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Suicide Squad

A new article about the upcoming Summer movies of 2016 at The L.A. Times has included a new shot of Will Smith's Deadshot and Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn in the upcoming David Ayer-directed "Suicide Squad" film. Click here for the larger version.

Monument 14

Strange Weather Films has hired Sandy Widyanata to direct "Monument 14," the first film in a series based on Emmy Laybourne's futuristic novel trilogy. Aron Warner and Andrew Adamson will produce.

The story follows fourteen kids from Monument, Colorado who are trapped in a superstore as civilization collapses outside the gates. Brad Peyton ("San Andreas") and Laybourne co-wrote the script. [Source: Variety]

Lionsgate

Lionsgate has added more than one hundred movies, including "The Hunger Games" and "Kill Bill," to the PC gaming delivery platform Steam. The service is used by millions of PC gamers and while video delivery has always been part of Steam,...

Now that the adaptation of James Dashner's "The Scorch Trials" is two-thirds done, and the final installments of "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent" are coming, it's time to think about which young-adult books will translate well to the big screen.

And we're not just going to list the obvious, like name all of John Green's books (although "Looking for Alaska" is already in pre-production). We're going straight to the source - fellow young adult authors, many of whom have their own titles optioned and in the works.

Here are 14 Ya and children's authors' picks for the books they wish would get green lit.

1. Gayle Forman, author of "If I Stay"

"I would love to see Matt de la Peña's 'The Living' turned into a film. It follows a young man, named Shy, who works as a towel boy on a cruise ship that's sunk by a tsunami.

Fox

"The Fault in Our Stars" writer John Green is the latest best-selling Ya author to have his novel adapted from page to screen, and the results are overwhelmingly positive. Although not all of his peers have have been quite as lucky, the Ya community is filled with writers hoping their work -- which has been optioned, is in development, or is just a month or so away from hitting the big screen -- will manage to satisfy both existing fans of the book and moviegoers who've never heard of the book.

We caught up with several young adult authors at the annual Book Expo America, and found out which adaptations are their personal favorites, and the results range from childhood classics ("A Christmas Carol") to newer, trippier fare ("Adaptation"). Here are 11 Ya authors' picks for best adaptation.

1. Gayle Forman, author of "If I Stay" (in theaters Aug. 19)

That is a tough one,...

Just after Modern Family’s Ty Burrell was cast in The Muppet sequel, word has come that Ricky Gervais is in negotiations to lead the film after Jason Segal announced that he was not returning. The European-set film begins production in January, with a December 13, 2013 release date. James Bodin returns as director.

It’s been described as The Breakfast Club set after the apocalypse, but in the age of studios swallowing any young adult content out there hoping to find a worthy series to follow up successful franchises like Twilight and Hunger Games, it’s no surprise Reel FX and Andrew Adamson’s Strange Weather have acquired the rights to Emmy Laybourne’s post-apocalypse trilogy Monument 14. It’s about a group of teens who are trapped together in a chain superstore and face the prospect of life, death and love and hate while the world as they know it ends right outside.

Reel FX and Strange Weather have acquired screen rights to Emmy Laybourne's young adult novel "Monument 14." The first novel in a proposed trilogy, the story is described as a post-apocalyptic "The Breakfast Club."

The story deals with a group of teens trapped together in a chain superstore and face the prospect of life, death and love and hate while the world as they know it ends right outside.

Brad Peyton ("Journey 2: The Mysterious Island") will adapt the script with the intent of directing.

Source: Deadline...

Another young adult book-to-film adaptation is on its way, this time for the post-apocalyptic thriller Monument 14, which is the first installment in a trilogy to be completed by Emmy Laybourne. Brad Peyton will direct for Reel FX and Andrew Adamson’s Strange Weather.

Monument 14 was published this past June, and its follow-up, Monument 14: Sky on Fire, will be published next June by the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group imprint Feiwell & Friends.

Here's the book's synopsis:

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.

