30 Best Page-to-Screen Adaptations

Special Award for Overall Excellence

Source: Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (1997-2007)
Seven beloved books became eight blockbuster movies (the seventh book was split into two parts), and while some changes — such as the nixing of S.P.E.W and other subplots — made devoted fans grumble, overall, the fantasy and wonder of the books remained intact despite the big-budget Hollywood involvement. Now that’s magical. —Erin Strecker

Source: Life of Pi (2001)
Many people thought that the fantasy adventure novel about a young man stranded in the middle of the ocean with a pet tiger could never be made into a film. But Ang Lee won his second Best Director Oscar for his 3-D adaptation of Yann Martel’s novel that combined live-action and computer-animation for some of the most visually stunning sequences ever seen on film, winning Oscars for its cinematography, visual effects, and original score. —Jake Perlman

Source: Sherlock Holmes stories (1887-1927)
The creation of Doctor Who scribes Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss, this update on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective series revamp benefits from both extremely clever writing and the undeniable chemistry between Benedict Cumberbatch’s laser-focused Holmes and Martin Freeman’s dogged Dr. Watson. Also? Awesome coat. —Clark Collis

Source: The Godfather (1969)
Francis Ford Coppola took author Mario Puzo’s bestselling novel about the life and crimes of Mafia boss Don Vito Corleone and his family and (collaborating on the screenplay with Puzo) treated it like Shakespeare, transforming a fairly pulpy page-turner into a Best Picture-winning cinematic epic about power, ambition, loyalty, and corruption. —Josh Rottenberg

Source: The Silence of the Lambs (1988)
Jonathan Demme’s lean, unforgettable film brought Thomas Harris’s twisty serial killer story to horrifying life, wowing both critics and audiences before racking up Academy Awards in five major categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Admit it: After seeing the film, it’d be impossible to read Hannibal Lecter’s words without hearing Anthony Hopkins’ voice in your head. —Hillary Busis

Source: A Song of Ice and Fire series (1996-present)
George R.R. Martin’s Westeros fantasy — thousands of pages long in total with two more books still to come — should’ve proved trickier to adapt. So it’s pretty impressive that with only 10 hours per season, show runners Dan Weiss and David Benioff have been able to hit all the major plot points with only minor changes and omissions. Having a home on a cable network that allowed it to delve into the gore and nudity that the show required didn’t hurt things either. —Andrea Towers

Source: Psycho (1959)
How to bring excitement to the film take on a suspense story (originally by Robert Bloch) in which anyone could read the ending? Revolutionize the entire film industry, for starters. With a cheekily misleading promotional campaign and a refusal to seat latecomers, auteur Alfred Hitchcock made Psycho a buckle-your-seatbelts thrill ride. Even without the marketing tricks, the film made everyday things — taking a shower, a creaking chair, a hole in the wall — scary as hell. (The only thing scarier? A series of increasingly poor quality sequels and one truly misguided shot-for-shot 1998 remake by Gus Van Sant.) —Lanford Beard

Source: Catching Fire (2009)
Given its bonkers arena (howler monkeys! blood rain!), colorful array of Capitol denizens, and amped-up stakes, Catching Fire presented more than a few challenges for director Francis Lawrence, who took up the reins from Hunger Games director Gary Ross at the 11th hour before production began. With a few tweaks (all approved by author Suzanne Collins) — and a healthy infusion of studio money after the first film’s runaway success — Lawrence pulled it off, all while honoring (some might even say improving) his source. —Lanford Beard

Source: John Adams (2001)
David McCullough is known for his exhaustive, informative biographies — but they can be dense and turn off those who aren’t history junkies. Enter HBO. Starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, the program covered 50 years of Adams’ life, engagingly highlighting his role in America’s early history. The hard work by all paid off. The well-reviewed miniseries holds the record for most Emmys. —Erin Strecker

Source: To Kill A Mockingbird (1960)
Made only two years after the book’s release, the film is widely considered a classic, perhaps best known for Gregory Peck’s performance as Atticus Finch, which won him the Best Actor Oscar and listing as the greatest movie hero of the 20th century by AFI. —Jake Perlman

