With so many forms of entertainment at our disposal, two seem to dominate this sphere — books, and movies. And if you combine them, you get a lot of book to movie adaptations — the ultimate form of entertainment. However, not every book adaptation becomes successful in the eyes of the audience. A book to movie adaptation can sometimes be a flop, same with a series. The failure is usually the result of the butchering of the original story and bad creative decisions on the filmmaker's side.
It’s no secret that some books are much longer than their adaptations. Some of the best book to movie adaptations (TV show adaptations included) are ones that correctly use the given material, cutting out the boring parts, and leaving only the fun or most important ones. But not everyone can do it. Many bad movies based on books follow the original material letter to letter. An adaptation like this removes the whole creative side of the film, making the final product feel a bit bland.
If you want an adaptation to be a box office smash, you have to understand the deeper context of the book. Books made into movies and shows have to be true to the main idea that the author wrote. If the story is about consumerism, the visual content has to showcase it clearly and loudly. Books being made into movies usually become victims of misunderstanding and incorrect creative decisions. A lot of irrelevant material is added, which can have an adverse impact on the story.
And truth to be told, there have been a lot of books turned into movies and TV shows that aren’t on par with the original material. Since the internet is full of polarizing opinions (looking at you, Twitter), someone asked on AskReddit the question we are all eager to answer — “Which movie or TV adaptation is the biggest letdown for you?” Scroll down and upvote the answer you agree with the most. If you know any more bad TV shows or movies based on books, leave a comment below.
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The Hobbit
"Yep. They didn't have enough material for three movies. It felt stretched. Like not enough butter over too much bread."
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
"The Percy Jackson movie It's bad enough the casting and effects were sub par But changing the story completely after act 1 really soured my enjoyment. The changes weren't that good either. Hoping the streaming series is better."
Imagine how famous Percy Jackson would be, if there were good movies. And the fandom is right know really big...
The Eragon
"This a classic example of a poor adaptation. It was not merely different from the book: it literally didn't hold together as a story. My husband and I went to see the film, and then we went to dinner, where I spent the entire conversation explaining all the parts of the film that didn't make sense for anyone who hadn't read the book."
A Wrinkle In Time
"I watched the film recently and what a mess. The kids especially the boys were so badly directed and they cut out the twins. I also can't stand Oprah due to her massive ego."
That movie made absolutely no sense whatever. It was so bad :(
The Witcher
"The Witcher. Characters are all portrayed really well but they've absolutely butchered the story beyond comprehension. Honestly id be fine with changes if the result ended up good but the latest season was just a gradual descent into awful tropey writing and reliance on unimpressive cgi monster fights."
YES YES YES YES YES!!!! Read the books!!! They are so damn good. They have suspense, a cool humor and everything you need. The second season of the show has literally nothing to do with the books. I had to ask myself if I read the same thing. I think, if you don't know the books, the series are good or okay but the books are one thousand times better! Believe me!!! Read it please :)
World War Z
"World War Z. They somehow turned one of the most unique books into the most generic movie possible."
Yes. The book is fantastic. The film is just "go and make a zombie movie".
The Giver
"Should never have even been adapted in the first place. The color-blindness twist is so satisfying when you read it as a kid, and basically impossible to translate to film by its very nature."
Only saw half of the film. Is the book so much better? I thought that all characters were so flat
The Maze Runner
"The Maze Runner series. The first movie was OK, and the rest were utter nonsense."
Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix & Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince
"I will never recover from the adaptations of book 5 and 6. I remember being 12-14 and appalled. Don’t even want to attempt to revisit those movies now, I’d be even harsher."
Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
"Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy ranks pretty high because of the delta between how fantastic the books are and how horrible the film."
Anne With An E
"Anne With an E on Netflix is so depressing and dull. It has almost nothing in common with Anne of Green Gables except for character names and setting, honestly. I hated it. At least we have the 1985 TV movie that is a much more faithful adaptation!"
A Series Of Unfortunate Events
"A Series of Unfortunate Events. To be super clear I loved the new Netflix show; it finally did that series some justice, and Neil Patrick Harris was incredible, in my opinion. But the original movie (with Jim Carrey) from my childhood was such a major letdown and probably the first time I felt really betrayed by something like that. Those books were so, so incredibly important to me growing up, and that movie was a travesty. Jim Carrey was an interesting choice, and I feel like he was capable of doing it right, but the whole thing just came off so silly. And combining the first three books into one confusing and sloppy movie... Just like, why? It's like they knew they'd never get the chance to tell the rest of the story, so they just slapped together what they could and said, 'Eff it — we'll do it live.'"
