This Summer's Most Anticipated Book To Movie Adaptations

Hollywood loves book adaptations, and given they rarely come up with anything original these days (Transformers 5?), it’s no surprise that here are several being released in the coming months. You’ve always got to wonder if they’re going to screw the source material or botch the castings too. On the upside, though, Hollywood also loves saving its exciting features for the summer season, so these movies will definitely be big-budget features and action-packed.

The Legend of Tarzan – July 1st
The name “Tarzan” conjures up a lot of images about a guy swinging through the trees and lording over animals. It really doesn’t seem like there could be much of a plot worth $12. The Legend of Tarzan, however, weaves in a bit of a twist: Tarzan has left the jungle behind for England, and only returns as a trade emissary for the government. But he gets caught in the crosshairs of a Belgian army captain up to no good in the mines of the Congo Free State. The kick-ass trailer has a ton of great scenes featuring warriors, armies and incredibly-done CGI animals, so we’re excited.

Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates – July 8th
Talk about #goals: In 2013, 20-something brothers Dave and Mike Strangle used Craigslist to find dates to their cousin’s wedding. The ad was hilarious and it went viral shortly after. Jump to last year, when Dave and Mike released a book of the same name about their (mis)adventures in life, Tucker Max-style. Now, there’s a movie based on the ad and book about two brothers whose parents make them find dates for their sister’s wedding to prevent them from causing chaos there. Turns out the dates are wilder than the guys are, and despite their best intentions, chaos obviously still ensues. If the movie even comes close to the hilarious trailer, it’s going to be the Hangover/Wedding Crashers mash up we need now.

Jason Bourne – July 29th
Sometimes it's easy to forget that the awesome Bourne movies actaully came from a great series of books by legendary author Robert Ludlum. This fifth film in the Bourne franchise and sees Matt Damon’s return to the role after nine years and one confusing side film starring Jeremy Renner. Our titular character went through a lot when he was pulled onto a fishing boat from the Mediterranean Sea, bullet-ridden and without any memories, in The Bourne Identity, the first film. Last we saw him, he was presumed dead by the agency, but really was swimming away in the East River in New York, in The Bourne Ultimatum. While the plot of Jason Bourne is still under wraps, we got some clues in a trailer from April, which showed Bourne, memories back, once again on the CIA’s radar, punching a lot of other dudes in the face, and teaming up with former CIA logistics tech Nicky Parsons. What else happens is pretty much irrelevant because they had us at Bourne.

Suicide Squad – August 5th
At this point, comics are books (ahem, graphic novels) and DC Comics is probably banking on moving past the less-than-stellar reception of Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice with the upcoming Suicide Squad (which underwent major reshoots that might have been sparked by those BvS reviews). In this adaptation of the John Ostrander comic book, a secret government agency recruits a group of locked-up villains for a clandestine mission that might actually get them killed. With an all-star cast that includes Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto – who has big shoes to fill as the iconic Joker – it’s definitely going to be one of the must-see movie of the summer.

War Dogs – August 19th
The story of War Dogs sounds like something out of a writers' room. Even the title of the 2011 Rolling Stone article and 2015 book, “Arms and the Dudes: How Three Stoners from Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History” sounds preposterous. But, it’s all true. Back in 2008, The New York Times wrote an article about stoners David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli who won a $300 million contract with the government to arm America’s allies in Afghanistan. Packouz was only 25 and a former massage therapist; Diveroli was 22 and had just started in arms, after growing up with a father and uncle who were also in the business. They started working with Alex Podrizki, a friend in Albania, who helped them acquire shady goods from China and, as you can imagine, not-so-legal activities ensued. The dream was short-lived, and after being ratted out the company was promptly investigated. Regardless of how outrageous it may seem, the Miles Teller and Jonah Hill led cast is great and the truth-is-stranger-than-fiction plot should be entertaining.