Welcome to Buzz Worthy News where the stories are awesome (or at least fun to read). Need your book industry news? Never fear, Kate Copeseeley is here to give it to you straight.
In this week’s Buzz Worthy News: #WonderWoman Trailer, #aseriesofunfortunateevents teaser , #BeautyandtheBeast Pics, and a Snow White movie. All this and more!
Buzz Worthy News is Cuddlebuggery’s weekly news post bringing you all the best information about the book and blogging world, particularly for the venn diagram of people who overlap between the two.
NEW WONDER WOMAN TRAILER OMG
*wild sobbing**watches on repeat**hyperventilates**passes out*
Can anyone understand my joy? Can anyone?
A Series Of Unfortunate Events Teaser
Finally We Meet Olaf!
No, I’m not talking about the cute adorable snowman, I’m talking about the devious, evil, former VFD member that is Count Olaf, played by the amazing Neil Patrick Harris. Enjoy this A Series of Unfortunate Events Trailer!
Beauty and the Beast Photos
SQUEEEEEEEE… The only way this week could be better is if they had a trailer for this one, too. But I will just count my blessings because there are a TON of new photos from the new Beauty and the Beast movie out this week.
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
The Beast (Dan Stevens) and Belle (Emma Watson) in the castle library
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Emma Watson stars as Belle and Kevin Kline is Maurice, Belle’s father.
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Belle (Emma Watson) in the Ballroom of the Beast’s castle.
Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Emma Watson as Belle
More photos at the source.
Casting News For The Next Fantastic Beasts Movie
Boy they sure pick some interesting choices. Accused assaulter of women Johnny Depp has been snagged to star in the sequel to Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.
Johnny Depp is joining the cast of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, playing a co-starring role in the sequel which David Yates will direct early next year with Eddie Redmayne again in the lead role of Newt Scamander. I’ve confirmed this, but no one is saying exactly what role that Depp will play.
We’ll just have to wait and see how Depp complements the adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York’s secret community of witches and wizards, 70 years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.
There Will Be a Snow White!
Apparently Disney has decided that these live-action versions of their fairytales are a big money maker, because they are not going to stop anytime soon. And the next on the docket appears to be Snow White.
Erin Cressida Wilson, who penned the adaptation of The Girl on the Train, is in negotiations to write the script for the film, which will expand upon the story and music from the beloved animated classic.
The movie will include new songs, with songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who most recently wrote the lyrics for La La Land, attached to pen the new music.
Marc Platt, who also is working with Disney on Mary Poppins Returns, is attached to produce.
Disney’s original Snow White animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out in 1937. Based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale, Snow White was Disney’s first animated feature film and a massive success for the studio. It won an honorary Oscar at the 11th Academy Awards and is considered one of, if not the most, successful animated films of all time.
Casting News for The Bell Jar
I heard just a bit about this movie, which proves to be Kirsten Dunst’s directorial debut, but then pretty much nothing else for a while, so it’s good to be getting a new update!
Jesse Plemons, who starred in Black Mass and Bridge of Spies, has joined the cast of Kirsten Dunst’s directorial debut feature The Bell Jar.
Plemons joins Dakota Fanning in story, based on the literary classic written by Sylvia Plath. Priority Pictures optioned the remake rights from Studiocanal and Lizzie Freidman will produce with Fanning, Echo Lake Entertainment’s Brittany Kahan. Celine Rattray and Kirsten Dunst serve as exec producers.
Set in the 1950s, the story follows a young woman from the suburbs of Boston who wins a summer internship at a prominent women’s magazine in New York City. She is neither stimulated nor excited by the big city or its glamourous lifestyle and instead finds herself unable to adapt to the experience and becomes mentally unstable.
Dunst is co-writing the screenplay with Nellie Kim and the film is going into production in early 2017.
Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder’s Cornerstone Films will kick off sales for the title at the American Film Market next month. UTA is handling North American rights.
“The themes explored in The Bell Jar resonate as strongly in 2016 as they did in 1963 when the novel was first published,” said Thompson and Gooder in a statement. “Kirsten Dunst’s compelling vision for the film has a vibrant authenticity that modern audiences will embrace and we are proud to be part of the team bringing her directorial debut to the modern marketplace.”
Emma Watson Is Adorable!
I know we’ve seen it time and again, but Emma Watson is just the cutest ever. This week’s example, she’s been leaving copies of books around for people to find.
Travellers on the London tube who find themselves without anything to read should keep their eyes peeled: Emma Watson has been leaving copies of Maya Angelou’s memoir Mom & Me & Mom on the tube.
Angelou’s portrait of her mother, Vivian Baxter Johnson, is the latest title selected for Watson’s feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf, and opens with the line: “The first decade of the 20th century was not a great time to be born black and poor and female in St Louis, Missouri.” The actor shared images and video of dropoffs at various locations on the London underground.