I disagree with this one. I liked the movie more than the Netflix series. The physicality of Jim Carey as Olaf was missing. I kept having to look up NPH's height compared to Jim Carrey because NPH seemed so small and short as Olaf. They're basically the same height; Jim Carrey just knew how to loom over characters better. Sure, Klaus not wearing his glasses was bad and they definitely let Jim Carrey riff too long in some scenes, but the world felt right to me. And I love the book series, but the later ones do devolve into a lot of repetition and macguffin finding and the Netflix series really made that clear without improving it.
I Am Legend
"I Am Legend. I loved the ending of the book so much and was so disappointed by the movie."
The Dark Tower
"The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. They compressed seven books into one movie. Needless to say, all atmosphere and feel with the characters and story disappeared. I'll go read the books again."
This movie is an insult to the books. I watched ten minutes and was already upset and I regret having watched it in full. Missing major characters, the story massively shortened and thus so many things that don't really make sense anymore or don't feel right. Imo it was worse than the Avatar-adaption.
Fahrenheit 451
"Fahrenheit 451. As someone who knows every word of that book, and who also loves Michael B. Jordan, that movie just hurt. I couldn’t make it 10 minutes."
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
"Do comic storylines count? If yes, the monumental Dark Phoenix Saga has been butchered twice by Fox. Like, why?! The thing is the whole arc can't be impeccably delivered in just a single movie. It should have been a trilogy or something."
Honestly pretty much the only thing i remember about that movie was her in the air. I was looking forward to seeing an X-Men movie in theaters for the first time, left very disappointed.
The Golden Compass
"Some of the casting was great, but the lackluster script and extremely watered-down story and themes ruined it."
ugh the "golden compass" (books name is actually northern lights) did suck, the BBC version of the book and its series (His Dark Materials), whilst not 100% true to the books, was really good though, and Ruth Wilson's performance as Mrs Coulter is honestly Oscar worthy.
Divergent
"Divergent. Fourteen-year-old me never got over the heartbreak that was the movie adaption."
My Sister's Keeper
"The original ending had left me in tears. It also seemed quite fitting for the story. She was born for her, and at the end, when she died, it was also for her. The movie totally ruined it and made it something that can be predicted by everyone, whilst the book ending took me by surprise."
Jack Reacher
"I think the movies, especially the first, are genuinely good on their own. As Reacher movies however, they are terrible. Was really pleased with the show."
Artemis Fowl
"I loved the Eoin Colfer book series Artemis Fowl. I even had The Artemis Fowl Files and the comic remake from the first book, so I was very excited to see my favorite antihero main character in a movie adaptation. So yeah, let's not talk about the Artemis Fowl movie... I'll go re-read the books instead."
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thought it sucked. For so many reasons, but the character misinformation was so sad. There were so many plot holes in the movie, while it was thorough and well written in the books. Any fans want to help make a new one?
Wheel Of Time
"I hate how dumbed down Moiraine was on the show. She was just running around reacting to things instead of the spymaster and strategist she was in the books. Book Moiraine knew things and her greatest strength was also her greatest flaw. She felt she had to control everything around herself. She's one of my favourite characters in the book and they turned her into a generic, armwavy magic lady.
Not to mention all of the set pieces that were changed or omitted that is going to change the end of the story. I get it's a different medium, but they didn't even try."
Queen Of The Damned
"That was my first experience with a bad adaptation to a beloved book. I was so mad they left so much out - like I know it’s one movie and the book is stacked af, but don’t remove the entire history of how the vampires came to be to force in a romance that was never even hinted at in the book, sincee they interacted for mere seconds and without really talking. The soundtrack, and Aliyah, deserved better."
This was a terrible movie. It only did well-ish because Aaliyah died before it was released
All Quiet On The Western Front
"The newest “All Quiet on the Western Front” completely missed the point even if it’s visually pretty cool."
Please everyone watch the 1930 version. It was an absolutely groundbreaking exploration of war that rejected the pro-military propaganda being pushed at the time (and today as well). It also had a lot of WWI veterans who helped inform the writing and played extras.
True Blood
"True Blood always comes to mind. I loved how it started. The first few seasons were mostly faithful, and even with the changes it was still good. But it started to go downhill in Season 4 with how they treated the witches storyline, and then from Season 5 and onwards it was completely unrecognizable from the books. I still mourn what it could have been because during the first few seasons, I considered it one of my top favorite shows."
