With all of the highly awaited films of late 2021 and early 2022, from superhero films like The Batman and Spiderman: No Way Home to adventure films like Uncharted we’ve had a lot of heavy hitters recently. But besides these well-received films, what’s been falling between the cracks unnoticed? With numerous books being adapted for the big screen in the coming year, here’s a shortlist of five promising-looking adaptations both film and series, from a variety of genres to fill the gaps between the big-name flicks.
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Where the Crawdads Sing is both a coming-of-age story and murder mystery told from two different points following the life of Kya. The first section begins with Kya’s young adult life in her North Carolina home after she has been left by her siblings and mother with her abusive, alcoholic father. After he disappears too, she becomes known by the surrounding people as “The Marsh Girl” for having to live out in the swamp. Part two follows an adult Kya who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a local man whose body is found in the swamp, leaving her to prove her innocence in the case.
Bullet Train by Kotaro Isaka
From Japanese author Kotaro Isaka, his novel Bullet Train (originally titled Maria Beetle in Japan) is set to be adapted for the big screen this April. Bullet Train follows five assassins with seemingly separate objectives as they travel through Japan, only for their individual goals to intertwine as the trip progresses. As fast-paced as the train it’s set on, Bullet Train should be an excellent movie just around the corner with a star-studded cast to boot.
Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates
Despite the storied history of Marylin Monroe with many sources claiming facts with little to no truth behind them, Joyce Carol Oates’s original plainly said that it was fiction from the very start. Within this fictional account of the icon’s life viewers of the film will see the star come to life on the screen detailing her rise to fame through her eventual death, recounting the details of her personal life. There isn’t a set date for the film, but it is scheduled to release on Netflix this year.
Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
One of Stephen King’s most well-received novels, Salem’s Lot is receiving its first adaptation into film after having multiple TV miniseries’ based on the novel but never a feature film. Salem’s Lot follows Ben Mears, an author looking to write his next novel, who returns to his old hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot. While they’re searching for inspiration from childhood trauma, Mears discovers that a vicious creature has taken up residence in his old hometown, and is feeding on the blood of its residents. We can only hope based on past miniseries’ that the featured vampire of Salem’s Lot will take on the same grotesque appearance as previous renditions have.
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Coming from Higher Ground, Michelle and Barack Obama’s production company, is a series based on Angeline Boulley’s recent and highly praised novel. A YA mystery novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter is the story of Daunis Fontaine, a half-native, half-white 18-year-old girl who is drawn into the complex mysteries surrounding the drug epidemic in her Ojibwe reservation. After the death of her best friend, Daunis is recruited to work with the FBI in finding the answers behind the source of the drugs, finding a mystery, danger, and perhaps even a little romance.
Boulley’s novel is a complex and detailed novel, that we can be sure fully deserves a full-length series to tell the story properly. The series is set to release on Netflix, though no dates have been given specifically.