From the page
Six franchises adapted from novels, and what the films did with the source. Including the two that improved on it.
6 picks
Adaptation is not a fidelity contest. The interesting question is what a film does with a book that a book cannot do for itself, and these six all have an answer.
Two of them are better than their source material. One is worse and knows it.
- 01
Middle-earth
9 titles · Sci-Fi & FantasyTolkien, compressed and restructured. The Lord of the Rings films cut a great deal and are the stronger telling for it; The Hobbit stretched one short book to three and proves the point in reverse.
Open - 02
Harry Potter
11 titles · Sci-Fi & FantasySeven books, eight films, and a series that visibly ages with its readers. The later adaptations get much better as they stop trying to include everything.
Open - 03
Dune
7 titles · Sci-Fi & FantasyConsidered unfilmable for forty years, for good reason. Villeneuve solved it by slowing down rather than speeding up.
Open - 04
Hunger Games
6 titles · Sci-Fi & FantasyA first-person novel turned into something that can show you the arena and the control room at once; a thing the book structurally cannot do.
Open - 05
The Godfather
5 titles · Action & ThrillerA pulpy bestseller made into one of the best American films. The clearest case on this list of a film outgrowing its source.
Open - 06
Bourne
5 titles · Action & ThrillerKeeps a name and a premise from Ludlum and throws out almost everything else, including the plot. It works.
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