Yahoo Lifestyle 19 Book-To-Screen Adaptations Hollywood Got Really, Really Wrong
Recently, we asked the BuzzFeed Community what popular book-to-screen adaptations Hollywood got really wrong. Surprisingly, people suggested a lot of popular adaptations that you wouldn't expect. Here are all the responses:
Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.
1.Beautiful Creatures (2013) is a dark fantasy film based on the 2009 novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. The film stars Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, and Emma Thompson.
"💔"
"An amazing book that I reread to this day, but the movie is so terrible."
2.All the Light We Cannot See (2023) is a historical drama miniseries based on the 2014 novel by Anthony Doerr. The miniseries stars Aria Mia Loberti, Mark Ruffalo, and Hugh Laurie.
"All the Light We Cannot See, such a major departure from the book."
3.The School for Good and Evil (2022) is a fantasy film based on the 2013 novel by Soman Chainani. The movie stars Sophia Anne Caruso, Sofia Wylie, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Kerry Washington, and Charlize Theron.
"I don’t even know what that monstrosity was."
4.The Harry Potter film series is based on the novels by J.K. Rowling. The series stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson. All seven books were adapted into eight films, from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) to the two-part Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2010–11).
![<div><p><i>"</i>Just no. The books are so amazing. How anyone thought a two/three-hour movie would be enough to cover the details in the books flabbergasted me."</p><p>—<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/bschwarz" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:bschwarz;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">bschwarz</a></p><p>"I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: They did <i>Harry Potter</i> dirty. When reading the books, Voldemort legit made me shiver, but the movie? Voldemort makes me laughhhh. People stared at me like WTF is wrong with this girl, but I swear, how can you not giggle at his face."</p><p>—<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/seacuke" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:seacuke;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">seacuke</a></p><p>"At the end of the movies, when they made [Voldemort] come apart and die, all dramatic, but in the book, he died like a human. They ruined the impact all for some CGI."</p><p>—<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/thisisfine" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:thisisfine;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">thisisfine</a></p><p>"His death was mundane for a reason! And where the hell was Peeves?"</p><p>—<a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/awfulpenguin75" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:awfulpenguin75;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">awfulpenguin75</a></p></div><span> Warner Bros. / Courtesay Everett Collection</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/wrn4i0IFEMz0UfHe598l4w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0Nw--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/c364430c685749e47e619b815f32d3f9)
"Just no. The books are so amazing. How anyone thought a two/three-hour movie would be enough to cover the details in the books flabbergasted me."
"I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: They did Harry Potter dirty. When reading the books, Voldemort legit made me shiver, but the movie? Voldemort makes me laughhhh. People stared at me like WTF is wrong with this girl, but I swear, how can you not giggle at his face."
"At the end of the movies, when they made [Voldemort] come apart and die, all dramatic, but in the book, he died like a human. They ruined the impact all for some CGI."
"His death was mundane for a reason! And where the hell was Peeves?"
5.Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) are two fantasy films based on the first two novels of the '00s series by Rick Riordan. The films feature Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, and Brandon T. Jackson. A Disney+ TV series based on the novels premiered in 2023.
"Uhhhhhhh…can we talk about the Percy Jackson movies? Those were absolutely HORRENDOUS. I’m so proud of Walker Scobell reviving Percy Jackson for this new generation."
"I LOVED the [book] series and made it 15 minutes into the movie. I’m too scared to watch the TV show because of how badly the movies scarred me. 😭"
"The movies sucked, but the TV show has been great!"
"The TV series was much better."
6.Along for the Ride (2022) is a drama film based on the 2009 novel by Sarah Dessen. The film stars Emma Pasarow, Belmont Cameli, Kate Bosworth, Andie MacDowell, and Dermot Mulroney.
"In the book, Auden learns to ride a bike like her friend Eli, who does some cool kind of tricks or something. In the TV movie, she never learns to ride like Eli; instead, in the end, she learns to love herself or some bullshit."
