The Big Why? – Movie Tie-In Editions

 

The other day I got an email from my contact at Delacorte Press encouraging me to promote the movie tie-in edition for James Dashner’s “The Maze Runner.” To be perfectly honest, I glanced at the email and then shoved it into my “later” file. (Which is like shoving it into a black hole.) Why? Because I have NEVER been a fan of movie tie-in covers. My thought process behind this:

Why are publishing companies trying to promote the movie? Shouldn’t they be promoting the BOOK? 

I know, I know…it’s sounds naive (and quite frankly biased) of me to feel this way,  BUT there you have it. (Full disclosure.) To add pain to the punishment, 90% of the time I find the covers lacking.

As a reader I have formed a picture in my head. When I go to the see the MOVIE adaptation (of the book) I am ok with establishing a disconnect between MY version and the MOVIE version. (Which is probably why I’m not overly critical of adaptations. I can appreciate them for their own unique interpretation.) But all of that gets lost when I am forced to embrace the two as one. The MOVIE is one thing. The BOOK is another. I understand the  need to sell them as a whole (for publicity and marketing purposes) but at the end of the day I’m a bibliophile, and I prefer the beauty of a books original artwork. 

That said… (and this is the point in this rant where I come across as a raging hypocrite) I did (after a few hours) actually go back and read that email from Aisha, and low and behold… I actually LIKED the cover. As a matter of fact, I liked it more than the original.

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I’m going to chalk this up to the fact that there are no hollywood faces on the cover, but it got me thinking…

Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe there are a few movie tie-in covers that deserve a little credit. So, I found a few. And despite my critical eye (and heart) found that I really liked some of them. Which brings me to the point of this post (besides featuring the Maze Runner tie-in.) 

What do you think of Movie Tie-In covers? Should they be banished or embraced?

Here are a few for you to check out and give your two cents on.

 

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I liked 3 of these, can you guess which ones?

 

About Misty

Your friendly neighborhood narcissist. I'm sarcastic, cynical and a bit cranky. I own a soap box so big that sometimes I have difficulty stepping down off of it, and I'm about 94% certain I have multiple personalities. I don't sleep enough, and I read more than any person should ever consider normal. I have anger management issues, especially when I'm stuck in traffic and I have an unhealthy obsession with my Kindle. I am a vampire lovin', zombie obsessed, book-in-hand, iPod freak. You either love me or hate me. You be the judge.

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