Last month, fans of District 13 dove into the ultimate Hunger Games Complete 4-Film Collection, which contains over 14 hours of bonus content and gives fans the chance to experience the whole story front-to-back. With that in mind, we’re trying to find the next potential heir apparent to the Young Adult fiction throne, the next beloved YA movies to catch fire with the world, all twelve of which you can read about in the gallery below!
Be sure to order your copy of The Hunger Games Complete 4-Film Collection here!
The YA movie boom began auspiciously in 2001 with the back-to-back release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Since then, audiences have been flocking to adaptations of childhood and tween favorites in droves, creating franchise phenomenons like the The Hunger Games, Twilight and Narnia movies, along with one-off hits like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or The Fault in Our Stars.
Of course, there have been some bumps in the road as well, with an equally long — if not longer — list of Johnny-come-latelys that didn’t pass muster: The Golden Compass, Lemony Snicket, Ender’s Game, Mortal Instruments, City of Ember and Beautiful Creatures, just to name a few.
Now we’re at a critical intersection of the YA book-to-film legacy, with The Hunger Games finished, The Divergent Series fumbling at the box office and Narnia rebooting with a new company. Is there another Harry Potter or Katniss Everdeen out there? Another world like Middle-earth or Narnia to devour? Another couple like Bella and Edward to, uh, drink in? Take a look at our list of the most interesting upcoming YA movies in all stages of development below!
12 Most Interesting Upcoming YA Movies
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The BFG
STATUS: Opens July 1, 2016
Having gone through development hell for nearly two decades, with the likes of John Cleese and Robin Williams at one time tapped for the title role, Roald Dahl's 1982 book is finally in the hands of a master director: Steven Spielberg. The Indiana Jones maestro has brought his Bridge of Spies Oscar winner Mark Rylance in to play the titular giant as he takes young Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) on a mission to stop man-eating giants. The late Melissa Matheson (E.T.) scripted the adaptation.
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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
STATUS: Opens September 30, 2016
Tim Burton has had a mixed run in the last few years, but if there's anything the macabre Edward Scissorhands director knows how to do, it's to tell a story of outsiders. Based on Ransom Riggs' unique collection of stories and photographs, the film tells the story of teenage boy Jacob (Asa Butterfield), who comes across a secret island full of children with strange powers, run under the watchful eye of Miss Peregrine (Eva Green). Think of it as X-Men for weirdos!
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A Monster Calls
STATUS: Opens October 14, 2016
This adaptation of the 2011 novel by Patrick Ness seems in many ways the darker side of the coin to "The BFG." The fairy tale story involves a boy who somehow summons a gigantic tree-like creature, with certain consequences. Directed by J. A. Bayona ("The Orphanage"), the film stars Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver and Felicity Jones.
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Maze Runner: The Death Cure
STATUS: Opens February 17, 2017
Interest peaked in this threequel recently with the on-set accident that has hospitalized star Dylan O'Brien, effectively shutting down production. While it has yet to be seen how the incident will effect the production or its release date, this adaptation of James Dashner's final book in the "Maze Runner" trilogy is interesting in that it has chosen not to go the two-part route, making this a rare case of a trilogy actually being "a trilogy."
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How to Talk to Girls at Parties
STATUS: In Post-Production
Neil Gaiman's writings have inspired a few fine films, Coraline among them, but no one has yet to really capture his magical blend of dark humor and the fantastical on film... yet. Enter John Cameron Mitchell of Hedwig and the Angry Inch fame, whose output has been decidedly more adult in nature until this adaptation of Gaiman's 2006 short story about a shy boy who meets three strange girls who turn out to be aliens. Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp and Nicole Kidman headline.
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Looking for Alaska
STATUS: In Pre-Production
While the Paper Towns movie was not nearly as well-recieved as The Fault in Our Stars, bestselling YA author John Green is still a major force to be reckoned with. Perhaps this adaptation of his first novel Looking for Alaska will be better received, although it has been delayed due to casting difficulties. The story revolves around a bright boarding school student who falls in love with a beautiful-but-unstable girl. Last we heard Rebecca Thomas (Electrick Children) was lined up to direct from a screenplay by Sarah Polley (Take This Waltz).
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A Wrinkle in Time
STATUS: In Pre-Production
Although Disney already adapted this classic piece of YA lit (terribly) as a 2003 TV movie, they're finally giving it the big-budget feature treatment. Sought after Selma director Ava DuVernay will helm the new adaptation from a script by Frozen's Jennifer Lee, with the hope of starting a franchise based on Madeleine L'Engle's five books in the series. It revolves around the two Murray children traveling through time and space to rescue their scientist father.
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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
STATUS: In Development
John August is penning a screenplay adaptation of Alvin Schwartz's collections of scary folk tales best known for their infamously frightening illustrations by Stephen Gammell. Longtime fan of the books Guillermo del Toro is shepherding the project as a producer (and possibly director), with August saying the movie will take a meta approach and be legitimately frightening.
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Choose Your Own Adventure
STATUS: In Development
Edward Packard's ingenious game books allowed young '80s and '90s readers to make thrilling choices of where a story's outcome might go, though they often led (delightfully) to the protagonists untimely death. John Davis of Predator and iRobot fame is producing with original series writer (and copyright owner) R. A. Montgomery, and Rawson Marshall Thurber (We're the Millers) in line to direct. Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon (Night at the Museum) will pen the screenplay, giving us an idea that the film is heading in a comedic direction.
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Red Queen
STATUS: In Development
25-year-old Victoria Aveyard released this #1 New York Times bestseller last year, when it immediately attached director Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect 2) to the director's chair. It depicts a stratified world where common red-blooded people are subjects of the superhuman silver bloods, and has drawn comparisons to "The Hunger Games." A sequel book titled "Glass Sword" is already on the way.
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Shadow and Bone
STATUS: In Development
Leigh Bardugo's 2012 novel, the first in her fantasy-adventure Grisha trilogy, drew the attention of David Heyman, the producer behind the Harry Potter films, so this stands a very good chance of being well-done. The story is about a teenage orphan living in the Russia-inspired land of Ravka, who harnesses a power she did not know she had in order to save her best friend.
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The House With a Clock in Its Walls
STATUS: In Development
Back in 2011, "Supernatural" creator Eric Kripke got hold of the rights to adapt this fantastic, somewhat forgotten YA gem from 1973, the first novel by John Bellairs. The sly gothic horror story about a young orphan who moves into a creepy house with his magician uncle later branched out into 12 novels in the "Lewis Barnavelt Series," written by the late Bellairs and his successor Brad Strickland. All books in the series boasted gorgeous illustrations by goth fav Edward Gorey. Screenwriters Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) and James Vanderbilt (Amazing Spider-Man) are onboard as producers of the film.
