Sacha Baron Cohen will star in a movie version of the 2000 novel supposedly written by Sadam Hussein–or ghostwriters working under his direction–published as ZABIBAH AND THE KING. The Cohen version, filmed by Borat director Larry Charles for Paramount, will be retitled The Dictator. As the Guardian recounts: “The book charts the chaste love affair between a medieval monarch and the soulful Zabibah, who lives unhappily with her abusive husband. But what appears, at first glance, to be a sweet, simple folk tale actually contains pools of hidden meaning. It was intended to be read as an allegory for Iraq […]
Film/TV
People, Etc.
Following last week’s intense gossip among agents that former Simon & Schuster publisher David Rosenthal has been negotiating to set up an imprint at Penguin, Crain’s ran a short item memorializing the rumor. The parties are not commenting.Crain’s At the Simon & Schuster imprint, Michael Szczerban has been promoted to associate editor. Former President George Bush will appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show on November 9, the release date for his book DECISION POINTS. Steven Spielberg is going to direct the film version of Daniel H. Wilson’s forthcoming novel ROBOPOCALYPSE, with photography scheduled to begin in January 2012 for theatrical […]
People, Etc.: Wiley Retiring, Deneen Launches Macmillan Films, CAA Sells Stake and More
Deborah Wiley will retire from her position as svp, corporate communications of John Wiley & Sons at the end of the year, though she will continue to serve as chairman of the Wiley Foundation. Susan Spilka will succeed her as vp, corporate communications on January 1, 2011. CEO William Pesce, also retiring soon, says in the announcement: “I want to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to Deborah and to acknowledge her many contributions during her 42 years at the Company. She has diligently served Wiley in a wide variety of business, corporate, and governance roles, working her […]
Publish Film Sell?
The LAT claims that “a movie’s release often leads to only a small uptick in a tie-in book’s sales” while declaring the EAT, PRAY, LOVE tie-in “the big exception this year.” The interesting part is that the book returned to the top of the bestseller lists in late May, well in advance of the movie’s marketing campaign. Separately, Nielsen released a chart on sales for the Elizabeth Gilbert book, which recorded sales of 94,000 units in the week ending August 1 alone. Sales in 2010 of 721,000 copies are more than double last year’ sales (and the movie release August […]
Numbers: Eclipse Opening, European Orphan Books
The Wednesday opening of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse took in $68.5 million at the box office–a record for a Wednesday debut, though slightly shy of New Moon’s opening of $72.7, though that come on a Friday.HR A report from the European Commission estimates that the Europe has over 3 million in-copyright orphan books, though it’s a rough calculation. “There are approximately 600,000 orphan works in the UK. Based on the same key factors extrapolated to the rest of the Member States, the number of orphan books in EU would be about 3 million.” As they note, in Europe there is […]
Announcements: Topical McCullough eSerial; Getting Glued to Favorite Books; Candlewick's Audio; Horrid Henry Moves to Film
Capitalizing on President Obama’s confrontation with General Stanley McChrystal, Simon & Schuster is releasing a short ebook by David McCullough called TRUMAN FIRES MACARTHUR. It’s an excerpt from his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Truman. The 35-page title lists for $1.99 and is supposed to be available from major ebooksellers by some time later today. Yesterday afternoon GetGlue launched a Foursquare-inspired pop culture iOS app that encourages users to “check in” to favorite TV shows, music, movies and yes, books, and see what friends are enjoying in real-time. Publishing partners providing “exclusive stickers” as “rewards” include Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, […]