Film/TV

Random House Films and Focus Features will start shooting next month on a film version of David Nicholls’ novel ONE DAY, released today in the US in trade paperback by Vintage. Nicholls adapted the book for film, and Focus plans on a theatrical release in the third quarter of 2011. Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess are starring, with Nina Jacobson producing.

Retailers of movie tie-in editions of The Lovely Bones should be on alert. In test screenings, Paramount has found that “the film’s most promising target audience is teen and college-aged girls,” even as “adults so far appear to be lukewarm on the picture…. Most people involved in the film originally thought it would primarily appeal to older moviegoers.” The studio’s co-president of marketing Megan Colligan confirms, “While the initial plan was that the primary target audience was over 25, we discovered that the teen and college-aged audience is critical to the success of this movie.”LAT In other Hollywood reports, Chris […]

An agent was asking us just the other day whether Random House Films was still alive since the unit has released only one movie–Reservation Road–since its founding four years ago. But Variety reports that the joint venture with Focus Features has hired director Stephen Frears for a planned film version of Beth Raymer’s forthcoming gambling memoir LAY THE FAVORITE, TAKE THE DOG. D.V. DeVincentis, who worked with Frears on the High Fidelity movie, is adapting, and they are hoping to go into production next June. RH Films optioned the Raymer book in 2007.Variety