Author Language English | Country United States Genre Realistic fiction | |
Publisher Scholastic Publishing / Amulet Books / Puffin Books Published April 1, 2007 – present | ||
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a series of fiction books written by the American author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney. All the main books are the journals of the main character, Greg Heffley. Befitting a child's diary, the books are filled with hand-written notes and simple drawings of Greg's daily adventures.
Contents
- Background
- Supplementary books
- Toys and games
- Audiobooks
- Characters
- Commercial success
- Films
- Musical
- References
Since the release of the online version in May 2004, most of the books have garnered positive reviews and commercial success. For example, Diary of a Wimpy Kid was well-received from The Princeton Review, Gold Card Association, The Dallas News, The TRR Editors, The NW Press, and The JJ Printing Company. As of February 2008, it has been purchased one million times.
The first, second, and fourth installments have been adapted into films by 20th Century Fox.
The website Poptropica released islands in the theme of Diary of a Wimpy Kid called Wimpy Wonderland and Wimpy Boardwalk, both of which credit Kinney in an ambiguous contributor's role.
Background
In January 1998, Diary of a Wimpy Kid officially began, when Kinney brought up an idea about a middle-school weakling named Greg Heffley, who wrote about his personal life. In May 2004, FunBrain and Kinney released an online version of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The website made daily entries until June 2005. He worked on his book for almost eight years, before showing it to a publisher in New York.
In February 2006, during the New York Comic Con, Jeff signed a multi book deal with publisher Harry N. Abrams, Inc., to turn Diary of a Wimpy Kid into a print series.
The book became an instant hit, and the online version received about 20 million views as of 2009; many online readers requested a printed version. Kinney had agreed, and in April 2007, Diary of a Wimpy Kid was published. To date, eleven Wimpy Kid books have been released, plus two do-it-yourself books and three movie diaries. In April 2009, TIME named Kinney one of The World's Most Influential People.
Supplementary books
Toys and games
Action figures included a mini figure pack (with Greg, Rowley, and Fregley), a 6-inch Greg Heffley figure, a 6-inch holiday figure based on Cabin Fever, and a Greg and Rodrick plush doll.
Audiobooks
Eleven audiobooks have been released for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The first 6 are read by Ramon de Ocampo and Dan Russell from number 7. They are presented by Recorded Books and distributed by Audible.com.
Characters
Commercial success
Diary of a Wimpy Kid was well received from The Princeton Review, Gold Card Association, The Dallas News, The TRR Editors, The NW Press, and The JJ Printing Company. The New York Times, which ranks children's serials collectively on a "Series Books" bestseller list, has included the Wimpy Kid series for 64 weeks as of August 10, 2015. USA Today, which ranks best sellers based on sales alone regardless of genre or intended audience, has listed Diary of a Wimpy Kid in its top 150, peaking at number 8, for 141 weeks as of April 4, 2010.
As of the same date, Rodrick Rules has been on the list for 117 weeks (peaking at number 4), The Last Straw has been on the list for 65 weeks (peaking at number 1), Dog Days has been on the list for all 25 weeks of its publication (peaking at number 1), and The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary has been listed for all three weeks of its publication, peaking at number 2.
As of May 2010, more than 32 million Wimpy Kid books are in print in the U.S., and the books have been sold in more than 30 countries. In total, the series has sold over 150 million books. The series has also generated over $500 million in revenue.
Films
Jeff Kinney announced that a film based on the first book would be produced by 20th Century Fox. The film was released on March 19, 2010, moved up from an April 2 release date. It was directed by Thor Freudenthal, who also directed Hotel for Dogs. The film starred Zachary Gordon as Greg, Robert Capron as Rowley (Greg's best friend), Steve Zahn as Frank (Greg's father), Rachael Harris as Susan (Greg's mother), Devon Bostick as Rodrick (Greg's older brother), Connor and Owen Fielding as Manny (Greg's younger brother), Chloë Grace Moretz as a new character named Angie, and Grayson Russell as Fregley.
There is a second film in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid film series that was released on March 25, 2011, which was based on the second book, Rodrick Rules, with Zachary Gordon returning as Greg Heffley. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was also filmed in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules also contains some scenes from The Last Straw.
The third film combines the third and fourth books, The Last Straw and Dog Days, taking stories from both, but mainly from Dog Days, from which it took its title. The decision to blend the two films was made to keep up with the ages of the actors. The film was released on August 3, 2012.
The likelihood of a fourth live action film was slim. Kinney has announced the possibility for an animated film to be based on Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever as the next installment. In an interview for the latest book Hard Luck, Jeff Kinney stated he was working with Fox on a half-hour special of Cabin Fever, which was to be aired in late 2014, but has since been delayed. In September 2016, Jeff Kinney announced officially the production of a fourth film; D.O.A.W.K The Long Haul on his Twitter account.
Musical
A musical titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Musical is being produced by the Children's Theatre Company.