Bookmarking some film adaptations at The Movie Trailer Park

This past weekend, Captain America: Civil War did very well at the box office as well as with critics and audiences, clearly showing a certain other comic book company the right way to set up a major shift from page to screen.

However, we do have a few other book-to-film features coming up this summer season and whether you're more inclined to sit in the shade with a good read or need something to flip through while waiting for the next Star Wars movie at the multiplex, one or two of these coming soon flicks might make those entertainment choices a little bit easier.

First up is Me Before You, based on Jojo Moyes' bestselling novel. Emilia Clarke(yes, the Mother of Dragons from Game of Thrones) stars as Louisa, a young woman who drifts from one job to next until she is hired to be the companion of Will(Sam Claflin), a wealthy banker who has grown bitter due to his paralysis due to a car accident two years ago.

Sam's outlook on life starts to change from Louisa's cheerful influence and a deeper connection is formed yet the future for them both may not be as happily ever after as it could be. Moyes wrote the screenplay,so fans of the book should expect this story to turn out as well as it does on the page:

For a younger crowd,either age wise or young at heart, there's a new Roald Dahl adaptation that's been a long time in the making. Recent Oscar winner Mark Rylance plays the title role in The BFG(Big Friendly Giant), one of the smaller beings of his kind who recruits orphan girl Sophie(Ruby Barnhill) for a mission that could help both giants and humans alike.

Steven Spielberg is at the director's helm here, with a script by ET scribe Melissa Matheson, and this is a project that his company has been trying to get off the ground since 1991. There was an animated version of this beloved children's book made for TV back in the late 1980s but I think that readers will be extremely delighted to see this charming tale in vivid live action form:

Someone is hoping that the third time is the charm for another version of Ben-Hur, complete with the now iconic chariot race scene. However, this recent remake,written by Keith Clarke and rewritten by John Ridley, is said to be going in a different direction from previous adaptations of the Lew Wallace novel.

The basic set-up is the same, as Judah Ben-Hur(Jack Huston) is framed by his adoptive brother Messala(Toby Kebbell) for treason and serves a lengthy sentence of slavery.  To gain the revenge that he seeks, Judah undergoes training by Sheik llderim(Morgan Freeman) in order to become a champion charioteer.

 Since this is a late summer entry, I'm not sure that the studio is fully behind this one but perhaps it might be an entertaining surprise. At the very least, it should revive interest in the source material and/or the old school Charlton Heston movie, which is quite the classic to live up to:

There are more book based movies to come before the year is out but I suspect a good number of them will be released in the fall, the better to attract that Academy Award seasonal buzz.

A very much talked about thriller scheduled for October seems to be following the footsteps of Gone Girl there as The Girl On The Train, based on Paula Hawkins' highly praised novel, has that same sense of in depth mystery.

Emily Blunt stars as Rachel Watson, who copes with the pain of her divorce by taking the train down to where her former husband Tom lives with his new family. During those daily trips, she spies upon one of Tom's new neighbors as sort of a delusional hobby but one day, Rachel sees something that shatters that secretive fantasy and turns her into a possible real world suspect.

That sounds a movie worth seeing right now but as they say, good things come to those who wait and besides, that also gives us plenty of time to check out the book. When it comes to books made into movies, I find the popcorn pleasure of both to be the ultimate double feature: