'Cloud Atlas' trailer makes online book sales skyrocket

‘Cloud Atlas’ trailer makes online book sales skyrocket

By Carolyn Kellogg

July 31, 2012 12 AM PT

&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The Wall Street Journal reports that online sales of David Mitchell’s novel “Cloud Atlas” shot up last week after a 5-minute trailer of the film appeared on the Internet. Hovering around the #2,500 mark on Amazon’s sales list, the book rocketed to #7 after the movie preview’s debut.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;”It isn’t unusual for a movie version of a book to spark fresh interest in an old title, of course. What’s uncommon in this case was the speed at which a mere trailer of a film had an impact,” writes the &amp;lt;a href=”https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444840104577553512716197778.html”&amp;gt;Wall Street Journal&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;. The paper also says that publisher Random House has ordered an extra 25,000 copies of the paperback be printed,&amp;nbsp; and that’s before a movie tie-in edition comes to shevles in September.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Mitchell’s novel was published in 2004 in England, where it was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize. Although “Cloud Atlas” seems nearly unfilmable, the crew assembled to create a movie version seems, by judging by the trailer, to be on the right track.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Its cast includes Tom Hanks, &amp;lt;runtime:topic id=”PECLB000495”&amp;gt;Halle Berry&amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;gt;, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, &amp;lt;runtime:topic id=”PECLB000669”&amp;gt;Jim Broadbent&amp;lt;/runtime:topic&amp;gt;, Ben Whishaw, Bae Doona, David Gyasi, Keith David, James D’Arcy and Susan Sarandon.&amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The three-hour film has three directors: Tom Tykwer (“Run Lola Run”) and Andy and Lana Wachowski (“The Matrix series”). The three sat together for an &amp;lt;a href=”https://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/cloud-atlas-directors-reveal-more-just-back-story-165430475.html”&amp;gt;overlapping, joking interview&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt; posted yesterday on Yahoo. They talk about what they wanted from the film (just about everything) and what their experience had been with Mitchell.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;”I was extremely nervous to meet David Mitchell after he read the script,” Lana says. “But we all took an oath that if he didn’t like it,” Andy&amp;nbsp;continues, “We would kill the project,” Tykwer finishes. “Fortunately, he loved it,” says&amp;nbsp; Lana.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Before the trailer appeared online, “Cloud Atlas” had 225,000 paperback copies in print in the U.S. Now Mitchell can thank Twyker and the Wachowskis for making that 250,000.&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;RELATED:&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-jc-by-the-time-you-read-this-the-cloud-atlas-trailer-may-be-gone-20120726,0,2161530.story”&amp;gt;By the time you read this, the ‘Cloud Atlas’ trailer may be gone&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-jc-see-the-trailer-for-life-of-pi-video-20120725,0,7410663.story”&amp;gt;See the trailer for ‘Life of Pi’ [Video]&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href=”https://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-jc-the-man-booker-prize-announces-its-2012-longlist-20120725,0,691973.story”&amp;gt;The Man Booker Prize announces its 2012 longlist&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;

‘Cloud Atlas’ trailer makes online book sales skyrocket

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