There is no better…or worse…feeling than sitting in a theater waiting to watch a movie based on your favorite book. It might be great — the book sure was. Or…it might be awful. A lot of us have been there — Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Narnia, Harry Potter, Twilight — and walked out cheering…or crying.
It took me a while to train my brain — or, more accurately, to detach it — in order to separate book characters from movie characters. I usually like to read the book first, but I can’t always squeeze it in. I enjoy movies based off of books — sometimes even more than the book (examples: Stardust and How to Train Your Dragon)
So here’s what I want to know from you: what book would you most like to see turned into a movie? As long as it’s done well, of course.
If I could have one book/series turned into a movie (not counting my own), I’d vote for one of these:
- The Mark of the Lion Series, by Francine Rivers
- The Lunar Chronicles, by Marissa Meyer
- The Blood of Kings Series, by Jill Williamson — which would be hard to do, but awesome.
- Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
The new trends in movie-making are to create movies based off novels or comic books. Think about just this year: Spiderman 2, Captain America 2, Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, If I Stay, Maze Runner, Gone Girl, The Giver, The Hundred-Foot Journey, Mockingjay (not released yet), The Hobbit (not released yet), Edge of Tomorrow, Vampire Academy, Winter’s Tale…should I go on?
Most of these movies were/(will be) the hits of the year. It’s because a lot of novels carry depth and strength that can be tough to create in just a screenplay. I have a feeling our favorite books — even the ones that aren’t blow-the-world-up popular — will make it to screen sooner than you think.
With that being said, what book(s) would you most like to see on screen?
Here’s another one: What books do you wish hadn’t been turned into movies?
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Of all the books I’ve recently read, I’d absolutely LOVE to see A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes on the big screen! Also, A cast of Stones by Patrick W. Carr.
I’m with you there!
Aww you two…. Wouldn’t that be fun if it actually happened someday? [grin]
The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy by Claire B. Dunkle would be amazing if they did it right. Also The Squire’s Tale series by Gerald Morris. The Safe Lands trilogy by Jill Williamson would also be incredible on the big screen!
I’ve never heard of The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy or The Squire’s Tale Series. Those are going on my list! And anything by Jill Williamson would just be fantastic on screen.
I would absolutely love to see the Circle series by Ted Dekker to come to the big screen. Those are some of my favorite books. Just seeing the pictures for A Time to Die makes it look like it would be a great movie as well… haven’t read it yet. Can’t wait to read it though. 🙂
Oooh, the Circle Series. Good one! That would make an amazing movie series!!
I have read so many great books lately that I would LOVE to see onscreen but since Hollywood has a tendency to “worldify” them, it’s good I have an active imagination and can “see” the story in my head because I’ve watched too many GREAT stories that Hollywood ruined… In my own humble opinion anyway.
I’ve actually begun writing a series on my author blog about my own book and why I DON’T want a movie made from it.
No, I agree with you. So many have been Hollywood-ized or, as you put it, “worldified.” I like to hope Hollywood will get better about that since those ruin-the-book movies tend to flop.
I’d like to read that blog series you’re writing!
Don’t be too hard on the movie makers, guys. Adaptations are hard. Until you’ve tried to convert a book (hundreds of pages, hours/days to read) into a 2 hour blockbuster movie you can’t know the extreme difficulty of keeping the flavor and action of the story (much less the entire plot). You simply do.not.have.time. for everything. Imagine trying to draw a single picture telling the story in your favorite novel.
The pacing of a movie is totally different from a book, and that presents innumerable difficulties for adaptation (this is how side characters and entire subplots and back stories get cut or changed). Plus, how do you compete with the perfect (and different!) pictures every fan has in their head? If the director/producer/screenwriter team really love the book, they make the effort to make the movie an homage to the book, but it really cannot be the same.
Yes, they often have different values and big wigs who are convinced that you need x, y or z thing for the movie to sell, but it’s more complicated than that most of the time.
That said. I would really love someone, someday, to actually make some of the *other* Chronicles of Narnia into movies. We’ve got a couple versions of the first three books now, how about the Magician’s Nephew, or The Horse and His Boy?
Nadine, I heard about your blog and book from Robert Reid. I grew up horseback riding with his wife, I also write so they told me to look up your blog. I’m looking forward to reading your book!
Oh, I completely understand! Okay…no I don’t. But I sure try to. I’m always very impressed when a book makes its way to movie. In many cases, I’m glad when they cut some things out. For example, in the last two Harry Potter movies, they cut out most of his entire process of wrestling with his friendship with Dumbledore. Because of that, I think the impact of the rest of the plot was delivered splendidly.
Also, in regards to the Chronicles of Narnia, it looks like they’re continuing the books. They’re starting back up with The Silver Chair and I can only hope they’ll continue and do the other ones! I’d LOVE to see The Magician’s Nephew on screen!
So glad you’re looking forward to reading A Time to Die. That was kind of Robert to tell you about it! 🙂
I think the Earthsea trilogy would be cool. And Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series would be AWESOME!!
I really need to read BOTH of those series.
I think the phrase “as long as it’s done well” is important! Haha 🙂 I’d love to see ALL the Chronicles of Narnia as movies … the last half of the series is my favorite! I have also always wanted to see my favorite mystery series as a show or series of movies… The Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters. Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier would be completely awesome as well!!
What wonderful suggestions! Yes, Chronicles of Narnia need to be done all the way through!