海角大神

A film adaptation of Ransom Riggs鈥� bestseller 鈥淢iss Peregrine鈥檚 Home for Peculiar Children鈥� will soon arrive on the big screen, the newest young adult book adaptation that is trying for the success of past hits such as the 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� and 鈥淗unger Games鈥� series.聽

鈥淧eregrine鈥� stars Asa Butterfield as Jake, a teenager whose grandfather (Terence Stamp) tells him stories of a strange home for children. Soon, Jake gets the opportunity to find out whether his grandfather鈥檚 stories were real.聽

The film co-stars Eva Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Judi Dench, and Rupert Everett.聽

The movie is the latest attempt to create a film success out of a young adult bestseller. The literary genre is one that can pay off in a big way, as with the success of the 鈥淗arry Potter鈥� or 鈥淗unger Games鈥� movies, but in large part the genre struggles at the movies.聽

Consider the 鈥淒ivergent鈥� series. The films are based on the bestselling books by Veronica Roth but each film 鈥� three were released 鈥� grossed less than the one before it. This past summer, the studio behind the 鈥淒ivergent鈥� films, Lionsgate, stated the series would be concluded with a television film and a TV series based in the same fictional universe rather than the planned fourth film.聽

And some had felt the young adult movie genre was struggling even before "Divergent"'s plummet. Todd Cunningham of TheWrap noted that the 2015 movie 鈥淢aze Runner: The Scorch Trials鈥� opened to a lower gross than the first (the movie would go on to gross less than the first domestically as well) and that the 2015 adaptation of the John Green YA novel 鈥淧aper Towns鈥� did not do as well financially as the 2014 John Green adaptation 鈥淭he Fault in Our Stars.鈥澛�

鈥淭he next crop of would-be YA blockbusters haven鈥檛 really caught lightning in a bottle the way 鈥楬arry Potter鈥� and 鈥楾wilight鈥� did,鈥� Mr. Cunningham wrote of these films. 鈥淸B]ut Hollywood shows no signs of backing away from the genre, filmmakers and studio executives tell TheWrap, because the financial payoff from the box office, merchandising and licensing is massive if they do find the next Harry or Katniss. And the projects can still make significant money even if they don鈥檛 become megahits.鈥�

However, Salon writer Nico Lang saw the news that the last 鈥淒ivergent鈥� movie would arrive on TV as a sign that the YA movie genre is in serious trouble.聽

鈥淭he humbling of 鈥楢scendant鈥� mirrors the fate of the YA genre as a whole, which has been experiencing diminishing returns in recent years,鈥� Mr. Lang wrote. He cited the 鈥淧otter鈥� series as the origin of the recent popularity of the genre. 鈥淭he genre, however, hit its peak in 2013, [with] 鈥楾he Hunger Games: Catching Fire.鈥� 鈥澛�

Will 鈥淧eregrine鈥� be able to succeed where other YA adaptations have recently struggled? There are two sequels that could serve as source material for other movies if 鈥淧eregrine鈥� finds an audience.聽