Tag: ya
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11 TV Shows That Were YA Before YA Was a Thing
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The only thing hotter in Hollywood than comic books is young adult fiction.Studio execs are constantly searching for the next book or book series to turn into the next “Fault In Our Stars.” They also look to tweens’ shelves to find content for the small screen — even though several of your favorite shows already beat ’em to the punch. From “Buffy” to “Dawson,” here are 11 shows that went full YA before YA was even a thing.
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5 Things You Need to Know Before You See ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’
While many moviegoers are looking forward to the November release of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2,” that’s not the only movie franchise based on a series of dystopian young adult novels returning to theaters this fall. “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” is the middle act of the Maze Runner trilogy. It continues the saga of Thomas and the other survivors of the brutal human experiment as they learn more about their plague-ravaged world and the civil war that threatens to further tear it apart.While fans of the Maze Runner novels are already lining up for this sequel, those who only saw the first film may not know what to expect. To help you prepare for Thomas’ latest adventure, here are the five key things you need to know before entering The Scorch.
1. Out of the Maze, into the Scariest (Sandiest) Place Ever
Don’t expect Thomas and friends to be dropped into another isolated experiment with a giant maze in the middle. This time, our heroes will be venturing into the wider world.Mind you, that world is every bit as dangerous as the original maze. Dubbed “The Scorch,” this hellish desert is filled with deadly obstacles of both the man-made and natural variety. It also contains the ruins of the civilization that once was. If “Mad Max: Fury Road” left you craving for more post-apocalyptic desert wastelands, “The Scorch Trials” may be just what the doctor ordered.
2. There’s a War Brewing
Thomas and friends finally encountered the faceless enemy controlling their every action in the climax of the first movie. Look for the sequel to delve much deeper into the mysterious organization that is WCKD, and reveal why they dumped a bunch of teenagers into a giant death trap.As you can expect from a group whose name sounds like “Wicked” (and was actually spelled that way in the books), not everyone in the world of Maze Runner is thrilled with having a totalitarian regime calling the shots. This film will also introduce a resistance group rising up in opposition to the heavily armed and militaristic WCKD.
The question Thomas struggles with in this sequel is which side of the conflict he wants to be on. Not unlike a certain upcoming Marvel Studios movie, “Which side are you on?” is really the crux of the conflict.
3. You’re Gonna Meet Some New Allies (and Enemies)
“Scorch Trials” will feature several returning characters from the first movie, including Thomas (Dylan O’Brien), Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), Minho (Ki Hong Lee) and the mysterious researcher Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson).Look for several major new players to enter the board, as well. The most significant of these will be Janson (Aidan Gillen), one of the researchers in charge of the facility supposed designed to protect teens like Thomas who are immune to the deadly Flare virus. Naturally, Janson is more than he seems, and his motivations might not be so benevolent. Would you expect anything less from the guy who plays Littlefinger on “Game of Thrones?”
Other new characters will include Brenda (Rosa Salazar) and Aris (Jacob Lofland) as new allies to Thomas’ group, and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito) as the leader of a dissident group known as the Cranks.
4. More Answers Are Coming
The first “Maze Runner” didn’t seem to want viewers to know much about the true nature of this world, or the reason why dozens of innocent teens were dumped into a giant death trap and forced to build a Lord of the Flies-style civilization. As per usual in these types of mystery-driven stories, the characters with the answers always seemed to be the most tight-lipped.Expect the sequel to ease up in that regard. The film won’t just showcase the wider world outside of the maze, it’ll also explore the sorry state of civilization after a disease called The Flare has decimated humanity. What is the source of this disease? Can it be stopped? Are Thomas and his friends better off cooperating with WCKD’s experiments or seeking answers in the wastelands of the Scorch?
Also look for the sequel to delve deeper into Thomas’ past as he wrestles with old memories finally resurfacing. Based on the trailer, it seems we’ll get a closer glimpse into Thomas’ childhood and the tragic events that left him orphaned and alone.
5. It’s Really Different From the Book
Book purists might want to brace themselves: The adaptation will be a bit different from its source material – more so than the first movie was.As Maze Runner creator James Dashner explained in a recent interview, some of these changes are “rippling effects” that occur as a result of deviations in the first movie. Perhaps the biggest change is that the telepathic communication between Thomas and Teresa won’t be included in the film. Instead, other storytelling devices will be used to continue building their relationship.
Another major change is that a significant chunk of material from the third Maze Runner novel, “The Death Cure,” will be shifted into this film. So fans can expect the climax of “The Scorch Trials” to play out much differently than the book.
The good news is that the series will buck the familiar trend of most YA novels-turned-movies by not breaking the final installment into two parts. “The Death Cure” is currently slated for release in February 2017.
“Scorch Trials” hits theaters this Friday.
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It’s Time to Put an End to Hollywood’s Movie Adaptation Obsession
Lately, it seems that every single film that makes it big happens to be a book to film adaptation.Either this says a lot about the books published in recent years or this reflects even more upon the film industry itself. While the former cannot be denied, the latter seems to make an even bigger case. Every year hundreds of thousands of scripts are purchased by production companies, yet the ones that come to fruition are stories already tried and true. Movies like “The Hunger Games” get four films whereas that indie screenwriter doesn’t have their film see the light of day.
