The 11 Best Book to Movie Adaptations

When you’re working on adapting a book into a movie, there’s a lot of pressure on you. You have to get the fans of the book to buy into the movie, even though you might be leaving some of their favorite parts out. You also have to get fans of movies to buy into the story even if they’ve never read the book.

Some movies do it better than others, but I think the following movies are excellent examples of how it should be done.

Let’s take a look at eleven of the best book-to-movie adaptations.

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1. The Godfather

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola (based on the novel by Mario Puzo). Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton.

This is one of the best movies of all time. It trims some of the tangents from the novel and focuses in on the Corleone family, specifically Michael’s journey.

2. Little Children

Directed by Todd Field, written by Todd Field and Tom Perrotta (based on the novel by Tom Perrotta). Cast: Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, Jennifer Connelly, Jackie Earle Haley, Noah Emmerich.

I love this book so much. The movie could never cover the breadth of suburban ennui, but I think what it does do well is really centralize the story to one affair and make it more universal.

3. Jurassic Park

Directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Michael Crichton and David Koepp (based on the novel by Michael Crichton). Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Ariana Richards.

The book is cynical and nihilistic, but the movie uses those motifs and actually tries to turn it into something hopeful and magical in the end. It’s a really smart way to tell this story.

4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Directed by Peter Jackson, written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson (based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien). Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Liv Tyler.

Taking on this trilogy is the work of a lifetime, and Jackson and his team were able to honor the books while making great fantasy genre movies. They keep a whole sense of adventure and worldbuilding while being accessible.

5. Little Women

Directed by Greta Gerwig, written by Greta Gerwig (based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott). Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Timothée Chalamet.

I like this adaptation in particular because it feels like it was made with modern sensibilities but has the heart of the original novel at all times.

6. To Kill a Mockingbird

Directed by Robert Mulligan, written by Horton Foote (based on the novel by Harper Lee). Cast: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, John Megna, Ruth White.

A beautiful and groundbreaking book that was adapted very quickly into a beautiful and groundbreaking movie. Very few works on this list feel as vital or as important as this classic.

7. Children of Men

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, written by Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, and Hawk Ostby (based on the novel by P.D. James). Cast: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Charlie Hunnam, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

I love this science fiction movie so much. It takes us into the near future and uses tech that wasn’t available in the novel to normalize that world for us.

8. Gone Girl

Directed by David Fincher, written by Gillian Flynn (based on her novel). Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon.

This modern thriller was adapted by the author, so it’s an interesting study of how the same writer tells the same story for two different mediums. This one goes less into backstories and plays with tone to sell certain scenes.

9. The Silence of the Lambs

Directed by Jonathan Demme, written by Ted Tally (based on the novel by Thomas Harris). Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald.

Thomas Harris’s novel is more violent, and the movie sort of saves moments of violence as payoffs. It also delivers enough of an investigation juxtaposed against two character studies.

10. Election

Directed by Alexander Payne, written by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (based on the novel by Tom Perrotta). Cast: Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Klein, Molly Shannon, Jessica Campbell.

There are a few changes from script to screen here. But the thing that carries over is all the narrators and their points of view. It’s so smart and I think the visuals add so many layers to this story

11. The Wizard of Oz

Directed by Victor Fleming (and others, uncredited), written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allan Woolf (based on the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum). Cast: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Margaret Hamilton.

Hard to argue against the classic. The original Wizard of Oz movie takes a story with many sequels and just creates a core tale focusing on one central person’s journey home. It’s the gold standard.

Summing Up The 11 Best Book-to-Movie Adaptations

So, there you have it. Those are some book-to-movie adaptations that I think are excellent. A writer’s job is to take the essence of the book and get it to the screen. These movies all have those essences, but I also think they stand on their own as great films.

They may not be your favorites, but they’re some of mine.

Let me know what you think in the comments.