Thoughts on...Young Adult Adaptations (Books)

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Something that has been in the pop culture realm has been the seemingly unending barrage of YA (Young Adult) movies. I feel that this hype started with the massive success of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (or Philosopher's) Stone but there had always been YA adaptations in the movie realm. I feel like what makes an adaptation successful is a combination of author input, quality characters and a way to engage both the book readers/non-readers without alienating anyone. Another thing that helps is good word of mouth from people that have already seen the movie that adds to the success of the movie.

I think another big reason why certain movies gain success are that they are tailored towards the original audience (but broader). One movie that heavily capitalized on this was the Twilight Series that not only broke records at the box office but also catapulted the stars into stardom like Harry Potter. I think that by having a large and dedicated audience, the film series can have massive success despite any notions on the the quality of the  following sequels. In some cases the sequels are better movies than the original (Catching Fire), which attract more general moviegoers to see something that they normally wouldn't. With some many adaptations and reboots/sequels, it difficult for me to get excited for all of these upcoming movies as they fall into one of those categories. The final book of the Divergent Series left a bed taste in my mouth, so I decided to skip on seeing the movie (which has sequels planned for the future) since I didn't feel like investing in another drawn out series that would just frustrate me. I do admit that sometime the movies are better than the books but at heart I'm a book purist, so I normally don't like to see movies based on books I didn't wholeheartedly enjoy.

I fully believe that glut in the industry is a huge reason why some movies don't do as well (Vampire Academy, Beautiful Creatures). Movie studios think that they can easily re-create success instead of focusing on putting out quality films. An example of too much of a good thing would be the countless dystopian movies/books that have come out as a result of the success of The Hunger Games. Movies like Divergent and the Mortal Instruments are the latest additions to the already crowded genre and haven't been able to duplicate their successors in box office success. Something similar would be the endless vampire TV shows, movies and books that became popular mainly after Twilight (but also probably from True Blood)One reason for this would be the audience feels like all of these movies are the same, so they don't make the effort to watch the movie. The bad thing is, this lack of sales affects other books that should have been made instead but the studio loses faith in that genre and doesn't think it will sell. Personally I'm tired of seeing the same kind of movie and just want some originality. Originality is another problem entirely because when a movie or book has an entirely new premise, hundreds of imitators come forward, with varying degrees of success that end up diluting the genre/industry.

It used to be when I was younger that I used to wish for a sequel and now that is all books and movies get these days it seems. I won't give up on the genre of YA but I do hope for some originality in the movie/book industry, which would help reignite people's passion and not have them think that the organization is just in it for the money. I hope upcoming movies like The Giver are not just good adaptations, but a solid movies that anyone can enjoy and fall in love with.