There’s
nothing original in Hollywood anymore, is something you’ve probably heard from
a lot from people who enjoy film. Of course, there are all smaller indie
studios working on original stuff but it’s generally overshadowed by Hollywood
Blockbusters, which often adapt either IPs, like Superhero movies, or books,
like the ones we’ll be looking at for the month of November
I’m going to
try and put my own unique spin on Dominic Noble’s adaptation formula. First
off, there’s no exception for ‘In Name Only’ adaptations, and I’m pretty sure
there’s at least one in this line-up. But let’s start with one of my favourite
films of last year: Love, Simon.
Love, Simon
is an adaptation of Simon vs The Homo-sapiens agenda written by Becky
Albertalli. Adapting her material are Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, who
both have experience with TV, but little with film-making. Heading up on the
directing side is Greg Berlanti, who is the involved with the DC TV Universe
with shows like Arrow, the Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.
It had a
modest $17m budget and made a decent return, gathering $66m at the Box Office and
was a success with both critics and audiences, with 92% and 88% Rotten Tomatoes
ratings respectively. How does it fare though? Here’s a quick summary of how I
feel about each.