February 24, 2014
By Sarah Carlsen and Kate Salvo
Staff Writers
Have you ever read a book and known that it would make a good movie? Some books favored by teens have already hit the big screen, and many others are scheduled to come out for the rest of 2013 and into 2014. Students at Jamesville-DeWitt High School are looking forward to seeing how the books will transfer into movies, and have many opinions on the films that have already premiered.
Even though the release date was just announced, students are already eager to see the movie based off of John Green’s “The Fault In our Stars.” Scheduled for June of 2014, they are still filming. This book is popular among students, as many said it was their favorite. “Oh my god it’s the best book ever!” said freshman Aoife McCaul. Freshman Willa Shiomos agreed, saying that she has read the book multiple times.“I can’t put into words,” said Shiomos. Because author John Green is involved with production, students are hopeful. “The majority of the script is from the book,” said Shiomos. “They’ll try their best, but you can never do this book justice. The movie would need to be six hours long to match the book,” said freshman Rachel Kaprielov.
The second movie in “The Hobbit” series, “Desolation of Smaug,” premieres in theatres in December. Freshman Michaela LeBlond said that she is hoping to see the scenes with Smaug and the elves. “Benedict Cumberbatch is going to make an awesome dragon,” agreed Kolceski. “People thought the first movie was dried out, but I didn’t think that,” said LeBlond. She also recommended the books, written by JRR Tolkien, but said they’re a little hard to follow.
In late November, “Catching Fire” will debut in theaters. This movie is the sequel to the popular film “The Hunger Games,” which came out in March 2012. Students reacted positively to the first movie, and are looking forward to the next chapter in Suzanne Collins’s series. “The actors have played the characters before, so I think they’ll do well,” said sophomore Hannah Gunther. “It will be interesting to see the new characters and how the actors play them,” said junior Sarah Marron. “The book was very eventful and kept me on my toes,” said Gunther. Students have mixed feelings about how the movie will be done. “They’ve already done one movie, so they’ll do well,” said Gunther. Other disagreed and have worries about the film. Marron said that the book had many details, and it would be difficult for the movie to include them all; “I feel like things will be left out because the book had so many components to it ” said Marron.
On Nov. 8, Markus Zusak’s “The Book Thief” will be out in theatres. Junior Samantha Jaffe said the book was a good read, but it was very long. “Because it was so long, I think some details will be left out.” said Jaffe. Freshman Cindy Henchen said that “The Book Thief” was “the saddest book I’ve ever read.” “I’m nervous that the dying is going to be really sad and I’m going to be sitting in a movie theatre crying by myself,” said Henchen. Jaffe and Henchen are both curious to see how the narration will be done. “I don’t know how they’re going to do Death as the narrator,” said Henchen.
One thing that everyone can agree on is that “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” stunk up theatres this summer. They completely butchered the book,” said freshman Carolyn Kolceski. “I would rather shoot myself in the foot than sit through “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” again,” said junior Josh Gutmaker. Students said that, while the movies were not done well, the books, written by Rick Riordan, are great. “The books are a million times better!” said sophomore Alden Coyne. Students aren’t holding onto high hopes for the rest of the franchise, considering how disappointing the first two movies turned out. “I have no hope for the rest of the series,” said Kolceski.