Film Tie-In Books

The new Ghostbusters film was released on DVD and Blu-ray today (I got my pretty steelbook delivered, I’m very happy) so I think it is a good time to talk about film tie-in books. I’m using the term pretty loosely as I want to talk about a whole variety of them not just one type. I wanted to also talk about books like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the novelisation of the latest Star Wars film which are brilliant in their own way.

The Ghostbusters book is a tie-in from the film and is ‘written by’ the characters. It is a novelisation of the book called ‘Ghosts From Our Past’ that two of the protagonists have written together in the film world so its written from within the story universe itself. I personally love this and though I haven’t read it cover to cover yet, (that is my plan for this week) I have flicked through and read parts and I love it. Whenever I watch a film or read a book which heavily mentions or focuses on a piece of literature I always want it to be real and it is wonderful when this comes true!

When you become a fan of something you usually want any extra information about the charcaters or the story world that you can get your hands on, and this is exactly how I feel about Ghosts From Our Past. It reveals new information about many of the characters, including their upbringings and anecdotes about their friendship. I honestly adore this as it just gives the characters even more dimensions than they already had.

Harry Potter is a book and film series which is known for its near constant new releases and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t wish Hogwarts, A History was a real book. The recent release of the The Cursed Child and Fantastic Beasts scripts are different to Ghostbusters however they are still based off the play and film. Harry Potter fans probably get the most new merchandise and content compared to other fandoms (I’ll be honest, I sometimes feel there can be too much) but overall it’s pretty amazing.

For those who can’t see the play, the book of The Cursed Child is a blessing. Yes, it is not comparable to seeing the play live on stage but it is still something to hold onto and keep and read through at your own leisure. I must admit, I was quite confused at first when I found out they were releasing the Fantastic Beasts script as a book as a film is much more accessible than a play and I didn’t really see the point. But this is Harry Potter and lets be honest, we will buy most things released about it.

Gone Girl is another example which I adore. When I bought my copy of the Gone Girl Blu-ray, I saw that it came with a small book of the Amazing Amy stories, just like Amy’s parents write in the film and book. It is an adorable little addition to the film and it just makes everything feel well thought out and more interesting for fans.  I adore little extras like this to buy and display in my room. I may be more materialistic than I like to think,
but there is something about having a book from the story world which is just exciting and wonderful.

Star Wars is another big franchise which releases novelisations of the films which can add little extras to the story. I own the latest one which is basically a film to book adaptation rather than a book to film one. I have always been intrigued by these types of books as we always see adaptations as books to films rather than the other way around but there is no reason as to why it shouldn’t be this way! I am yet to read The Force Awakens but I adored the film so I am excited to see all my favourite characters and storylines explained in a different format.

 

I have only put a few examples down on this post as if not we could be here all week! I put some of my personal interests but there are tons of others which would be interesting to read and talk about!

What do you think of film tie in books or books based on a film, or any kind of movie/book crossover? Personally, I adore them and think they can be a great way to extend a universe or give the fans some extra little facts and stories.