Some of the best movies throughout history have been based on books, mostly because Hollywood prefers to create stories they know people will like, to ensure success. As a result, fans of both the book and film versions of the story tend to argue over which is better.
However, because movies based on books are adaptations, they are often somehow different from the book because they’re the creative vision of a different writer, simply inspired by the original work. Just as there are plenty of examples of popular books that were adapted into unsuccessful films, there are several examples of movie adaptations that may have been more popular than the books.
Die Hard
This 1988 action/thriller was very popular during its release, and that success continues into today, as many fans of the action genre consider it a classic. It’s based on a novel that is nearly ten years older than the film, called Nothing Lasts Forever (which is actually a sequel to a novel called The Detective.) Though the film adaptation wasn’t expected to do well, it has come to be known by many as one of the greatest action films. While the film mostly stays true to the premise of the novel, it does feature a few differences that a lot of fans seem to actually prefer.
Jurassic Park
The novel that Jurassic Park is based on is much closer in age, only pre-dating the film by three years. The success of the novel is what allowed the film to become a reality so quickly after the book was written, yet it didn’t compare to the success that the film would bring to the story. In fact, many fans actually read the written version of the story because they watched the film version first and enjoyed it so much.
Of course, there are plenty of differences between the novel and film that made each version appeal to different people. For example, the novel featured more violence than the movie, which often doesn’t translate well to visuals, except in the horror genre. There were also ways that the movie filled in holes that the story could not. For instance, the use of CGI and combining/overlapping sounds to create the audio effects make the dinosaur encounters feel more real and terrifying, while also giving them a logical idea of what dinosaurs may have looked and sounded like. Especially because the story is set around a theme park that featured dinosaurs, it certainly feels more like you’re going to the park to experience the dinosaurs when you watch the movie than it does reading the book.
The Bourne Identity (and the remainder of the Bourne series)
When most people hear the name Bourne, they immediately picture Matt Damon, and certainly don’t picture the covers of the classic book series that the franchise is based on. Nonetheless, this action series was very popular, even before the movies came out. The films just did such a fantastic job capturing the intensity of the plot points that it became more iconic. Even before the film was released, the story was adapted into a television series that was received fairly well but didn’t ever quite compete with the movie in terms of impact. The director of the film, Doug Liman, had a personal connection to the story the books told and had wanted to adapt it into a film for many years before it came to fruition, but it certainly paid off for action fans.
Spiderhead
While this one isn’t based on a book specifically, it is based on a short story, called Escape From Spiderhead, that was published in The New Yorker, and later a collection of George Saunders stories. Many that were fans of the story prior to the movie coming out have expressed that they felt the movie lacked the charm and clever qualities of the short story. Of course, it makes sense that a lot would be changed and dramatized, considering the fact that it’s translating a story that’s less than 40 pages into a nearly two-hour movie. Though the film received mixed reviews (with a lot of the positive reviews praising casting), it was interesting to see this complex tale brought to life.
Bullet Train
This movie is adapted from the novel, Maria Beetle, and it made one significant and questionable change that should be noted by altering the cultural atmosphere to cater to an American audience. However, the author of the original story, Kotaro Isaka, has expressed that he doesn’t mind the change because it doesn’t take away from the essential components of the story. The original book is not rooted in Japanese culture, but rather happens to reflect it because that is the author’s environment, and so it does not necessarily overstep any boundaries by making the adaptation more familiar to an audience from a different culture. The film received relatively good reviews despite questions around its cultural shift. It was originally intended to be more tonally similar to Die Hard, but it turned out to be a much more light-hearted piece, which probably allowed it to stand out more against other films in the genre.
While a lot of action fans may be surprised to find out so many of their favorite films were based on books, it actually makes total sense that the already suspenseful elements of these stories could be heightened even further by being brought to life through film. When even the genres you least expect to be based on books borrow from written stories, it goes to show just how influential written works still are in our society. Now, whether recognizing that will inspire you to read the book versions of the movies you love is a different story.