Ever since I became a parent, I have become more aware and more appreciative of films made for family viewing. I didn't mind that, at age four, my son wanted to watch the animated film Ice Age multiple times daily, for weeks on end. Cheap babysitting aside, Ice Age is a clever film, written (and drawn) with multiple layers of meaning, so that my son could laugh at the slapstick humour, while I could snigger in the background at the ribald gags that sailed right over his head (thankfully). The Lego Batman Movie, now playing in theatres, has that same level of depth that will have you asking to take your children to see it, and will have them asking what you're laughing at.
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As a cinema programmer of three decades, though, I appreciate that producing family-friendly film in many ways limits your audience and your potential to earn your investors' money back for them. Most family films just play matinee sessions only, at cheaper ticket prices, and often only for the two weeks of the school holiday period.
But when a children's film works, the audience is loyal, they love repeat viewings, and they'll be back again later to buy your film on DVD. It is the potential of this market that drives many filmmakers to look at children's literature as their source material – doubly so since Warner Bros turned JK Rowlings' already successful book franchise into one of cinemas greatest financial successes.
The seven Harry Potter films (eight, with Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them added) have brought their makers more than US$8.5billion just from the box office, before television and DVD sales, much less theme park rides and toy wands.
The appeal of working from an existing literary source is obvious – the work comes with a built-in audience, and proven success (assuming it is a successful novel you are adapting).
Audiences have flocked to family films for almost as long as there have been films, and even before Walt Disney made his fortune adapting the Brothers Grimm's Snow White in 1937, audiences have looked for the familiar stories they read to their children for big screen entertainment.
In 1925, L Frank Baum Jr contributed to the screenplay for the first big-screen version of his father's beloved 1900 book The Wizard of Oz, which has provided inspiration for many versions, obviously the iconic 1939 film starring Judy Garland, and continuing recently with the 2013 film Oz The Great And Powerful.
Firm family favourite Dr Suess has been the source of a number of stand-out family films across the years, with animator Chuck Jones' 1966 How The Grinch Stole Christmas making Entertainment Weekly's "55 Essential Movies Your Child Must See Before They Turn 13" list. My son's favourite was Horton Hears a Who! (2008), though my favourite was the surrealist 5000 Fingers of Dr T (1953), for which Dr Seuss himself, Theodore Geissel, wrote the screenplay.
The great challenge for the writer or filmmaker adapting from a literary source is the strong attachment the audience might already hold for the characters, or the firm notions the reader may have created in their mind and may not be ready to let go of.
On leaving the first Harry Potter film when it came to cinemas, my step-son's reaction was "It was terrible, Hermione's hair should have been browner."
Australia punches above its weight when it comes to quality family entertainment, and Australian filmmakers have often turned to literary sources of inspiration, notably with the 1976 adaptation of the Colin Thiele book Storm Boy.
Purists may be horrified to learn that Storm Boy is being remade, but any want-to-be pushy stage parents reading this will be delighted to learn that a national casting search is on at present for an "11-12 year old boy for a lead role in a major motion picture". "Must be comfortable working closely with large birds," says the web page (casting is being done by mulinars.com.au if you can't work out Google).
The eternally charming Babe (1995) was filmed nearby, in the Southern Highlands, and was beautifully adapted by director Chris Noonan and producer George Miller from the Dick King-Smith novel The Sheep Pig. Re-watchings, all these years later, can still bring this hardened film critic to tears.
Having the literary work you have or are adapting set as school reading can also drive audiences to your film. School children across Australia have loved the film versions of Playing Beatie Bow (1986), Looking for Alibrandi (2000) and Hating Alison Ashley (2005), as much for their charm as for their short-cut through the text.
One downside of adapting from a literary source can be the expense – you need to pay for the rights to the original work before you then pay a screenwriter to adapt it, and that Australian films are made on a fraction of the budget of their British and American counterparts could explain why most Australian films come from original screenplays.
I'd personally like to see some of local writer Garth Nix's fantasy novels adapted for the screen (his Frogkisser is apparently in production), or perhaps some of the young adult fiction of Canberra's Jack Heath.
The National Film and Sound Archive is exploring great film adaptations from children's books across the 2017 school holidays, with "Book Heroes on the Screen", starting next week.
This time around, the program includes Steven Spielberg's 2015 production of Roald Dahl's The BFG (Tuesday 11 April, 11am), Mary Poppins (Wednesday 12 April, 11am), the most recent The Jungle Book (Thursday 13 April, 11am), The Wizard of Oz (Wednesday 19 April, 11am), Coraline (Thursday 20 April, 11am) and the final two films in the Hunger Games franchise, Mockingjay parts 1 and 2 (Friday 21 April, from 11am). Tickets are available at nfsa.gov.au/events.
The program is still to be decided for the July and September school holidays and the NFSA, in conjunction with Canberra Life, is offering readers the opportunity to shape the program.
To win one of 20 family season passes to enjoy the upcoming school holiday program send an email to canberralife@canberratimes.com.au with the name of the film you'd like to see included along with your details, including how many people are in your family.
Cris Kennedy is Manager of Community Engagement at National Film and Sound Archive.
Top 10 most successful children's book adaptations*
(Not counting the Harry Potter films, which are in a category of their own)
Frozen (2013, Disney, adapted from a Hans Christian Andersen story) $1.3b US
Beauty and the Beast (Disney, 2017, from the Brothers Grimm story) $876m US
The Jungle Book (Disney, 2016, from the Rudyard Kipling stories) $996m US
Puss in Boots (Dreamworks, 2011, from the Italian fairy tale) $555m US
How to Train Your Dragon (Dreamworks, 2010, from the Cressida Cowell books) $495m US
Tarzan (Disney, 1999, from the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories) $448m US
Beauty and the Beast (Disney, 1991, from the Brothers Grimm story) $424m US (adjusted)
Bambi (from Felix Salten's Bambi, A Life in the Woods) $267m US (adjusted)
Babe (Universal, 1995, from Dick King-Smith's The Sheep Pig) $254m US
The Jungle Book (Disney, 1967, from the Rudyard Kipling stories) $205m US (adjusted)
* Source: CNBC's "The Highest Grossing Children's Movies of All Time" and Box Office Mojo adjusted world-wide box office.
