'The 5th Wave': What makes a YA movie franchise work?
The movie 'Wave,' which is based on the novel of the same name by Rick Yancey, is the newest attempt by Hollywood to make a hit out of a young adult book series. What has made some of these films succeed and some fail?
The movie 'Wave,' which is based on the novel of the same name by Rick Yancey, is the newest attempt by Hollywood to make a hit out of a young adult book series. What has made some of these films succeed and some fail?
鈥淭he 5th聽Wave,鈥� which is now in theaters, is the newest movie to be adapted from a young adult bestseller.聽
鈥淲ave,鈥� which is by Rick Yancey, tells the story of teenager Cassie (Chloe Grace Moretz), who must learn to get by on her own when a series of attacks by aliens takes place on Earth.
The first book came out in 2013 and the third book in the planned trilogy is scheduled to come out this May.
The studio behind 鈥淲ave,鈥� Columbia Pictures, is no doubt hoping 鈥淲ave鈥� can join such film series as 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� and 鈥淭he Hunger Games鈥� as adaptations of books for younger readers that become huge hits at the box office.聽
What separates movies like 鈥淧otter鈥� and 鈥淕ames鈥� from movies that attempted to bring young adult books to the screen and didn鈥檛 win over audiences?
Being a literary phenomenon helps. 鈥淕ames鈥� experienced huge sales, becoming a pop culture-dominating force, as did the 鈥淭wilight鈥� series by Stephenie Meyer, and the 鈥淧otter鈥� series are of course some of the bestselling books of all time.
When there is that level of awareness for your book series, chances are good that enough of those readers will decide to seek out the movie adaptation to translate into hit numbers.
Having something different also seems key. It鈥檚 difficult to remember now, but the dystopian future of 鈥淕ames鈥� was relatively new to a certain viewer. If a movie like 鈥淭he Giver,鈥� which did not do well at the box office in 2014, is just the newest in a long line of similarly themed films and isn鈥檛 a well-made film, viewers most likely won鈥檛 respond.聽
Vulture writer Kyle Buchanan wrote of 鈥淕ames," 鈥淚t had the advantage of being first to a genre 鈥� YA adaptations focusing on a dystopian future with a female protagonist and valuable hints of romance 鈥� that is now becoming crowded.鈥澛�
Those making the movie not taking out what makes a book different can also be important. Critics and fans alike have complained of some of these young adult adaptations that the film鈥檚 creators have removed what made a story original and instead tried to make it fit a cookie-cutter YA mold. 鈥溾�橳he Giver鈥� reaches the screen in a version that captures the essence of Lowry鈥檚 affecting allegory but little of its mythic pull,鈥� Variety writer Scott Foundas wrote of the film, while A.V. Club writer Becca James聽wrote of a movie adaptation of the novel 鈥淭he City of Ember,鈥� 鈥淒irector Gil Kenan鈥檚 rush to get through the material glossed over much of [Jeanne] DuPrau鈥檚 engaging and explanatory plot.鈥