Source: The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999)
Too often, adaptations of beloved novels try (and fail) to literally translate the book’s story from page to screen. But Perks isn’t a slavish transliteration of its source material, perhaps because director Stephen Chbosky adapted his own novel. It’s almost as though Perks: The Book was always meant to be a rough draft for a sharper, more emotionally resonant movie. —Hillary Busis

Source: Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976)
Who better to usher a work of such tremendous historical importance as Roots (the story of an African man sold into American slavery and his descendants) from page to screen than the author of the novel himself, the man who claimed in the story his very own roots. Alex Haley’s 12-hour miniseries was never less than a labor of love. It was also a smash hit, to this day one of the most-watched programs in U.S. history. —Lanford Beard

Source: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption (1982)
Taking on a Stephen King novella is no small feat. But Frank Darabont — or as you may now know him, the man who brought The Walking Dead to TV — showed a true connection with King’s original story, and his film adaptation is widely regarded as an equal to its source material. Notably, race and physical descriptions were largely ignored in the adaptation, but the film’s seven Academy Award nominations suggest it was no hindrance. Darabont went on to successfully adapt two more of King’s works: The Green Mile and The Mist. —Jodi Walker

Source: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968)
Author Philip K. Dick’s mind-bending sci-fi isn’t easy to translate to the screen (for every Minority Report there’s at least one Paycheck), but Ridley Scott’s moody dystopian thriller about a cop (Harrison Ford) hunting down renegade android ”replicants” nailed it. Though Dick died before the film’s release, he did see some of Scott’s work in progress and approved, saying, ”I recognized it immediately. It was my own interior world.” —Josh Rottenberg

Source: Pretty Little Liars (2006)
You wouldn’t think a weekly TV series could possibly keep up the fast-paced twists and turns of this serialized whodunnit, but PLL has succeeded — addictively so. The television show followed stories from the ongoing book series, but managed to establish its own storyline within the Pretty Little Liars realm. One major difference in the adaptation is the character of Toby Cavanaugh, who committed suicide in the books but had blessedly been kept on board to deliver a weekly dose of abs, stabs (in the back), even do-rags! —Samantha Highfill

Source: The Return of the King (1955)
The fantasy series was already well-adapted in the television and film world by the time Peter Jackson took the reins, but what the director did for the tale was unparalleled: he used New Zealand and a lot of impressive technology to transform J.R.R. Tolkien’s work into a sweeping epic, complete with breathtaking battles and intense action. His passionate filmmaking paid off — the movie was honored with 11 Oscars, including the 2004 Best Picture statuette. —Andrea Towers

Source: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962)
While Chief is the narrator of Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the film version of the novel focuses on Jack Nicholson’s R.P. McMurphy, a character known as a boisterous rebel as opposed to the quiet and observant Chief. Kesey wasn’t happy with the adaptation, he was virtually alone on that — the film went on to win five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. —Ariana Bacle

Source: The Walking Dead (2003-Present)
With the guidance of Dead creator Robert Kirkman, AMC transformed the writer’s long-running comic book series into a pop phenomenon, although diehard fans still debate some of the show’s radical alterations. Relatively minor character Shane lived much longer (probably too long) on TV than in the comics. Leads like Andrea and the Governor differed wildly from their comic-book incarnations. On the other hand, the show created fan-favorite Daryl Dixon and his stab-handed brother Merle. Dead still follows the rough outline of the comic book, less a direct adaptation than a particularly wild remix. —Darren Franich

Source: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958)
Audrey Hepburn’s Holly Golightly quickly became a female icon for the ages, and photos of her with her trademark miles-long cigarette holder now adorn teenage girls’ bedroom walls everywhere. Truman Capote, writer of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the role of the Golightly, but Hepburn ended up shining as what Capote called an ”American geisha.” The film went with a very different ending than the novel and even set the story in a different decade, going with the 1960s instead of the 1940s. The changes seem to have paid off: Tiffany’s was nominated for five Oscars and won two. —Ariana Bacle

Source: Gone With the Wind (1936)
An epic bestseller like Margaret Mitchell’s required an equally epic film adaptation — and David O. Selznick’s Wind delivers in spades, offering up lavish visuals, a sweeping score, an eminently quotable script, and instantly iconic performances from actors including Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, and Hattie McDaniel. (Leslie Howard is?fine.) Critics, audiences, and the Academy all agreed: Wind scored a then-record 13 Oscar nominations, winning eight, and is to this day America’s highest-grossing movie when its take is adjusted for inflation. —Hillary Busis

