You may have seen it reappear on bookstore shelves The Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle under a cover illustrated by Etienne Davodeau. The reason for the reissue of this cult science fiction novel published in 1963? The release, in May 2024, of yet another adaptation under the title The New Kingdom directed by Wes Ball, tenth film in the franchise Planet of the Apes – the first feature film, directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, dating from 1968! In other words, a windfall for the beneficiaries of Pierre Boulle, who died in 1994, and for his publishing house, Julliard. The same is true of the famous Hello Sadness by Françoise Sagan, published in 1954, and which has already been adapted for the cinema in 1958 by Otto Preminger, of two television transpositions (François Chatel in 1965 and Peter Kassovitz in 1995) and of which a new adaptation is to come, signed by the writer of Indian origin Durga Chew-Bose. Still at Julliard, The Wages of Fear by George Arnaud (1949) has attracted several filmmakers.
In short, the funds of publishing houses can be a significant source of income as long as the work has not fallen into the public domain, that is, seventy years after the author’s death. Except in exceptional cases, such as The little Prince by Saint-Exupéry (1940-1944), protected until 2032 due to “war extensions” and the status of its author, “died for France”. And this is how Gallimard and the aviator’s rights holders continue to rake in the profits – the latest film, by Mark Osborne, has had nearly 2 million admissions.
The promise of dawn by Romain Gary (Gallimard, 1960), Asterix by Uderzo and Goscinny (Albert René editions, 1959), The Smurfs by Peyo (Dupuis then Le Lombard, 1963), A bag of marbles by Joseph Joffo (Lattès, 1973), Billy and Buddy by Jean Roba (Dupuis then Dargaux Benelux, 1959)… are all cornucopias. The latest SNE study covering the years 2015-2021 is formal: nearly one in five cinematographic or audiovisual works released in France is adapted from a literary work. Furthermore, the majority of cinematographic and audiovisual works are adapted from major literary works, with 77% of adaptations taken from books first published between 1901 and 2014. And they primarily concern general literature books (63%), including novels (36%) and detective novels (17%). Next come children’s books (16%) and non-fiction books (12%). These releases resulted in a boost in sales in 65% of cases, sometimes significantly (30% have more than doubled the sales volume).
No wonder most publishing houses have established strong audiovisual rights departments and the Civil Society of French Language Publishers (SCELF), created around sixty years ago by a handful of publishers (Claude Gallimard, Robert Laffont, Robert Esménard, Jérôme Lindon, etc.) to unite and help publishing in the face of the audiovisual world and which today brings together more than 380 member publishers, is holding numerous meetings throughout the world.
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