There’s a particular nervous feeling that can take a person over when their favorite book is turned into a film. Movie history is liberally littered with film adaptations that didn’t live up to readers' expectations. MentionThe Dark TowerorEragonfilms, and watch as the joy in a fan’s eyes dissipates. While there is the old cliché of the book being better, that is not always the case. In fact, there are a few cases where the movie is just as good, if not better, than the original book.
Update Jul 10, 2025: This article has been updated with even more information about movies that are as good as their respective books.
It is worth mentioning that when adapting a novel, certain elements from a story will need to be changed. While these subplots might be fun in a book, they would kill the momentum of a film.The nature of adaptationmeans a film can illuminate elements not present in the original source material and possibly reveal a greater truth about the story. The book is an outline of what the story can shape and evolve into. Here are some cases where the book adaptations turned out great and can be seen as improvements.
17Jurassic Park (1993)
Jurassic Park
Jurassic Parkstarted as an idea in Michael Crichton’s mind, leading him to write the novel in 1990. There are manydifferences between the book and the Steven Spielberg film, with more graphic killings and a much more villainous John Hammond found in the book, and the movie having many more action scenes. But what really differentiates both and makes the film better is the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Even if Crichton’s descriptions are great, the moment you see the dinosaurs on-screen, there’s an amazement that reading can’t give you.
Jurassic Park Is a Visual Spectacle
As with most adaptations, there are changes made between the two mediums. But what makes the movie such an incredible blockbuster is not only the idea of dinosaurs coming back, but how Spielberg directs the film. The iconic staging utilized inJurassic Park’s famous scenes, the great performances (especially by Jeff Goldblum), and, of course, the plentiful special effects, all amount to a breathtaking visual experience. The film’s effects, being a mix of CGI and practical effects, still hold up to this day.
Stream on Netflix
16L.A. Confidential (1997)
L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidentialwasn’t an easy adaptation. James Ellroy’s book has many more subplots, characters, and villains, making for a much more depraved, corrupt, and dirty Los Angeles. So what director Curtis Hanson and writer Brian Helgeland did was streamline most of the story while still keeping the corrupt, dark atmosphere of the book. The film itself follows a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, whose corrupt dealings may be the only way to solve a particularly gruesome murder case.
L.A. Confidential Cut Out the Fluff
The movie was a success both with audiences and critics, as it won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay, while also making Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce into recognizable names. The film also had a major hand in relaunching Kim Basinger’s acting career.
Hanson and Helgeland were so sure about their changes that they even created a new finale, with a “Rollo Tommassi” twist that doesn’t appear in the novel, making for a surprising ending even for those who had read Ellroy’s masterpiece. The movie worked so well that theauthor himself was a fan.
Admittedly, this 1981 production ofBrideshead Revisitedis a television miniseries rather than a movie, but it is a masterclass in how to adapt a novel for the screen. Yet because of that, it is put at the bottom just out of fairness, as it has more time to tell its story than the other entries on the list. What was originally conceived as a six-part series was eventually expanded into 11, following the tangled relationships between a young Englishman and a wealthy family from the 1920s to the 1940s.
From the acting, to the period-accurate clothing, to the locations, to the dialogue, there’s not a single wrong step. Director Charles Sturridge even estimated that most of the dialogue was taken straight from the text. Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews lead an all-star, pitch-perfect cast that includes Claire Bloom, Laurence Olivier, and John Gielgud; each character seemingly sprung to life from Evelyn Waugh’s sumptuous 1945 novel.
Thirty-five years after its release, it was still earning rave reviews, withThe Telegraphnaming it television’s greatest literary adaptation. Specifically, it was stated thatBrideshead Revisitedis “utterly faithful to Evelyn Waugh’s novel, yet it’s somehow more than that, too."
Stream on Britbox
14Death in Venice (1971)
Dirk Bogarde is heartbreaking in Luchino Visconti’s 1971 adaptation of Thomas Mann’s 1912 novellaDeath in Venice. The story is of a lonely and aging composer dying of heart disease, visiting Venice for his health. His trip, unfortunately, coincides with an outbreak of cholera, but he finds himself unable to leave the city after becoming transfixed by a young Polish boy named Tadzio. Björn Andrésen played the role of Tadzio, with additional performances provided by Silvana Mangano and Romolo Valli.
Death in Venice Saw Minor Changes
The main character in the novella is a writer rather than a composer, but the switch allowed for the logical insertion of a sweeping classical score. It’s a quiet, subtle film that leaves you breathless, just like the book. Many critics seemed to agree, asDeath in Venicepractically swept the 25th British Academy Film Awards. It would win notable awards like Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and Best Costume Design, with additional praise being lobbed onto Visconti elsewhere.
Buy or Rent on Prime Video
13In a Lonely Place (1950)
This 1950 film noir repeatedly makes “best of” lists across film categories. That’s becauseIn a Lonely Placeis a masterful adaptation of the classic noir novel of the same name, written by Dorothy B. Hughes in 1947. The alwaysinimitable Humphrey Bogartis Dixon Steele, an underemployed screenwriter with a nasty temper, playing opposite Gloria Grahame as his neighbor, Laurel Gray. A new script for Dixon coincides with the police suspecting him of murder, and it is against this backdrop that Dixon and Laurel fall somewhat uneasily in love.
