--- description: Eventually, the climate of the world will change again, and the interest in dystopia will transition into something else title: Have Young Adult Adaptations Jumped the Shark? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd27d105183ddb7fd/698768a7e20a87841ca83578/the-hunger-games_-mockingjay-pt-1-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-608x60811.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Have Young Adult Adaptations Jumped the Shark? by [Consequence of Sound](/author/consequence-of-sound/) ## Consequence of Sound Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 3, 2014 11:08 PM CUT  Republic by [Consequence of Sound](/author/consequence-of-sound/) ## Consequence of Sound Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 3, 2014 11:08 PM CUT _This_ [_post_](http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/11/young-adult-adaptations-jumped-shark/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_Consequence of Sound_](http://www.consequenceofsound.net/ "undefined")_._ In the current Hollywood climate, the lust for franchises is at an all-time high. It’s a logical enough response to both the difficulties found in getting the average American viewer into a theater in the past few years, and the never-brighter future of the new, globalized audience for Hollywood tentpole features. In both cases, name recognition is the most logical (if not necessarily the most ideal) means to get people back in seats. For all the theatrical gimmickry that chains have rolled out in recent years (dine-in screenings, electric recliners, [flight simulator-style seating](http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/4dx-may-prove-to-be-the-latest-possible-theater-gimmick-236 "undefined")), there’s perhaps nothing more verifiable when it comes to packing a house than a continuation of another film that people saw and enjoyed. Consider that of 2014’s top 10 highest-grossing films so far, as of this writing, six are sequels. Of the other four, you have two modern reboots of famed existing characters (_Maleficent_, _Godzilla_), a new entry into an existing franchise model (_Guardians of the Galaxy_), and _The LEGO Movie_, a surprisingly enjoyable film that’s nevertheless still based on a line of toys. In the midst of Hollywood’s seemingly endless franchise hunt, one of the most prevalent trends of the past decade has been the renewed interest in the constant adaptation of popular young adult novels. It’s a logical enough approach; rather than greenlighting a film that’ll ideally spawn sequels, you pick up a property with a built-in following and a pre-released series of follow-up installments. Grab the next _Hunger Games_, and you have three or four movies ready to go from day one. In a recent article, I addressed just [how many studios](http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/09/were-all-going-to-die-the-rise-of-dystopia-in-film/ "undefined") are trying to do exactly that, the latest Hollywood ideal being the next hot dystopian epic to follow _Hunger Games_, or the more recent successes of _The Maze Runner_ and _Divergent_. But what’s perhaps even more interesting than the handful of successfully launched YA adaptations in recent years is the massive volume of failures surrounding them. Vulture [explored this question](http://www.vulture.com/2013/11/why-do-so-many-ya-adaptations-flop.html "undefined") in brief last year, before the runaway success of _Catching Fire_, again primarily touching more heavily on the films that worked than those that didn’t. At one point, they quote YA publisher Ben Schrank, who explains that, “The fact that there are more people writing better books for young people than ever before, combined with a culture where fewer and fewer people think of themselves as old, makes over-saturation in the immediate future seem unlikely.” But this proliferation of books doesn’t necessarily mean that their popularity will translate; a book engenders a certain kind of more dedicated fandom by dint of its ability to establish a universe in far greater detail than the average 90-minute to two-hour film can muster. So, back to the question at hand: why have so many adaptations failed? Vulture cites momentum at one point, which could explain _Divergent_ and _Maze Runner_, especially the former; the market seems to be bullish on YA dystopian adaptations featuring popular young actresses in layered roles with peculiar first names for the time being. But it doesn’t entirely account for the phenomenon. After all, lest we forget (more on that momentarily), before _Hunger Games_ it was _Twilight._ And it’s not as though studios didn’t try and fling their bodies onto that rapidly accelerating gravy train as well. But the fantasy market didn’t prove so lucrative. Between the time of the first _Twilight_ film’s release in November 2008 and its conclusion with the underrated _Breaking Dawn Part 2_ in 2012, studios released at least seven other franchise hopefuls with YA pedigrees. Only one was sequelized, and even then, _Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters_ underperformed in theaters last summer. Even dystopia isn’t a complete guarantee; witness duds like _The Host_, another Stephenie Meyer offering that lacked source material for additional installments but still lent studios a sense of optimism. Or, more recently, Jeff Bridges’ long-gestating production of _The Giver_, as canonical a YA text as you can find in the present era, and a film which grossed less than $50 million. Films like _The Giver_ and last year’s _Ender’s Game_ aimed squarely for the YA audience, adult and young adult alike, and were based on classic novels that frequently appear on various schools’ English class reading lists, and yet both underperformed to the point where sequels are uncertain, verging on unlikely for the time being. It’s curious to consider the string of flops in a few different respects, and one of them ties right back to _Twilight_. The oft-maligned vampire series was a cultural phenomenon upon arrival, the first film’s release having been perfectly timed with the release of the final installment of the printed series, _Breaking Dawn_. Of the top twenty highest-grossing YA adaptations to date, _Twilight_ accounts for [five of them.](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=yaadaptations.htm "undefined") And yet, the buzz seems to have died down around the series. Sure, part of this can be written off as the innately ephemeral nature of most any popular trend; after a