Hayley breaks down the book adaptations making their way to screens in the coming months, featuring Emily Henry, Agatha Christie and Andy Weir.
People We Meet on Vacation
With the rom-com rising from the dead in recent years, fans have been waiting for Emily Henry, queen of the genre on the page, to make her way to the screen. All of Henry’s books (bar the latest, Great Big Beautiful Life) have been optioned for an adaptation, and People We Meet on Vacation is the first to cross the finish line for Netflix. Emily Bader and Tom Blyth are starring as Poppy and Alex, two friends who used to go on a week-long summer holiday together every year, until a falling out left them on bad terms. But when Alex asks Poppy to join him on one last trip, the two reunite and are confronted with a whole mess of repressed feelings. As a self-proclaimed rom-com connoisseur and having finally read my first Emily Henry book in 2025 (though not this one), I will be seated.
People We Meet on Vacation comes to Netflix on January 9.
Hamnet
The darling of the film festival season, and one of the clear frontrunners for the 2026 Oscars, is here. Following a weird blip with Marvel’s Eternals, a film everyone (including Marvel itself) is pretending never happened, Nomadland director Chloe Zhao returns with an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel Hamnet. The story is a fictionalised account of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) as the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet impacts their lives and inspires one of the bard’s greatest plays, Hamlet. The film has been scooping up awards at festivals across America and Europe, including one hell of an Oscars Best Picture precursor: the Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival. Expect to see this everywhere soon.
Hamnet hits theatres on January 15.
Agatha Christie's Seven Dials
The Agatha Christie adaptations continue to flow, with Netflix turning to the legendary mystery author’s work for a three-part miniseries, helmed by Broadchurch showrunner Chris Chibnall. Following the third (and final?) Kenneth Branagh-led Poirot film in 2023, Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials pivots away from her more famed detectives to focus on an amateur sleuth. Based on The Seven Dials Mystery, the story takes place in 1929, when Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent finds a man dead in a country home the morning after a raucous party, and sets about to find out what happened to him, with a disgruntled Scotland Yard detective hot on her tail. Up-and-coming British actress Mia McKenna-Bruce leads the series, alongside veterans Helena Bonham-Carter and Martin Freeman.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials premieres on Netflix on January 15.
Cold Storage
Even if you’ve never heard of David Koepp, you definitely know his work: he’s one of the most prolific screenwriters in Hollywood. Mission: Impossible, Jurassic Park, Panic Room, Spider-Man, to name but a few. And as if he doesn’t have his fingers in enough pies, he’s written a couple of books, too. His debut novel, Cold Storage, is now getting the silver screen treatment, and guess who wrote the screenplay? (It’s him). Joe Keery (Stranger Things) and Georgina Campbell (Barbarian) star opposite Liam Neeson in the gory comedy-horror, in which a pair of employees at a storage facility built at a defunct military base are faced with the spread of a parasitic fungus when it leaks from the deepest sub-level, turning their nightshift into explosive chaos.
Cold Storage comes to theatres on February 5.
Wuthering Heights
The director of Saltburn is back to spill another simmering pot of film controversy, and this time she’s “desecrating” a classic: Wuthering Heights. From claims that the lead actors, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, are woefully miscast, to criticism of the film’s unexpectedly, uh, saucy tone, the promotion for Emerald Fennell’s new take on Emily Bronte’s novel has positively lit the internet ablaze, for better or worse (no publicity is bad publicity, right?). Clearly veering away from any kind of faithfulness to the source material as well as historical accuracy, this new version of the brooding love story between Cathy and Heathcliff is kind-of modernised, highly stylised, and making people mad. This might be one that has to be seen to be understood, or at least believed.
Wuthering Heights hits theatres on February 12.
Reminders of Him
The second of three Colleen Hoover adaptations within the span of 12 months, following up Regretting You in October last year, Reminders of Him can at least boast an all-female team of filmmakers, from the director to the screenwriters (including Hoover herself) and the producers. Based on Hoover’s 2022 novel and blending trauma with romance in that signature CoHo way, the film stars Maika Monroe (Longlegs) in the lead role of Kenna Rowan, a woman who is sentenced to seven years in prison after a car accident causes the death of her boyfriend. When she’s released, she attempts to rebuild her life and a relationship with the daughter she’s never known, while striking up a connection with a local bartender played by Tyriq Withers (Him).
Reminders of Him will arrive in theatres on March 12.
Project Hail Mary
What happened to space movies?? It felt like the mid-to-late 2010’s were a hotbed for the genre, giving us Gravity, Interstellar, Ad Astra, The Martian. They’ve since fallen to the wayside, but Hollywood seems to be reviving them, culminating in another adaptation for Andy Weir, author of The Martian: his latest book, Project Hail Mary, has been adapted by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, for their first time back behind the camera since 22 Jump Street in 2014. Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a middle school science teacher and former molecular biologist (probably the hottest of both ever) who is enlisted by the government to help save the dying sun, and by extension, Earth. The trailer spoils a pretty big plot point here, so try to go in blind if you haven't read the book.
Project Hail Mary hits theatres on March 19.
The Magic Faraway Tree
Enid Blyton’s beloved Faraway Tree series is finally gracing the big screen, and in suitable hands: Simon Farnaby, writer of both Paddington 2 and last year’s Paddington in Peru, is penning the script, as well as starring. The classic story follows a family who relocate to the English countryside, where the children find an enchanted forest nearby, in which a huge oak tree leads them to fantasy worlds and eccentric characters. While the book series started in 1939, the adaptation shifts the story to the modern day, digging into the post-pandemic, technology-fuelled reality of 21st century childhood. Alongside Farnaby, the film features a string of British and Irish star power, including Claire Foy and Andrew Garfield as the Thompson parents, and Nicola Coughlan, Jessica Gunning and Rebecca Ferguson as some of the residents of the magical tree.
The Magic Faraway Tree comes to theatres on March 26.
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