A Hard-Boiled Noir Brought to Life
In a Lonely Placewas directed by Grahame’s then-husband, Nicholas Ray, and the two were in the process of acrimoniously separating at the time, although no one else on set was aware. The film sticks pretty closely to the source material, with the noted exception of the ending. Thankfully, it captured the spirit of Hughes’ hard-boiled text so well that a reader would be hard-pressed to mind the change.
12Hour of the Star (1985)
Brazilian director Suzana Amaral went out on a limb adapting Clarice Lispector’s 1977 novellaHour of the Star. It’s an elusive little book that never hits 100 pages, and like all of Lispector’s work, is intense and formally challenging. The book examines differences and difficulties between rural and urban Brazil, inevitably focusing on a poor and uneducated young woman, utterly ignored by society, who is still deserving of a story of her own.
Hour of the Star Ditched Its Narrator
Although it works beautifully in the book, Amaral does away with the narrator, Rodrigo S.M., and focuses solely on Macabéa, a girl hopelessly dreaming of a better life. Lead actress Marcélia Cartaxo deservedly won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 36th Berlin International Film Festival in 1986 for her performance.Hour of the Staris not available on streaming
11Mean Girls (2004)
Mean Girls
Surprisingly, the filmMean Girlsis also an adaptation of a book. In this case, it adapts a non-fiction book for parents of teenage girls calledQueen Bees and Wannabes.The book was written by Rosalind Wiseman in 2002, and describes how teenage girls form cliques and how to deal with their aggressive girl behavior. Genius comedian Tina Fey read the book and decided to write a comedy about it, one that is still talked about today with both a successful Broadway adaptation and a full-blownremake releasing in 2024.
With Lindsay Lohan at the peak of her career and great supporting actors in some of their first roles — like Rachel McAdams, Lizzy Caplan, and Amanda Seyfried — this comedy about the wild world of teenage girls and their dynamics took some of the ideas that appeared in the book and made them much more hilarious, withmany incredible quotesthat are still said today. Not fetch though, never fetch.
Stream on Paramount+
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10Die Hard (1988)
Bruce Willis and John McClanego hand-in-hand. Yet, the original idea for the character, and for the filmDie Hardas a whole, was created in the 1979 novelNothing Lasts Foreverby Roderick Thorp. Both the film and novel tell a tense story about one man taking on a slew of armed terrorists in a corporate office building, using what he can to survive against insurmountable odds.
The book is much more pessimistic in comparison. For one thing, John McClane is actually Joe Leland in the original novel, being a retired NYPD officer instead of an active detective. Instead of saving his wife, Leland is tasked with rescuing his daughter, who unfortunately meets a grisly fate. The overall body count in the book is much higher when compared to the movie. Of course, the ensuing film adaptation is made more thrilling as a result of its numerous changes.
Bruce Willis and Die Hard are Inseparable
Another thing the book doesn’t have is Bruce Willis’s charisma and charm, as the movie wouldn’t work without him. This is arguably what allowedDie Hardto blossom into a full-on action movie franchise, whereas the original novel was left without any major sequels. FutureDie Hardfilms were inspired by works by other authors, or tell original stories. Still, famous scenes from the firstDie Hardfilm come straight from the original novel, including McClane’s traversal of the ventilation ducts, and the act of him taping a gun to his back.
9A Room With a View (1985)
When it comes to British costume dramas adapted from books, it’s impossible not to mention the films of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. Any one of their co-productions could have made this list, perhaps most notablyThe Remains of the Day,Howard’s End,Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,Maurice, andHeat and Dust. But there is something undeniably special aboutA Room With a View, the first of three E. M. Forster adaptations the pair brought to the screen.
The film itself focuses on Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) and Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith), a pair of Englishwomen staying at the Pensione Bertolini in Florence in the early 1900s. After crossing paths with Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott) and George Emerson (Julian Sands), Lucy finds herself falling for the latter during their brief stay. Unfortunately, when Lucy is set to return home to England, her marriage plans may see a drastic change.
A Room With a View Is a Fantastic Adaptation
A mix of up-and-coming young actors (Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Day-Lewis, Rupert Graves) and screen veterans (Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Denholm Elliott), along with breathtaking Florentine scenery, create a sparkling atmosphere that matches the wit and charm of Forster’s 1908 tale. This also includes the use of chapter titles to make sure you know what’s coming next.
Stream on Max
8Little Women (2019)
Little Women
The most recent addition to the list, Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation ofLittle Women, adapts the iconic novel by Louisa May Alcott with a fresh approach that is welcoming to those who don’t know the story. The film also provides a new angle on the classic story for fans of the novel. Instead of a straightforward adaption, Gerwig decides to break up the original novel and cut between the girl’s childhood and adulthood. This effectively changes the idea of the novel chronicling girls growing up. It instead becomes a story about adults looking fondly back on childhood, and how their youth parallels with their adult lives.
Greta Gerwig Made Positive Changes to Little Women
The decision to addelements of real-life author Louisa May Alcottas part of Jo’s storyline in the film was incredibly profound. The addressing of the book’s publisher’s decision for an ending where Jo is married, which Gerwig handles via modifying the film’s ending substantially, is a stroke of genius, and allowsLittle Womento transcend every previous version to become the definitive take on the classic story.
