Holidays Films Include Adaptations of Four Book Sense 76 Handselling Favorites

Rivaling summer as the time to roll out blockbusters or wannabe blockbusters are the busy weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now that the memories of Seabiscuit, Mystic River, The Cat in the Hat, and others have receded, a broad collection of film adaptations from literature are gracing screens across the country. Among them are film versions of House of Sand and Fog, a 2001 Book Sense Book of the Year finalist, and Cold Mountain, the 1998 Adult Trade winner of the American Booksellers Book of the Year Award (the precursor of the Book Sense Book of the Year), as well as Book Sense 76 picks Girl With a Pearl Earring and Big Fish: Mythic Proportions.

Michael Crichton's century-bending thriller, Timeline, opened on November 26, 2003. The action movie, directed by Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon, Superman), is based on Crichton's novel by the same name. Ballantine published Timeline, a current Book Sense Bestseller, in 2000.

Ron Howard directed Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett in The Missing, a chilling tale of suspense based on Thomas Eidson's book by the same title. The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on December 10 and nationally on January 9. Eidson's novel, published in paperback in 2003 by Random House, was originally titled The Last Ride.

The offbeat debut novel by Daniel Wallace, Big Fish: Mythic Proportions (Penguin), promises to be an equally intriguing film about tall tales, directed by Tim Burton, and starring Albert Finney, Steve Buscemi, and Helena Bonham Carter. The film opens for a limited release on December 10, and for wide release on December 25. Big Fish was also a November/December Book Sense 76 pick in 1999.

The elegant, speculative novel by Tracy Chevalier, Girl With a Pearl Earring (Plume), will open in New York and Los Angeles on December 12, in Chicago and San Francisco on December 26, and everywhere else on January 9. The novel, which explores the story behind Johannes Vermeer's famous painting, was a Book Sense 76 pick both in hardcover and, again, in paperback. Scarlet Johansson and Colin Firth star in director Peter Webber's film.

Norman Jewison's (In the Heat of the Night, Hurricane) film adaptation of Brian Moore's disturbing novel of World War II crimes and their repercussions, The Statement (Plume), opens on December 12 in New York and Los Angeles, and Jewison's fact-based thriller with apparent Oscar potential will expand to other cities at a later date. Michael Caine stars as a duplicitous Frenchman who has escaped capture and punishment for 40 years, but is now pursued by the French government, a secret organization of assassins, and a famous Nazi hunter.

The 2001 Book Sense Book of the Year finalist House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III (Vintage) comes to the big screen with openings in Los Angeles and New York on December 19. The film stars Ben Kingsley as Massoud Amir Behrani, who buys a house mistakenly seized for back taxes, with disastrous results. The film also stars Jennifer Connelly, Ron Eldard, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Kim Dickens, and is directed by Vadim Perelman.

Once again, the single, childless Steve Martin will play a charming father, this time of a chaotic houseful of impossibly adorable youngsters in a remake of Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (Perennial). Martin shares the parenting duties with Bonnie Hunt while Hilary Duff, Tom Welling, and Piper Perabo play three of their 12 children. The film, which opens nationwide on December 25, places the clan, based on the authors' family, in the 21st century.

The film version of the Adult Trade winner of the 1998 American Booksellers Book of the Year Award and winner of the National Book Award, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (Vintage), will also be released on December 25 around the country. The Civil War saga, loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, stars Renee Zellweger, Nicole Kidman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman; Anthony Minghella (The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley) directed. Available from New Market Press this month is The Making of Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain by Dan Auiler.

Action fans will want to catch John Woo's adaptation of Paycheck, opening on December 25 around the country. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick (Citadel Press), Paycheck features Ben Affleck as Michael Jennings, a freelance engineering genius who becomes enmeshed in a futuristic memory puzzle. The film also stars Uma Thurman and Aaron Eckhart.

Good news, and more good news, for fans of J.M. Barrie and his classic creation, Peter Pan (Peter Pan: The Original Story, HarperFestival). Director P.J. Hogan has apparently relied more heavily on Barrie's original work than previous versions in this film opening on December 25. The film stars Jason Isaacs as both Captain Hook and Mr. Darling. Isaacs established his evil bona fides as Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Another film, Neverland, which stars Johnny Depp as the struggling playwright J.M. Barrie in early 1900s London, is planned for general release in fall of 2004. Barrie's story of the lost boys was inspired by his close friendship with a family in which the father abandoned the four sons and their mother (played by Kate Winslet), who was dying. The tale of a place where no one grew up or died, Never-Neverland, was a comfort to them. Dustin Hoffman will star as Charles Frohman, Barrie's best friend and main financial backer.

And lest anyone forget, The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings -- Part Three (J.R.R.Tolkien, available in hardcover and paperback -- trade and mass-market -- from Houghton and Del Rey) opens everywhere on December 17.