When novels cross the line to cinema

This weekend “Where the Wild Things Are” proved a bigger hit with adult audiences than family crowds as the adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book debuted at No. 1 with $32.5 million.Perhaps it was because the movie-going adults fondly remember ‘…Wild Things…’ from their childhood as it was originally published in 1963 making the primary (and rather nostalgic) audience to be roughly 40 – 45 years old. In recent years novels have been turned to box office delights almost faster than the books themselves have been written. Audiences have seemingly enjoyed Jaws, The Color Purple, The DaVinci Code, Terms of Endearment, Mystic River, Lord of the Rings and a slew of children’s titles. But how faithful are these adaptations? Are they better than the book? Have books been replaced by the cinema? What is the difference now between actual novel and screenplay?GO!