Film historian and Maxim magazine film critic Pete Hammond looks back at Hollywood successes, and failures, in adapting novels for the big screen in 2006.
ANDREA SEABROOK, host: 2006 has been a novel year for Hollywood's filmmakers, literally. Book to film adaptations have packed movie theaters with literary fans anticipating Hollywood's version of their favorite short story or novel. We asked film historian and Maxim magazine's film critic Pete Hammond to take a look back at the movies of this year.</s>Ms. AUDREY TAUTOU (Actor): (As Sophie Neveu) We have to find it before they do.</s>Mr. TOM HANKS (Actor): (As Dr. Robert Langdon) I have to get to a library, fast.</s>PETE HAMMOND: That may not be a line you often here in today's movies, but when Tom Hanks breathlessly states his desire to hit the gas for the bibliotheque in "The Da Vinci Code," he might also have been talking about Hollywood filmmakers themselves.</s>PETE HAMMOND: 2006 has seen a resurgence in books being turned into successful movies, beginning with Dan Brown's ecumenical mystery, a publishing phenomenon that just as easily became a motion picture phenomenon, grossing $750 million worldwide in spite of a critical drubbing, perhaps for lines like this.</s>Sir IAN McKELLEN (Actor): (As Sir Leigh Teabing) You will not succeed. Only the worthy can unlock the stone.</s>PETE HAMMOND: Despite dialogue that could have come from an episode of "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries," Da Vinci now ranks as one of the top films of all time, the highest-grossing literary adaptation that isn't about hobbits, Hogwarts or brontosauruses. Its financial windfall has actually convinced Columbia Pictures to jump back into bed with the author for more of the same.</s>PETE HAMMOND: Another huge book-to-film hit was the summer sleeper "The Devil Wears Prada" from the catty Lauren Weisberger roman a clef about a boss from hell.</s>Ms. MERYL STREEP (Actress): (As Miranda Priestly) So you don't read Runway.</s>Ms. ANNE HATHAWAY (Actress): (As Andy Sachs) No.</s>Ms. MERYL STREEP (Actress): (As Priestly) And before today you had never heard of me.</s>Ms. ANNE HATHAWAY (Actress): (As Sachs) No.</s>Ms. MERYL STREEP (Actress): (As Priestly) And you have no style or sense of fashion.</s>Ms. ANNE HATHAWAY (Actress): (As Sachs) Well, I think that depends on what you're...</s>Ms. MERYL STREEP (Actress): (As Priestly) No, no. That wasn't a question.</s>PETE HAMMOND: It's now made about $300 million around the world and is generating Oscar talk for star Meryl Streep. Even the studio that released the film, 20th Century Fox, has been shocked by the extent of the success, which had fans of the book lining up to see it.</s>PETE HAMMOND: After years of filming the title and ignoring the rest of the text...</s>PETE HAMMOND: Unidentified Man #1 (Actor): (As character) Discover how James...</s>Dame JUDI DENCH (Actress): (As M) I knew it was too early to promote you.</s>Dame JUDI DENCH (Actress): Unidentified Man #1 (Actor): (As character) Became Bond.</s>Mr. DANIEL CRAIG (Actor): (As James Bond) Well, I understand Double-O's have a very short life expectancy.</s>PETE HAMMOND: Producers of the enormously successful series of films based on Ian Fleming's super spy went back to basics with the novel idea of faithfully adapting one of the books. Imagine that. It's something fans of the Bond movies apparently didn't require in the past.</s>PETE HAMMOND: In re-inventing the franchise with a younger, blonder star, Daniel Craig, they returned to the first of Fleming's works, "Casino Royale," and updated the birth of 007 for a new generation. The result has won glowing reviews and is on track to become the most successful of all 21 films in the series.</s>PETE HAMMOND: But these hits aside, the bottom line is book adaptations, once a staple of every studio's movie slate, have faded into the background in recent years. Instead, that famous advertising line, based on the best-selling novel, it seems to have morphed into based on the best-selling graphic novel or comic book or video game or TV series or even Disneyland ride, among other entities Hollywood has turned to for inspiration.</s>Ms. VIVIEN LEIGH (Actress): (As Scarlett O'Hara) Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?</s>Mr. CLARK GABLE (Actor): (As Rhett Butler) Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.</s>PETE HAMMOND: Gone are the days of "Gone with the Wind," a movie that actually sparked the marriage between publishing and picture-making. That's a trend that lasted decades, until studios discovered audiences didn't necessarily read much. And indeed, not every 2006 book transfer has been exactly a success. "All the King's Men," "The Black Dahlia" and "Running with Scissors" are on the fast track to Wal-Mart.</s>PETE HAMMOND: But hope rings eternal this season, with adaptations from such smart-source material as W. Somerset Maugham's "The Painted Veil," Joseph Kanon's "The Good German," and Christopher Priest's "The Prestige," all generating talk at the multiplex.</s>PETE HAMMOND: From "Little Children" to "Children of Men," the Hollywood executives have apparently turned into bookworms. Even current hit flicks like "Eregon," "Night at the Museum" and "Charlotte's Web" started life on the library shelf.</s>PETE HAMMOND: Unidentified Man #2 (Actor): (As character) You know, Fern, look. You know I've been selling the animals to get the new harvesting equipment. Pretty soon there's going to be no place in the barn for a pig.</s>Ms. DAKOTA FANNING (Actress): (As Fern) I promised I'd take care of him.</s>Ms. DAKOTA FANNING (Actress): Unidentified Man #2: (As character) Well, I'm letting you out of your promise.</s>Ms. DAKOTA FANNING (Actress): (As Fern) I didn't promise you. I promised Wilbur.</s>PETE HAMMOND: But before you think Hollywood has got lit-git, think again. A look at what's upcoming next year shows the industry still likes to make movies based on movies, not books. The big titles studios are touting for 2007 include "Spiderman 3," "Fantastic Four 2," "Ocean's Thirteen," "Shrek 3," "Pirates of the Caribbean 3," "Alien v. Predator 2," "National Treasure 2" and "Saw 4." If the prospect of these films doesn't whet your cinematic appetite, look on the bright side: You'll just have more time to catch up on your reading.</s>ANDREA SEABROOK, host: Pete Hammond is a film critic for Maxim magazine.