Fiction to Film: 2015 Edition

I'm ready! A few weeks later than normal - but ready. I'm thinking about the 2015 film calendar and looking at what novels will be adapted to the screen.

This list is really for me, as I consider what I might want read before the films come out in the theater.

It may be a foolish pursuit, as the past two years haven't been big years for successful adaptations of fiction to film. In fact, as I recently posted, not a single best picture nominee this past year came from a fiction adaptation.

That said, people have certainly complained about the caliber of film last year, maybe it part because of the absence of exceptional literary adaptations. Below is a collection of 2015 films based on fiction we can expect to see in movie theater's this year.

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Bill Condon directs Mr. Holmes based on Mitch Cullins book A Slight Trick of The Mind. The film stars Ian McKellen as an elderly Sherlock Holmes solving his final crime.

Ridley Scott's likely hit The Martian based on the book by Andy Weir stars Matt Damon as an astronaut, presumed dead and left behind by his crew.

The book The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette gets a big screen adaptation in the action drama The Gunman staring Sean Penn and Javier Bardem.

Tom  Hank's will star in Tom Tykwer's adaptation of the Dave Egger's novel, A Hologram for the King, about a business man in Saudi Arabia trying to sell a technology solution to the king.

Jake Schreier directs an adaptation of John Green's Paper Towns, the popular young adults mystery novel, which stars Nat Wolff and Cara Delevigne.

Emma Donoghue's Room gets an adaptation which stars Brie Larsen, William H. Macy, and Joan Allen. About a boy who has never left a small shed since the day he was born.

Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan will star in E.L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey.

Tom Hardy stars in the adaptation of Tom Rob Smith's Child 44 about an investigation of child murder's during the Stalin era of the Soviet Union.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars in an adaptation of Michael Punke's The Revenant. The film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu takes place in the 1820s and is about a man seeking vengeance after being left for dead.

London Fields by Martin Amis is adapted into a film staring Amber Heard as Nicolo Six, a clairvoyant who begins a love affair with three men knowing that one of them will be her murderer. The film also stars Johnny Depp and Jim Sturgess. It is Matthew Cullen's directorial debut.

Pierce Brosnon and William Hurt star in the fantasy-fiction-history adaptation of Vonda N. McIntyre's The Moon and The Sun about King Louis XIV's attempt to steal the life force from a sea monster.

Consistently praised director of fiction Stephen Daldry has brought Andy Mulligan's Trash to the big screen, although it's United States run has not yet occurred. The film stars Rooney Mara, and Martin Sheen. The book is was adapted by Richard Curtis.

Ezra Miller and Mia Wasikowska star in an adaptation of Gustave Flaubert's classic Madame Bovary.

Todd Field still appears to be working on directing and adapting The Creed of Violence by Boston Teran. This 1910 period piece tells the story of arms smuggling ring in Mexico.

Another period piece is Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française directed by Saul Dibb a love story in the early days of the French occupation. The love story stars Michelle Williams (French villager) and Matthias Schoenaerts (German soldier).

Also staring Matthias Schoenaerts is another classic adaptation. This time Tom Hardy's Far From The Maddening Crowd which also stars Carrey Mulligan, Juno Temple, and Martin Sheen.

Nick Hornby's adaptation of Colm Toibin's Brooklyn tells the story of Irish immigrants in New York in the 1950s. The film stars Saoirse Ronan.

The author of the 2014 hit Gone Girl, gets another adaptation. Gillian Flynn's Dark Places stars Charlize Theron and Chloë Grace Moretz.

Todd Haynes is set to direct an adaptation of the same-sex love story The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (written under the pseudonym Claire Morgan), the film is called Carol and set to star Cate Blanchett.

Derek Cianfrance will direct an adaptation of M.L. Stedman's The Light Between Oceans about a light keeper and his wife living in Australia. Michael Fassbender stars.

Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, and Chiwetel Ejiofor will star in The Secret in Their Eyes based on Eduardo Sacheri's book. This book was the same source material for the film with the same name that won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for Argentina in 2010.

Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper team up again, this time in North Carolina during the depression. The film is adaptation of Ron Rash's novel Serena.

Danielle Radcliffe and James McAvoy star in Victor Frankenstein, in the newest adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Susanna White is set to direct an adaptation of the John le Carre novel, Our Kind of Traitor, staring Ewan McGregor.

Jessica Chastain is set to star The Zookeeper's Wife a WWII story based on Diane Ackerman's book.

Evan Rachel Wood and Ellen Page star in Jean Hegland's Into The Forest about sister's in a apocalyptic world.

Rooney Mara stars in Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture about a woman in a mental hospital.

This year's Nicholas Sparks contributions include The Longest Ride and The Choice.

The second installment of Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay will be released as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part II.

The Maze Runner series continues with the second film in the series. The adaptation of James Dashner's Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials comes out in the fall.

The Divergent follow-up comes with Veronica Roth's Insurgent hitting theaters this spring staring Shailene Woodley.