Exclusive: Reel FX and Andrew Adamson’s Strange Weather have acquired screen rights to Monument 14, the first installment of a young adult novel trilogy by Emmy Laybourne that Brad Peyton will adapt to direct. Reel FX, which has a partnership with Strange Weather, will produce alongside Adamson and Aron Warner, with Jeff Fierson exec producing and overseeing. The first novel is an unlikely jumping off point for a post-apocalyptic young adult trilogy. It’s best described as The Breakfast Club set after the apocalypse. A group of teens are trapped together in a chain superstore and face the prospect of life, death and love and hate while the world as they know it ends right outside. That book was published in June, and the followup, Monument 14: Sky On Fire, will be published next June by the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group imprint Feiwell & Friends. “As soon as I read the first chapter,...

Movies based on "Saturday Night Live" characters have a checkered history. They range from a cult hit ("The Blues Brothers") and super smash ("Wayne's World") to many misfires ("Coneheads", "A Night at the Roxbury", "It's Pat" and "Stuart Saves His Family"). Obviously, what plays well in short sketches cannot necessarily be sustained for a feature-length film.

Now comes "Superstar", which revolves around Molly Shannon's "SNL" character Mary Katherine Gallagher, a hyperactive Catholic schoolgirl who moves within her own mental force field. This character is definitely an acquired taste and, even then, unlikely to appeal to enough people for "Superstar", indifferently directed by Bruce McCulloch, to achieve more than cult status during its theatrical exposure. Mary, alas, appears destined to return swiftly to the small screen in video and various TV ancillary markets.

Shannon says she created the character on the spot during an acting class improv. What may have been instantly funny at that moment of inspiration -- and has been sustained throughout Mary's "SNL" career -- has never been examined in enough depth to qualify as a movie character.

Mary trips over objects, kisses sign posts and trees and is generally -- and for good reason -- disliked by her schoolmates. But what exactly is the joke here?

Presumably, SNL Studios hopes viewers will identify with Mary's teenage struggles to carve her own niche in the world. But when actors well past 30 -- including Shannon -- are playing teens and the "SNL" imprint decrees a certain semi-hipness, this won't wash. The SNL gang wants Mary to be cool and uncool at the same time.

The story concocted by Steven Wayne Koren gives Mary one goal in life: to be kissed. When Catholic Teen magazine sponsors a talent contest at her school with the grand prize being a trip to Hollywood to be an extra in a movie, she somehow believes this represents the opportunity to make her dream come true.

Clearly, this is barely enough plot to stretch over the 82-minute running time. While the filmmakers throw in lame musical numbers and movie parodies to pad the material, Mary drifts aimlessly through often repetitive scenes.

Will Ferrell as the school heartthrob and Elaine Hendrix as its Miss Popularity prefer broad acting styles more at home in TV sketches. But Harland Williams as the school psycho, Mark McKinney as its principal and Emmy Laybourne as a gawky basketball star all deliver characters with some depth.

And the presence of Glynis Johns adds a touch of class to any movie. But what a shame these filmmakers think that the utterance of the f-word by an actor of her stature is hilariously funny.

Below-the-line credits demonstrate a flair for the ordinary.

SUPERSTAR

Paramount Pictures

SNL Studios

Producer: Lorne Michaels

Director: Bruce McCulloch

Writer: Steven Wayne Koren

Based on a character created by: Molly Shannon

Executive producers: Robert K. Weiss, Susan Cavan

Director of photography: Walt Lloyd

Production designer: Gregory Keen

Music: Michael Gore

Co-producers: Erin Fraser, Steven Wayne Koren

Editor: Malcolm Campbell

Color/stereo

Cast:

Mary Katherine Gallagher: Molly Shannon

Sky: Will Ferrell

Evian: Elaine Hendrix

Slater: Harland Williams

Father Ritley: Mark McKinney

Grandma: Glynis Johns

Helen: Emmy Laybourne

Running time -- 82 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...