Watson left a note inside the copies she distributed, asking commuters to “take special care” of the book and “when you are finished please leave it on the tube again for someone else to find”. The initiative is part of Books on the Underground’s project to bring new and used books to travellers, with 100 copies of Angelou’s memoir distributed on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
“We are so excited to have such an amazing book shared by such an inspiring person as Emma Watson, and look forward to seeing the reactions of people who find them,” said the organisation.
Here is the note she left in the books:
Changes for BEA 2017
For starters, they’ve changed the name of it! It’s now going to be called simply Book Expo. Here’s a few of the other changes:
Speaking specifically about changes to BookExpo, McDonald said that, based on its research, Reed needs to “bring the show back to its core,” which he identified as facilitating interactions between publishers and their customers, as well as showcasing authors to professional book buyers and the media. To achieve that goal, Reed has made two significant changes: reducing the number of days the show floor will be open, from two and a half to two, and capping the number of nonpublisher attendees (the professional trade audience) to 6,000, a number that at some past events has been as high as 10,000.
According to McDonald, the focus will be on drawing more book buyers, including booksellers, librarians, and buyers from a range of specialty retailers. Through a more rigorous application process, Reed will limit the numbers of bloggers, independent authors, and consultants. “We are not trying to be exclusionary,” McDonald said. “We are trying to ensure that we have the people in the aisles that our exhibitors want to meet with.”
In other efforts to better focus the show, Reed has decided to not hold the conferences that had run in conjunction with BEA, such as the Book Bloggers and IDPF events, and it will not hold UPublishU, BEA’s conference for self-published authors. Reed will still offer the Authors Market for self-published authors as well as some other programs, McDonald said.
Reed is making some tweaks to BookCon to create more interactions between authors, fans, and the media. To date, BookCon has been dominated by what Reed calls “millennial females,” but the organizer hopes to broaden that audience in 2017.
One highlight will be a Family Headquarters section on the show floor that will feature interactive events for children and their parents. Reed also plans to bring in more celebrity and bestselling authors to BookCon who will appeal to a range of readers. “We have a solid core with the YA readers and now we want to expand to other genres,” McDonald said.
Interesting Links:
Morgan @ Gone with the Words
I UNDERSTAND YOUR WONDER WOMAN EXCITEMENT! Oh my gosh, and I though the first trailer was good! This one is a million times better. As soon as it gets to the slo-mo fight scenes, I get all teary eyed haha. I can’t WAIT. And Beauty and the Beast looks perfect!!! I think that’s why I don’t mind Disney making all these live action adaptations now; they’ve proven (to me anyway) that they’ll do them well and do them right. I loooved Cinderella and while Jungle Book isn’t my favorite, it looked amazing and the story was good. So yeah, give me all the live action of my favorite movies! And cast Sebastian Stan as Prince Eric and Chris Evans as Prince Philip 😉 pretty please haha. Not excited about the Fantastic Beasts news at all. I think the BEA changes are interesting but ultimately seem to make sense from a business perspective. We’ll see how that turns out.
Kate Copeseeley
SS would make a fabulous prince! He has that “I was raised with money” look (even if he wasn’t?). I, too, am loving all the live actions. I don’t think they’ll do sleeping beauty, though, because they did Malificient(sp?).
OMG WONDER WOMAN. I HAVE LITERALLY BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOVIE MY WHOLE LIFE. EVER SINCE I WAS A LITTLE GIRL WHO WATCHED RERUNS OF THE TV SHOW. It’s a dream come true and I hope the movie is as amazing as it looks!!!
Natalie Monroe
The Wonder Woman trailer is perfection. I must have watched it a dozen times by now! Gal Gabot is my new woman crush.
Kate Copeseeley
She is awesome, I’m so with you. I love her accent!
Briana @ Pages Unbound
I recently watched the live adaptation Cinderella and thought it was good, not great. (Of course, I think the original animated version is also good, not great, but that’s adult me talking. I think both would appeal to me as a child.) ANYWAY, it was still visually stunning. And since I think it was beautiful, and Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite stories, and I love Emma Watson…I am 100% interested in this movie. I’ll probably pass on Snow White, though.
Kate Copeseeley
Beauty and the Beast was so great for me as a kid, because I was like… a heroine who reads! Like me! 🙂 I *might* watch Snow White, if they can come up with a good story and there are good actors. But her story has been covered pretty heavily by OUAT, so I’m not sure what they’ll do.
Zareena
Oh my gosh that Wonder Woman trailer basically made my week when I saw it <3 I'm pretty excited about all those other movies too, especially Fantastic Beasts, which I had completely forgotten about. Thanks for sharing!
Zareena @ The Slanted Bookshelf
Carina Olsen
Eee, Beauty and the Beast is going to be aaaaamazing. <3 I CANNOT wait to watch it 😀 Though.. I wish it was the movie version of Hunted instead, haha 🙂 the book that comes out in a few months. I loved it much more than B&B 🙂 Hih. Anyway. Wonder Woman looks so awesome too 😀 But uuuugh. I still don't like Neil Patrick Harris. At all. I don't like his look for this movie 🙁 I loved the first movie from this series.. but yeah. Still curious about this show 😀 Thank you for sharing about it all Kate. <3 Hugs.