Most anticipated 2022 book-to-film adaptations: How long will it take you to read the book first

Don’t watch these films until you read the book first

• As Harry Styles’ new film ‘My Policeman’ will be released later this year, you can read the book in just 10 hours whilst you wait  
• Leonardo DiCaprio stars in book adaptation of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI’ – read it first in 10 hours and 40 minutes 
• Jason Momoa finishes filming a new comedy film based on comic book strips published in 1905 

Are you one of those people who insists on reading the book before watching the film adaptation? If so, you would probably like to have some idea how long it will take you to read the book before committing. 

Well, writing experts at ProWritingAid have conducted a new study that has calculated this for you. After taking major upcoming book-to-film adaptations from IMDb’s 2022 list, the books that each film is based on was found, along with the page numbers. By inputting these page numbers into a reading time calculator, the number of hours or days it would take to read each one was calculated.  

White Bird: A Wonder Story by R.J. Palacio – 7 hours 35 minutes

With 224 pages, this book would take you approximately seven and a half hours to read when reading an average speed of half a page per minute. The film adaptation of the bestselling book is a World War II story about a young Jewish girl who is saved by a young boy that she and her friends used to shun. White Bird: A Wonder Story is actually the sequel/prequel to R.J Palacio’s Wonder, which was also a major movie adaptation staring Owen Wilson and Julia Roberts. Wonder deals with similar themes of prejudice and friendship as a young boy with a facial deformity is bullied; that bully plays an important role in ‘White Bird’. If you’d like to take on both books to allow for more context, they will take a combined 17 hours and 55 minutes to complete. The movie is set to be released on October 14^th 2022 and stars Helen Mirren and Gillian Anderson.  

Matilda by Roald Dahl – 8 hours 32 minutes 

Now here’s one for the kids. The classic Roald Dahl book will take the average reader eight and a half hours to read through the magical and imaginative world of Matilda.  Whilst this book has already been adapted into a successful movie and Tony award-winning musical, it will be fascinating to see how a series will break up the story, and how new actors will portray each role. This children’s favourite is due to hit Netflix on December 2^nd and will star Emma Thompson as Mrs Trunchbull the evil head mistress.  

Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar – 9 hours 36 minutes

With 288 pages, this sci-fi novel will take you approximately nine and a half hours to read. The film adaptation, with the title shortened to ‘Spaceman’, will star Adam Sandler who plays the main character Jakub, an orphan from the Czech Republic who embarks on a solo mission to Venus. This adaptation is due to be released on Netflix this year. 

Integrity: Good People, Bad Choices, and Life Lessons from the White House by Matthew Krogh – 10 hours 8 minutes  

Reading all 304 pages at a rate of half a page per minute, you can finish this book in just over ten hours. The TV mini-series adaptation, with the title changed to ‘The Whitehouse Plumbers’, will follow the true story of how Nixon’s own political saboteurs and Watergate masterminds, E. Howard Hunt, and G. Gordon Liddy, accidentally toppled the presidency they were trying to protect. The Whitehouse Plumbers is due to be released on HBO this year and will star Woody Harrelson, Lena Heady and Justin Theroux.  

My Policeman by Bethan Roberts – 10 hours 8 minutes  

The LGBTQ+ film adaptation follows the story of a secretly gay police officer called Tom who must hide his sexuality as homosexuality was illegal in 1950s Britain. The highly anticipated movie will star Harry Styles and will be available for streaming on Amazon Prime on November 4^th with a theatrical release due in October. If you’d like to read the book first, it will take you just over ten hours to do so. 

Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay – 10 hours 36 minutes 

Now we come to a slightly different adaptation as Little Nemo began as a comic strip back in 1905. You can get a hold of a book full of the colorful comic strips from Barnes and Noble and it will take you approximately ten and a half hours to get through. Jason Momoa stars in the comedy film adaptation, ‘Slumberland’, which follows a young girl named Nemo through her fantastically whimsical dreams. The film is set to be released later this year on Netflix. 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman – 11 hours 14 minutes 

The 337-page book will take you just over eleven hours to read if you read at an average speed of half a page per minute. The book is about a grumpy yet loveable old man who surprisingly befriends his boisterous new neighbor. The film adaptation renamed ‘A Man Called Otto’ stars Tom Hanks as Otto and is due to be released in movie theatres on Christmas Day this year.  

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann – 13 hours 20 minutes

The joint longest book in the study has 400 pages and will take you just under 13 and a half hours to read.  As the title suggests, the book is about the inception of the FBI after mysterious murders occur in the 1920s. Martin Scorsese is directing the film which is due to be released this year starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. 

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