Many Oscar-winning movies are based on novels. But as the publisher of the source novel for 'Precious,' Random House may benefit more than usual from that film's awards. During the ceremonies I kept wondering who got paid off on the show to mention Sapphire's novel, "Push," every time they talked about "Precious." The formal title of the film, however, is "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire." So every time they referenced the movie, the Oscars ran a big, free ad saying: Hey, buy the book.
"Xxxxx," based on the novel "Yyyyy" by "Zzzzz" trips off the tongue about as sweetly as "The 97th Rose Bowl Game Presented By Citi" and similar constructions. Hope it's not a trend.