To most executives, movies mean money. Plain and simple. Making movies is an incredibly risky business. When a book reaches success, this tells a film executive that there is a built in audience for its movie companion. A built in audience basically guarantees a film will make money which makes the risk in creating the film fall down. To the film executives, no risk means unfathomable amounts of money in the case of successful franchises like Harry Potter or the Hunger Games.
However, there is an extremely large untapped well of talent in the screenwriting community. Creative features are incredibly risky and often only done by established directors/writers. While Wes Anderson is my own personal idol, giving him a budget of 16 million dollars is safe because of his large fan base. His films usually have a high gross profit, so the executives are comfortable with allowing him to go wild. He can do no wrong in both my eyes and in the eyes of executives, so he’s allowed to go wild. It’s not as risky as it may have been back when he was making films like “Bottle Rocket.” This built in fan-base guarantees money, just like the definite fans associated with New York Times Best Sellers.
In this year alone, there will be an upwards of ten books adapted to films. Many of these adaptations center on Young Adult fiction, which is a large, usually untapped, demographic. The large question remains: what can be done to break away from this fad? With last year’s Academy Awards results, maybe there will be some sort of change now that studios see that indie films win awards. Films like Birdman and Boyhood show creative concepts doing well in the box offices. If this trend continues, more films like “Whiplash” and “Nightcrawler” will enter theaters. These films show proof of concept that creative films with creative scripts are not solely confined to big-budget blockbusters. Hopefully Hollywood will get the message and follow suit.
But for now, we just have to endure another three years of Maze Runner sequels.
Brooke Schmidt is a student at The College of New Jersey and a contributor to Moviefone’s Campus Beat. Are you a current college student with a love for all things movies and TV? Contribute to Campus Beat!
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Young Adult Movies: or (The Rapid Deterioration of My Sanity)
Big corporations preying on the young and innocent is a surefire formula in every industry from fast food to footwear. Children, teens, and young adults have always been a target demographic due to burning desires and fiscal irresponsibility. In the entertainment industry, this is no different. In fact, it very well could be worse.Few writers broke out so dominantly into the Young Adult (YA) market like J.K. Rowling did when she penned her first “Harry Potter” novel. Every tween with the gift of literacy wanted to tie a bandana around a stick and march off into academia — the witchcraft and wizardry kind, of course.
What studio heads saw in Rowling’s books wasn’t a chance to spread the magic of Hogwarts into the heart of every child near and far, it was more along the line that vertically intercepts a capital ‘S’.
YA novels have been formulaically adapted from paper to film since “Harry Potter” sparked the trend over a decade ago. Critically, there is nothing significant about the movies that came from Rowling’s novels. To the trained adult eye, they are bland and predictable; but what is bland and predictable to mom and dad can be quite different to the eye of a child or teenager with a vast imagination.
This trend has left us with a string of dull and monotonous films that could only have been enjoyed if they were remotely relatable to a more experienced audience (and with open access to Jordan Belfort’s pharmaceutical cabinet). Minding the replacement of wooden wands with shiny fangs, many of us thought the “Twilight” saga would be the second coming of a magical teen fantasy.
Predictably, the films finished their run as more of a mockery than a good memory. Then came the “Hunger Games” franchise and the most recent “Divergent” series.
Admittedly, I never took the time to watch every “Twilight” film, but I have seen each installment of the other franchises discussed above. And to the derangement of my meager, aging brain; once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ’em all.
I’ve heard some positive things about the “Hunger Games” films, although I personally dislike them. I’ve also heard a lot of positive things about “Harry Potter” movies, and I actually enjoyed the first few. But after the tanking of “Twilight” and the majority consensus by critics that “Divergent” and “Insurgent” should be avoided like a drunken uncle, there could very well be a coming demise to the YA franchises in Hollywood.
And these are just the big time pictures. Recent films that were based off YA novels such as “The Giver,” “I Am Number Four,” “The Maze Runner,” and dozens of others have had mixed critical reviews to put it lightly. Greenlight after greenlight has mature audiences scratching their heads as to why they have to keep taking their kids to see such repetitive military-grade torture.
The answer is simple: money. For as many YA movies that bomb, there are almost as many that succeed. It’s the same concept that we see practiced through superhero movies on a consistent basis: if America’s youth keeps turning up in the seats, Hollywood will keep churning out the content.
As long as the scab keeps getting scratched off, the wound will continue to bleed. Unfortunately, the people buying the tickets are the ones getting bled on. One can only hope that these movies will see their day soon enough. But with “Furious 7” proving to be a box office powerhouse, it’s apparent that in Tinseltown, anything’s possible.
Jack Heyden is a sophomore at the University of Illinois and a contributor to Moviefone’s Campus Beat. Are you a current college student with a love for all things movies and TV? Contribute to Campus Beat!
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