Boxing Day: An occasion for film adaptations

One of the biggest days of the year for cinemas is Boxing Day. It’s an annual tradition in Australia that, on the day following Christmas, when everything else is closed, families will flock to their local cinema.

Of course, film distributors are well aware of this trend, and save their best box office hits for the occasion.

In 2011, the 26^th of December will see a slew of new movies grace the big screen – and a majority of them are adaptations of novels.

• The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn: The motion-capture spectacular from Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg, based on a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist Hergé.

• We Bought A Zoo: Director Cameron Crowe’s family drama starring Matt Damon and Scarlet Johansson, based on a memoir by Benjamin Mee.

• War Horse: The story of a beloved horse that is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. Directed by Steven Spielberg, it is based on a children's novel of the same name by British author Michael Morpurgo.
• Albert Nobbs: A pet project of Glenn Close, also starring Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson, based on a short story by Irish novelist George Moore.

• The Skin I Live In: Antonio Banderas as a plastic surgeon developing skin that can act as a shield against assault. It is loosely based on Thierry Jonquet's novel Tarantula.