7.The Giver (2014) is a dystopian film based on the 1993 novel by Lois Lowry. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Brenton Thwaites, Odeya Rush, Meryl Streep, Alexander Skarsgård, and Katie Holmes.
"The Giver, I hated it so much. 😫"
"To be fair, I also hated that book. I just hate books that don’t give you a proper ending. I think the 'You decide what happened because I’m going to leave it super vague' is just lazy. If you are going to write a book you should end it properly — just my opinion."
8.The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016) is a dystopian film based on the third book of the Divergent book trilogy by Veronica Roth. The film stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels, Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Zoë Kravitz, and Maggie Q. A final fourth installment to complete the franchise was planned, but it was canceled.
"The entire Divergent series, but specifically Allegiant. Like, so bad they never even finished the movie series."
9.A Wrinkle in Time (2018) is a sci-fi adventure film based on the 1962 novel by Madeleine L'Engle. The film stars Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Levi Miller, and Storm Reid.
"Great book. Shitty movie."
10.Vampire Academy (2014) is a comedy film based on the first book of the '00s series by Richelle Mead. The film stars Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry, Danila Kozlovsky, and Dominic Sherwood. A TV series premiered in 2022 but was canceled after one season.
"The movie and the series were just not it. I don’t know what they were trying with the movie, but it was the most dragged, boring thing imaginable. And the TV series was just as weak and lacking. The books had so much lore and world-building that neither the movie nor the TV show could capture."
11.The Last Letter from Your Lover (2021) is a romance film based on a 2011 novel by Jojo Moyes. The film stars Felicity Jones, Callum Turner, Joe Alwyn, and Shailene Woodley.
"One of my favorite books but the movie was a crushing disappointment."
12.Ready Player One (2018) is a sci-fi action movie based on the 2011 novel by Ernest Cline. The movie stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, and Mark Rylance.
"The book is amazing, but that movie was an awful adaptation. There were so many unnecessary changes made."
13.Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) is a mystery film based on the book by Delia Owens. The film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, and Harris Dickinson.
"Where the Crawdads Sing…so disappointed!"
14.The Lovely Bones (2009) was a supernatural film based on the 2002 novel by Alice Sebold. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, and Saoirse Ronan.
"They took a beautiful portrait of grief and the ripple effects of trauma and made it a poorly acted, schmaltzy POS."
15.My Sister's Keeper (2009) is a drama film based on the 2004 novel by Jodi Picoult. The film stars Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin.
"They killed off the wrong character, and that changed the entire meaning of the story."
"They butchered the ending. They didn’t even kill the right person."
16.Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) is a dark comedy based on the first three novels of the children's book series, A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning (1999), The Reptile Room (1999), and The Wide Window (2000) by Lemony Snicket, a pen name of Daniel Handler.
"They jammed several books into one movie. It was awful."
17.Queen of the Damned (2002) is a film based on the 1988 novel by Anne Rice. The film stars Stuart Townsend, Aaliyah, and Marguerite Moreau. The film is a sequel to the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, based on the first book of The Vampire Chronicles series.
"The actors were all gorgeous, but the writers just did what they wanted with the source material."
"I hadn’t read the book, but my sister had. She legit started yelling in the movie theater at the ending."
18.Starship Troopers (1997) is a sci-fi action movie based on the 1959 novel by Robert A. Heinlein. The movie stars Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, and Michael Ironside.
"I know the movie is such a cult classic and I've gotten a lot of hate over this opinion. They took an anti-war book and turned it into a pro-war movie. It makes absolutely no sense."
19.The Dark Tower (2017) is a Western sci-fi film based on the novel series by Stephen King. The film stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. The movie was loosely based on the first and third volumes, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands.
"They attempted to take seven books worth of material and morph it into one horrible film. I love Idris Elba, but that movie is absolute garbage. I honestly can’t believe Stephen King signed off on it. I’ve never been so disappointed."
Do you agree with this list? Any book-to-screen adaptations that you think Hollywood got really wrong that weren't mentioned? Let me know in the comments.
