Sony is releasing Stephen Frears’ adaptation of Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel Tamara Drewe in the U.S. on September 10th.  The movie, which was one of the best received entrants at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, features Gemma Atherton (Quantum of Solace) as a newspaper columnist who returns to her native village and stirs the passions of local swains in a plot that reflects Thomas Hardy’s Far From the Madding Crowd (see “Sony Snags Tamara Drewe”).

 

No word yet on how wide Sony’s release of Tamara Drewe will be, but it will likely be a limited rollout in primarily art house venues at first.  If the sprightly film catches on, it could stimulate sales of Simmonds’ graphic novel, which is published by Mariner Books.  While some comic-based blockbusters and do hundreds of millions at the box office with only minimal effect on graphic novel sales, the right film doesn’t need to do huge box office, as was the case with Terry Zwigoff’s adaptation of Dan Clowes’ Ghost World, which only earned $6.2 million in theaters, but managed to stimulate sales of over 100,000 copies of Clowes’ graphic novel.