignore the first book, but very quickly advanced the plot so that the beginning of the sequel more or less synched up with the ending of the movie. Like in about five pages or so . . . .

The same thing happened with Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Pal Gallaco's sequel to The Poseidon Adventure, both of which follow on from the changed movie endings of the originals (Ian Malcolm surviving and the Poseidon still being afloat, when neither was the case in their original novels, respectively.)

 

[Greg Cox]

Good point. Logan's World, the sequel to the novel Logan's Run, didn't literally ignore the first book, but very quickly advanced the plot so that the beginning of the sequel more or less synched up with the ending of the movie. Like in about five pages or so . . . .

The same thing happened with Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Pal Gallaco's sequel to The Poseidon Adventure, both of which follow on from the changed movie endings of the originals (Ian Malcolm surviving and the Poseidon still being afloat, when neither was the case in their original novels, respectively.)

I vaguely remembered something involving Jurassic Park, but figured somebody would be along with the full scoop eventually. Thanks!

 

[ronny]

My favourite of the "lack of description" variety of screenplay action is from the Live And Let Die, where the whole ten-minute speedboat chase centrepiece is described as "Scene 140- The greatest boat chase you've ever seen in your life."

And they got it right!!!

 

[JD]

A year or two ago, I came across a series of new editions of the original Sherlock Holmes stories with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman on the covers. I still can't help but wonder how many people got them expecting novelizations of the modern stories from the TV show, and instead ended up with the 1800s stories.
If anyone is interested here they are:
A Study In Scarlet
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

 

[Greg Cox]

When you think about it, that's the great thing about movie tie-in editions; they can lead hordes of new readers to read classic books and authors they might have never discovered otherwise. And even if some of those readers are confused and/or disappointed because the book isn't exactly like the new movie, I like to think that most of them end up enjoying the book on its own terms . . . .

Speaking from personal experience, putting Will Smith on the cover of I AM LEGEND put Matheson's original novel on the bestseller list for the first time in over fifty years and got the book into the hands of literally hundreds of thousands of new readers. That's a win-win for everybody.

 

[Therin of Andor]

KW Jeter and Peter David were asked to novelize unfilmed "Alien Nation" scripts, "Dark Horizons" and "Body and Soul", long before the original scripts were filmed as telemovies in 1994 and 1995.

Kenneth Johnson's novel, "V: The Second Generation" continues from the events of the first "V" mini-series. Characters who died in on TV in "V: The Final Battle" and "V: The Series" are alive to fight another day and, when AC Crispin's novelization (of both "V" and "The Final Battle") was reprinted to herald Johnson's novel, they only reprinted the first section.

 

[Nathan]

Holy Toledo!!!!

I just got back from vacation and was hoping for a couple of responses to my Game of Thrones question......I shocked how long the thread is.

Thanks all for answering my question, and glad it spurred some great discussion.

Carry on!

 

[trampledamage]

Thanks all for answering my question, and glad it spurred some great discussion.

Carry on!

Agreed

 

[Leto_II]

Now, as mentioned, occasionally someone will put out a novelization of movie based on an earlier novel, as with that Bond movie or, infamously, Bram Stoker's Dracula by Fred Saberhagen. But that's a different thing. You can tell the difference by looking at the credits. If it says something like "A novel by Greg Cox based on the screenplay by Joe Blow based a novel by Charles Dickens," you're dealing with a book based on a movie based on a book.

But if it just says "by George R.R. Martin," it's simply the old book with a new cover.

Don't forget about the audiobook adaptation of the novelization of the movie Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire.

 

[JD]

Anyone read the Alan Dean Foster adaptations of the first 3 Alien movies? They're going to be coming out for the Nook in March, April, and May and I was thinking about checking out the first two (I've never seen 3).

 

[DonIago]

I liked the first two well enough. The third suffers from the fact that it's the third movie, and even a novelization can't explain what are to my mind some of the contortions put in place at the beginning of the film, but...well, I can't say much more than that since I haven't seen the third film and my understanding is that there's two versions with some significant differences.