The Art of Adaptation - Films in 2025

Adaptation to Social Environment No.2 Drawing
Jirasak Plabootong

Hello, Sup fans. 

Welcome to the fantastic year of 2025!

Since wrapping up my Choose Your Weapon series 2024, I've pondered what will be next, hoping for something, IDK, deeper, more diverse, less derived. The three Ds.

3D! 

The realization fueled the idea for The Art of Adaptation.

Let's Look Deeper

    ADAPTATION 

    1. a process of changing one medium to another. "She adapted the novel to a TV series."

    2. a physiological change to outer stimuli. "The cat's eyes adjust quickly to light."

    3. a response to external pressures. "It snowed so she put on her coat." 

In essence, adaptation is changing to make one thing suitable for a new or altered purpose. Sometimes we are compelled to adapt. Other times, it is part of the act of creating.

It's this second idea I want to explore today, ie, authoring a screen adaptation from a literary source. It's harder than it might seem. 

First of all, the 'property', the book or novella, has to have a producer interested in securing the rights to use the work. Usually, it is 'optioned' for a fee and the producer then has x amount of time (a year or ten?) to come up with the funding to go ahead.

Then, they need writers to create the script, hopefully sticking to the spirit of the original work. At that point, writers will want an essential understanding of the characters, plot and genre/feel. Face it. That's not always easy to grasp or even easy to agree upon. 

And Diversify

Finally, there is the logistics. Take this example from 5 Tips from the Pros for Adapting Books into Film Scripts by Jourdan Aldredge:

"Some tribes of American Indians had a word to describe those of their brethren who sat around thinking deep thoughts. Literally the word translated to The Disease of Long-Thinking. ... often lead characters in novels suffer from this disease. When essential plot information is presented only in a character’s thought or in the character’s internal world, one solution is to give this character a sounding board, another character, to which his thoughts can be voiced aloud. Either adapt an existing character from the novel or create a new one..." 

With these ideas in mind, look at a few anticipated Spec Fic adaptations to the screen coming in 2025.

Beyond the Derivative

The Midnight Library by Matthew Haig

I read Matthew Haig's The Midnight Library a few years back and though depressing at times, it was a powerful experience. What's not to love about a magical library that hovers between life and death. Imagine my delight to hear that it's being produced by StudioCanal and Blueprint Pictures, offering us a rendition of the main, Nora Seed, and her incredible journey. 

We are promised a glimpse of her introduction to the incredible library that allows her to live different lives... I can't wait!

Klara And The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

This is the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2017. In Klara and The Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro looks at our rapidly changing world through the perspective of an A.I., specifically asking what it means to love.

From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass in the street outside. She remains hopeful a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara is warned not to invest too much in the promises of humans. Amazon.com

The exciting news is that, not only will Klara and the Sun be adapted to film, it will be directed by Taika Waititi, with Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams starring! Ortega will play the A.I. "robot" that Adams' character buys "for her teenager."

I imagine the biggest challenge will be staying true to the unique narrative perspective of the non-human, sentient robot. How will they handle it?

The Electric State by Simon Stalenhag

From Amazon.com... Soon to be a Netflix film starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt.

A teen girl and her robot embark on a cross-country mission in this illustrated science fiction story, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Black Mirror.

Like Klara and the Sun, we have another youngstee-with-compantion-robot story. Interesting trend, do you think?

In late 1997, a runaway teenager and her small toy robot travel west through a strange American landscape where the ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside, along with the discarded trash of a high-tech consumerist society addicted to a virtual-reality system.

 As they approach the edge of the continent, the world outside the car window seems to unravel, as if somewhere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in...

And more from Netflix - Millie Bobby Brown is breathing life into a new character in the movie adaptation of The Electric State! Starring alongside Chris Pratt, she'll team up with an unlikely anti-hero (Pratt) and a robot as they all search for something in this heartwarming movie about what could happen in a world where technology rules all.

I can't wait to see how this adaptation measures up!

See more in Sup posts from our backlist: Adapting to Survive and The Down Side of Adaptation, and let us know what you think! Fav adaptation? Most true? Most divergent? 

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About Kim Falconer

Kim Falconer, also writing as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is working on the third book, out in 2025.

Kim can be found on AKWilder Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and KimFalconer.com. 

Throw the bones, read your horoscopes or Raise Your Phantom on the AKWilder.com site See you there!