while, the collective consciousness moves on, and the series remains bound for an indeterminate time in that fiscally terrifying purgatory between initial popularity and nostalgic sentiment. But with _Twilight_, it’s important to remember that the world started changing as the series progressed, and that series happened to be one major cog in a much larger evolution in American culture. One of the simultaneous booms and busts of the internet age is the ability for audiences to access criticism of their pop culture from every conceivable angle, and to discuss it ad nauseum with others. And given the eventual burnout on _Twilight_’s reductive gender roles and frequently interpreted moralizing, it makes sense that audiences were already getting enough of it from one source, and weren’t as interested in others. But it still found a crossover audience, which is more than can be said for _Beautiful Creatures_ or _The Mortal Instruments_ or _I Am Number Four_ or _City of Ember_ or _Cirque Du Freak_ or _Inkheart_. But now, a show of hands: when’s the last time that dedicated Twi-hard in your life brought it up at a family gathering? And with respect to the matter of audience saturation, that’s as much a sign of burnout as anything. People had their chosen franchise. They couldn’t invest in a dozen at once, because for those who weren’t already reading the books (another desired outcome of the franchise model), it was too much to take on. The proliferation of extremely similar material didn’t help, but the failed YA adaptations even precede _Twilight_. One of the most notable is still _A Series of Unfortunate Events_, the would-be Lemony Snicket franchise starter, that failed to see a second installment despite relative success compared to many of the flops that followed. And the burnout became ever more pronounced until last summer, when _The Mortal Instruments_, a film for which Sony had already kicked off pre-production on a follow-up, made less than $10 million in its opening weekend, on over 3,000 screens nationwide. This year has seen them as well; even as _Divergent_ was a breakout hit and _Maze Runner_ found more moderate success, albeit with tepid critical and audience reactions alike, the popular franchise _Vampire Academy_ was an unmitigated dud when released to little fanfare in the doldrums of February. It’s not that audiences are inherently uninterested; they just want something new. And studios aren’t going to stop pushing for the next big new thing. Properties are being snapped up [one after the next](http://wallstcheatsheet.com/entertainment/14-ya-film-adaptations-sparked-by-hunger-games-success.html/?a=viewall "undefined"), some of the current dystopian flavor and others attempting to break new ground and be the first to the party. The glut is hardly stopping, and even the existing franchises are trying to stretch as far as possible; like _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ and _Breaking Dawn_, this weekend sees the release of the first half of the two-part _Hunger Games_ finale _Mockingjay_, and the_Divergent_ series has already confirmed plans to split its final installment _Allegiant_ in half. A note on _Potter_, while the subject has arisen: it’s really those films that studios crave so desperately. While _Twilight_ proved the buying power of the untapped young female demographic, _Potter_ is the four-quadrant franchise to which others aspire. The _Potter_model was less one of a literary adaptation than it was the bellwether of what we’re seeing today with superhero franchises. Everybody saw them, and those who didn’t were still readily aware of their existence at all times. It was a market saturation, sure, but one people embraced. Perhaps what’s happening now, with the seeming disinterest in genre-based franchise offerings not focused on totalitarian governments, is the explosion of the bubble, the one that will inevitably implode in the case of most any pop trend. Buyers set out to find the next _Potter_, the next _Twilight_, the next _Hunger Games_, and they’re likely out to find the next one as we speak. Dozens of novels have been picked up, and it’s unlikely that the glut ends before at least a few more fatted calves have been sacrificed to the cause. But eventually, the climate of the world will change again, and the interest in dystopia will transition into something else, something unpredictable and unsolvable by most metrics until it’s too late to get out ahead. This is the inherent downside of the YA boom, after all. You can pick a winner with a devoted following, a built-in series ready to go, and even come up with a catchy _Twilight Saga_\-esque franchise subtitle for it all. But audiences will either show up or not, and by the time a movie even sees the light of day, it might already be too late to tap into the zeitgeist. Everybody’s headed for the promised West of the next _Hunger Games_, and even more will likely circle their wagons when _Mockingjay_ likely starts printing its own money in a few days. But like any riches worth having, the millions conferred by a YA hit are for the few, not the many. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3617096/young-adult-adaptations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3617096/young-adult-adaptations/"},"headline":"Have Young Adult Adaptations Jumped the Shark?","datePublished":"2014-12-03T23:08:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:03:52.697Z","description":"Eventually, the climate of the world will change again, and the interest in dystopia will transition into something else","url":"https://time.com/3617096/young-adult-adaptations/","keywords":["movies","Books","The Hunger Games","Twilight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd27d105183ddb7fd/698768a7e20a87841ca83578/the-hunger-games_-mockingjay-pt-1-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-608x60811.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Consequence of Sound","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/consequence-of-sound/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd27d105183ddb7fd/698768a7e20a87841ca83578/the-hunger-games_-mockingjay-pt-1-original-motion-picture-soundtrack-608x60811.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The-Hunger-Games_-Mockingjay-Pt.-1-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack-608x60811","caption":"","creditText":"Republic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3617096/young-adult-adaptations/","name":"Have Young Adult Adaptations Jumped the Shark?"}}]}] ```