We’re back with the last instalment of our blog mini-series on book to screen adaptations.
In our first instalments, we looked at the impact of film or television series adaptations on Canadian sales and library circulation. And we’ll share even more in our upcoming study on the topic later this year (sign up for the research newsletter to be notified when it’s released).
But there’s more involved in a book to screen adaptation than just putting the text onto the screen – there’s press releases, casting announcements, filming announcement, trailer releases, premieres, and more.
Over the last number of weeks, we’ve zoomed in on the way these key dates impacted sales and library circulation for the Bridgerton series, Maid, and the Dune series. In this blog post, we’re going to look at a final example with the help of our SalesData and LibraryData services.
Last but not least — The Witches by Roald Dahl and the 2020 movie of the same name.
About the data
SalesData and LibraryData store ISBNs differently. While SalesData gathers data for each individual ISBN, LibraryData uses ISBN clusters. These ISBN clusters may contain any number of ISBNs related to one title or to a series of books.
In order to compare Canadian book sales and Canadian library circulation, the ISBNs related to each film adaptation were taken first from LibraryData clusters. This same list of ISBNs was then used to gather data from SalesData.
Just like in the other instalments of this blog mini-series, if a film was related to a series of books, all titles in the series were considered together. For this instalment, 26 ISBNs for The Witches by Roald Dahl were analysed.
Onto the main event!
The Witches effect
The Witches by Roald Dahl was first published in 1983 and is classified as JUVENILE FICTION / Classics in BISAC. And it’s been popular ever since, with a previous film adaptation in 1990, an opera adaptation and BBC radio dramatization both in 2008.
The most recent film adaptation of the book, The Witches, premiered on HBO Max in October 2020 to mixed audience reactions and critical reviews — it has an average movie rating of 4.7 (between IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic) and was nominated for both the 2021 Visual Effects Society Awards and 2021 Golden Raspberry Awards.
Which key dates during the adaptation of The Witches have impacted the sales and library circulation of this title?
The graphs below show the Canadian sales and library holds for The Witches pre- and post-film release. Read on for a break down of all the important dates for the The Witches and its film adaptation in the sections below.
Sales for The Witches from March 2018 to January 2021
LibraryData was launched in fourth quarter of 2019 and so the data below represents library circulation beginning in January 2020. Since a library’s ability to circulate titles is ultimately limited by the number of copies it has in its collection, this data is for library holds, rather than library loans, as they can show a clearer picture of library book borrowers' interest in a particular title.
Library holds for The Witches from January 2020 to January 2021
Pre-release excitement
During the two years between the film’s announcement and premiere, buzz was building for this new adaptation, as were Canadian sales and library holds for The Witches.
In June 2018, the adaptation was officially underway and script writing began. The same month, sales increased 55% for The Witches.
Casting announcements for the film began in January 2019 and continued until May, with sales for The Witches increasing 59% during that time period. May 2019 also marked the beginning of filming.
By July 2019, Alan Silvestri was announced to be scoring the film, with accompanying sales for The Witches increasing another 35% from June 2019.
Final casting announcements were released in September 2020, where sales of The Witches soared 972%. Interestingly, library holds for this title decreased 6% during this month after steadily increasing 1,300% since February 2020.
Premiere boost
October 2020 was a significant month for The Witches, with the release of the film’s theatrical trailer and its premiere on HBO Max (and limited theatrical release).
During October, sales for The Witches were up 71% and library holds shot up another 70% from September 2020.
Post-release buzz
While Canadian library holds for The Witches continued to increase another 4% in November 2020, the same was not true for Canadian book sales.
By November 2020, sales for The Witches decreased 76%. It’s possible that this drop in sales may have been affected by the controversy surrounding the film’s hurtful representation of limb differences.
Other important dates
It’s no question that other key dates have also impacted the sales and library circulation for The Witches.
Since its first publication in 1983, The Witches has seen many new editions, including a graphic novel adaptation released in August 2020. This new edition of The Witches accounts for the huge portion of the sales — and (to a lesser extent) library circulation — of this title from August 2020 to January 2021.
Beginning in March 2020, library holds for The Witches seemingly began to soar. While this may indicate Canadian library goers undoubtable interest in The Witches, the COVID-19 pandemic likely also had an effect on this lift. With Canadian libraries closing their doors for long stretches of time in 2020, it’s possible that this growing number of holds is due to library book borrowers being unable to access their library branch to take books out on loan.
Consistently, the holiday season is a time of year where the Canadian book industry sees a big boost in sales. Year by year, we also see this trend with The Witches.
In 2018, sales for The Witches increased 48% over the fourth quarter of the year.
In 2019, sales for The Witches were up 71% during the holiday season.
Curious for more data on book to screen adaptations? Check out the rest of our blog mini-series and sign up for the research newsletter to be the first to know about our upcoming research studies.
That’s all for now!
The BISAC to Thema translator has been updated.