Source: MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors (1968)
Following in the footsteps of Robert Altman’s 1970 iteration of MASH, which was nominated for five Academy Awards and won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, the TV series had big combat boots to fill. Based on the novel by Richard Hooker (a.k.a. Dr. H. Richard Hornberger and writer W. C. Heinz), the series had a rocky start before striking a skillful balance between humor and poignance. Thanks to the all-around solid ensemble, it flourished over 11 seasons, and the series finale lured in a record 125 million viewers (and we’re talking a 1983 number here, people). Apologies in advance if you’re humming its classic theme song for the rest of the day. —Lanford Beard

Source: The Devil Wears Prada (2003)
Two words: Meryl Streep. No disrespect to Anne Hathaway, who was fetching as the harried and all-too-easily made-over fashion magazine assistant, but it was Streep’s Oscar-nominated nuanced turn as the prickly, demanding editrix that gave unforeseen depths to Lauren Weisberger’s beach readable novel. What could have been a forgettably rote take on a chick-lit smash (see: The Nanny Diaries) became a new cult fave. —Lanford Beard

Source: Out of Africa (1937)
The film was based loosely on Isak Dinesen’s memoir, maintaining the book’s overall story arc but taking a few liberties. For example, the film is perhaps best known for its bathing scene featuring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. It took home Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director for Sydney Pollack. —Samantha Highfill

Source: Pride & Prejudice (1813)
Jane Austen’s classic novel has been adapted many times — and many times very well (most recently with Joe Wright’s sumptuous take starring Keira Knightley). Still, the BBC’s six-hour miniseries stands as the most enveloping of the bunch, really diving into the elaborate world that has made Austen readers into lifetime fans for centuries. And did we mention Colin Firth’s wet T-shirt scene? (Did we even have to?) —Lanford Beard

Source: Schindler’s Ark (1982)
Though Steven Spielberg received some criticism on the historical accuracy of his film, in the book from which it was adapted, Australian author Thomas Keneally clearly defined his work (titled Schindler’s Ark in its first edition) as a ”documentary novel.” Spielberg and screenwriter Steven Zaillian approached the film in a similar based-on-a-true-story-heavy-on-the-based way, earning the praise of critics and emotionally moved audiences, not to mention 12 Oscar nominations and seven wins. —Jodi Walker

Source: Wiseguy (1985)
Nicholas Pileggi’s account of mob rat Henry Hill found its perfect steward in director Martin Scorsese. With a stellar cast and some truly stupendous F-bombs, Goodfellas elevated a true-crime report to a work of art — to the tune of five Oscar nods, with a win for Best Supporting Actor Joe Pesci, who was so good it’s not even funny. —Lanford Beard

Source: The Thorn Birds (1977)
When you score a Sopranos reference more than two decades later, you know you did something right. Roots producer David L. Wolper brought his golden touch to Colleen McCullough’s Australian Outback-set forbidden love story. The miniseries event spanned three nights and more than half a century — and it pulled in huge numbers (second only to Roots, of course). —Lanford Beard

Source: Trainspotting (1993)
A shot of frenzy straight from the eyes through to the veins, Danny Boyle’s jumpy, jagged style brilliantly articulated Irvine Welsh’s jittery story of heroin addicts. And who can forget that toilet sequence? (Seriously, can you? If so, tell me how.) —Lanford Beard

Source: The Maltese Falcon (1930)
The movie that ignited the film noir genre, defined the career of Humphrey Bogart, and introduced the world to stage actor Sydney Greenstreet (the /ew/gallery/0,,20311937_20776630_30085226,00.html who refused to grace the big screen until he was 62 years old). Building on Dashiell Hammett’s hard-boiled prose, John Huston made an unforgettable directorial debut, translating an iconic antihero to the screen and changing American protagonists irrevocably. —Lanford Beard

Source: Little House series (1932-43, 1968)
In hindsight, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s folksy novel series was tailor-made for serialized television, and the Ingalls family became America’s family over the course of nine seasons. Sure, the plots did get a little bizarre as time went on, but we always learned something from this heartwarmer. —Lanford Beard