Film Clips: Movies for Big Kids -- Going After that Harry Potter Demographic

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(Free-Press-Release.com) August 25, 2006 --

I'm guessing the box office success of the Harry Potter flicks has made studio greenlighters take another look at the tween/teen demographic, because there are quite a few film adaptations of books targeted at that age group in the works. And I'm glad to see this, because my nine-year-old is getting to the stage where films for younger kids -- the Over the Hedges and the Ant Bullies -- are more of a cinematic snack than a satisfying movie meal. She's waiting with bated breath for the next Harry Potter film and the last book in the series, but is also aware that the series is coming to an end and thus has been hunting out more tween books to satiate her literary needs. Much as she likes to read, though, she also loves to see films made out of her favorite books. Here's a short list of movies on the horizon that will hopefully meet her expectations, and mine as well:

How to Eat Fried Worms: This classic gross-out kids' book by Thomas Rockwell, which first came out in 1973, was one of my favorites when I was in fourth grade or so. The film tells the tale of a kid who's bullied into a dare to eat a worm a day for 30 days. Mark Mothersbaugh wrote the score for the film, and when I interviewed him during the Seattle International Film Festival, he said "I thought it was gonna be another bullshitty kind of Nickelodeon movie, and then this movie took a turn about three-fourths of the way through and you realize it's a buddy flick, and you realize it has a really good heart in it and instead of just being gross or whatever, the main character and the bully become friends."

The Giver: Lois Lowry crossed the bar from kiddie lit to genuine literature with The Giver, for which she won the Newberry Medal. The book is about Jonas, a boy living in a "perfect" society with no sickness, poverty or crime, who is chosen on his 12th birthday to be the next "Giver" -- the keeper of memories for his people -- and learns for the first time of the lies and hypocrisy of the world in which he lives. Think Brave New World for kids. As we reported back in March, The Giver will be directed by Vadim Perelman, who previously directed House of Sand and Fog, and is being produced by Jeff Bridges, who will also star as The Giver. No word on IMDb about who will play the role of Jonas, but let's hope they do a good job with this film. Its release date of the moment is listed vaguely as "2007."


Source: http://search.msn.com
Posted by Kim Voynar