Book-to-screen adaptations have really taken off in recent years. Some were genuinely well done and enjoyable, but others felt like they only made it to the big screen because of their popularity on BookTok, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitter—not because the story was actually strong. A lot of them ended up feeling flat, predictable, or just kind of forgettable.
Personally, I’d rather see adaptations that did not fully capture every detail from the book like what Percy Jackson or The Mortal Instruments did, but still ended up being good films in their own right. Movies that can stand alone and resonate with audiences, whether they’ve read the book or not. It’s frustrating to see mediocre stories get greenlit for adaptations just because they’re trending, like It Ends With Us, while more meaningful or unique books are overlooked.
What I really want are adaptations of powerful, underappreciated books—stories that are deep, emotional, unique, and thought-provoking. Books that might not be all over social media, but deserve to be. Stories that stick with you long after the credits roll.
by Big_Organization_707
8 Comments
I really really wish that, instead of doing another Pride and prejudice , they would do adaptions of some Georgette Heyer books. Still regency, but fun and different storylines.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone series
I can’t say it’s all what you described but I read it years ago and still think about it often. Banger of a reveal ending. It’s fantasy YA (but modern, not dystopian) so an adaptation has the potential to be absolute woke garbage. But there’s also potential for it to be beautiful. We have the tech to make it but last time I checked the movie/tv rights still haven’t been sold
I’m really disappointed that the Clan of the Cave Bear series fell through (although I don’t think the studio producing it was ideal). I think that would have been of the few examples of an adaptation being better than the book (especially as the series goes on and becomes more repetitive in places).
Ones I’d like to see onscreen, some of which *do* have adaptations currently in development:
Shuggie Bain, Ohio, Big Swiss, Giovanni’s Room, Prophet Song, The World and All That It Holds, Nightcrawling, The People in the Trees, and of course the one that I think will never actually happen and the play adaptation showed the folly of adapting this book wrong (imho)… A Little Life.
I know it’s polarizing. But that book literally changed my life.Â
However, >!I think what makes the book work is that the trauma and darkness of Jude’s backstory is always counterweighted by so much hope and love in his adult life from his friends and adoptive parents. And it’s that contrast between the two, and the rooting for him to allow that love in, that makes the story sing and also makes it devastating. The play imho, because they were trying to adapt a nearly 1,000 page book into a single evening of theater and Ivo Van Hove loves graphic violence… what they chose to cut was all of the love and friendship and so they just focused on Jude’s backstory and the graphic violence. Which I felt turned the story into what its critics (in my opinion, wrongly) accuse the book of being, which is just a trauma porn slog.!<
And so, I think it would have to be a miniseries, not a film, and it would have to strike the right balance between light and dark and past and present. And to do that I also think it would need space, meaning a larger episode count. Meaning more $$$ to make.
So… I don’t think it’ll ever happen and I don’t think even if it does that it’d necessarily be good if they don’t do it right/give it the space to breathe that the story needs/that they wouldn’t fall into the same trap the play did.
But I think a truly well done television adaptation would be brilliant.
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh I think could be a visually extremely appealing movie.
There are also so many more, I could write an essay lol.
I really wish production companies would look at authors and their stories more. There are so many original takes or ideas out there. Please stop giving me live action remakes or reboots. 😫
I would LOVE a Mistborn TV show
To be fair, a lot of adaptations were terrible by themselves and were totally unfair to their source material.
For me, Dune shouldn’t have been adapted. I like the movies, but it’s not a series that lends itself to be easily adapted to movie. You can show the surface action and events, but a lot of ideas get lost easily, and a lot others are impossible to show on screen (or I cannot imagine how to do it). The books are still required reading to see the movies in my opinion, unless you just want to see pretty visuals and knife fights while somewhat getting some context and characters. I had to explain the whole movie to my friends. And I don’t blame them.
What I would like to see adapted? I want to see the stories of Elric adapted. Most writers and directors would probably make a very generic fantasy story, but the right person could make it the cool and surreal trip it deserves. Maybe something [animated](https://www.gorangligovic.com/personal-work/elric-animated) would be more fitting than live action.
This might be an unpopular take but none of them. Book-to-screen adaptations mostly suck (Outside of lotr) and shouldn’t be adapted unless it’s comics or graphic novels or illustrated books.
then again, I don’t blame the adaptations for happening, It’s good that authors make money. I just don’t like them and probably never will.