There’s A ‘Chicken Soup For The Soul’ Movie In The Works
The ’90s are back in a big way, and that means it’s about time for someone to tackle one big of-the-era trend we bet you’d forgotten all about:Chicken Soup for the Soul. Alcon Entertainment has acquiredJack CanfieldandMark Victor Hansen’s series of inspirational books with the intention of adapting it for the big and small screens.
While TV plans are up in the air right now, the film version is already making progress.Brandon Camp(of the Aaron Eckhart-Jennifer Aniston dudLove Happens) has been tapped to write the screenplay, withJordan Kerner(The Smurfs) and others producing. More details after the jump.
Canfield and Hansen published the originalChicken Soup for the Soulin 1993. Its runaway success launched a series with over 200 different titles to date, most of which follow the original’s format of motivational short stories and essays. Over 100 million copies have been sold worldwide. The franchise has also expanded to includeactual chicken soup, pet food, games and puzzles, and calendars.
Using a self-help book for source material is unusual, but not unheard of. Alcon Entertainment was behind one recent example, the star-studdedWhat to Expect When You’re Expecting. Prior to that, Warner Bros., who’s distributingChicken Soup for the Soul, successfully turnedHe’s Just Not That Into Youinto a fizzy romcom.
Plot details on theChicken Soup for the Soulfilm have not been revealed, butTheWrapreports that Camp’s screenplay will be “inspired by a variety of characters and stories from theChicken Soup for the Soulseries.” That sounds it could be another ensemble drama with interconnected vignettes — basically, the structure ofWhat to Expect When You’re Expectingcombined with the saccharine uplift ofThe Blind Side, another Alcon/Warner Bros. title.
None of which really sounds like my cup of tea (or cup of soup, as it were) but clearly someone out there wants to see this stuff, or else those movies and these books wouldn’t be such massive hits. This film isn’t likely to win critical acclaim or awards, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it make a ton of money.
