Movie tie-in (book)

A movie tie-in book is a book, frequently a paperback but occasionally a trade paperback or a hardcover, that has a direct relationship to a specific film. Usually, the cover of the book will bear photography of the film's stars, and slogans indicating that it is directly related to a specific film.

Tie-ins are often newly-published editions of a book upon which a film was based that is published around the time of the release of the film, and even sometimes re-titled so that the book's title now matches the film's title. As an example, when Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel "Nothing Lasts Forever" was adapted into the 1988 film "Die Hard", the novel was republished as a paperback tie-in under the "Die Hard" title with the film's poster on the cover. However, when Walter Wager's 1987 novel "58 Minutes" was adapted into the 1990 film "Die Hard 2", the novel was republished as a paperback tie-in that kept the original "58 Minutes" title but prominently advertised on the cover the fact that the novel was the basis for "Die Hard 2".

A movie tie-in book may also be novelizations of original screenplays. Novelizations of all six "Star Wars" films have been published, based on each film's original screenplay. Novelizations are generally published several weeks before a film's release, almost always feature the film's poster as cover art, and are usually never republished, with rare exceptions.

In extremely rare cases, a movie tie-in book may also be a "re-telling" or abridgement of an original novel. For instance, H. Rider Haggard's "She" was re-told/abridged by author Don Ward when it was issued as a mapback in 1949 although it is not directly related to a specific filmed adaptation -- the number of characters was reduced, the activities of the plot were simplified to match the plot of the film, and the language of the original novel was simplified.

Movie tie-in books can be the beginning of a series of books that relate to a film or a series of films, such as "Star Wars", though the content of the novels may have nothing to do with any existing film. An example would be the novel ', which is part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe; the novel takes place after the film ', of which a novelization was also published. These tie-in books may or may not be considered canon.

ee also

*Tie-in
*Media franchise
*Expanded Universe