Ready Player One
"I’m so glad someone else was as disappointed I’m Ready Player One as I was! My husband didn’t get it so I made him listen to the audiobook. Just like why make so many changes, the book was so rich!"
I've never actually read the book, so I rather enjoyed the movie. If you ignore all the plot holes and technical errors, it's a fun movie.
Tales From Earthsea
"I was coming here to see if anyone else had mentioned Earthsea. I have no words for how terrible the Syfy channel version was and then the Ghibli version...ugh. I wish it could get a proper adaptation."
At least the author liked the Ghibli version. She did say it was a good story, just not her story. She only had negative things to say about what SyFy did with Earthsea.
Under The Dome
"Under the Dome by Stephen King. It's not my favorite book by him by any means (wtf that ending), but I still enjoyed it and was interested in the tv series when it came out. Nonsensical changes, mediocre acting, the works. I didn't watch Season 2 and can't say I was at all surprised it was canceled."
Totally agree the TV show was excrement. What kind of idiot choice was it to nickname the male lead, a former soldier, Barbie?
Assassins Creed
"This one was painful. Also how did they manage to make it so brown, dull, and ugly?!"
Pet Sematary
"I loved the book Pet Sematary by Stephen King, and the 1989 movie (I haven’t seen the newer one) was complete garbage."
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
"It was one of my favorite series when I was younger. I get why they tried to combine three books into one movie. But it would have been better as a darker sort of Mini series."
Misery
"Misery was overall a good movie and a great performance by Kathy Bates, but so much of the book was the protagonist’s internal monologue and the novel he was writing while being held hostage, and the movie couldn’t capture that."
Watership Down
"Came here to say this too. I don’t understand why they have to rush through everything when there’s so much worth exploring. it had potential but just didn’t take its time building the world or the characters. I didn’t like the original adaptation either."
Yeah but the original cartoon adaptation is iconic. Scared the s**t out of my whole generation.
The Lovely Bones
"I did not enjoy the film adaptation of The Lovely Bones. The book was so dark and sad, and it seemed like they wanted the movie to be aimed for a younger audience, perhaps? This is a difficult task for a story that starts out the way it does."
The Time Traveler’s Wife
"The Time Traveler’s Wife. They took a dark, bittersweet story with two very complex characters and made it a boring, sappy romance. Family is a huge theme in the book, and that isn’t there at all in the movie. Loss and grief are huge in the book, not in the movie. And lots of references to punk culture and the Chicago of the '80s and '90s…not there in the movie."
This is the film/book that made me realise you must choose to either watch or read but not both. So unless I've forgotten enough to make it not matter or just wasn't invested in which ever was first don't give your chance to compare them as it's almost always guaranteed to disappoint!
The Man In The High Castle
"In The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick presented the most chilling alternate history of World War II where the Axis powers win. There's a deep but very understandable horror in how the novel does not hinge on any plucky freedom fighters, because overturning the new Nazi world order just isn't conceivable. Rather, the book is about desperate humanity under triumphant fascism and how that shapes what is and is not possible. The Amazon Prime series based on the book is about plucky freedom fighters overturning the new Nazi world order. It is absolute garbage for morons."
The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising
"The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. They turned it into a movie called The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. Just blatant commercialization: Give it a catch phrase, make a franchise, and churn out lots of mindless crap. I was sad that Eccleston was in it."
The books are so good, especially The Grey King, and the film is just endless bollocks.
Ella Enchanted
"That movie was tragic! I was literally scrolling to find this. My friends and I were SO obsessed with Gail Carson Levine and that movie was such a miserable, silly letdown."
I scrolled to find this one too! It didn't even have the same characters!!!
Legend Of The Guardians: The Owls Of Ga'hoole
"Legends of Ga'Hoole (based on Guardians of Ga'Hoole) they made a lot of pointless and unnecessary changes to the world, lore, and characters, which was even more baffling when they already bit off more than they could chew by deciding to cram the first 3 books into one film. Turning Otulissa into a soft spoken, shy, "girl next door" was especially heinous. The marketing too was absolute "genius". They made it look like a light-hearted kids film, completely going against the tone of the series, while the actual film was quite dark; true to the series tone, but scaring the crap out of the kids they tricked into coming to see it. It just showed they had zero faith in the source material and its own audience, in which case... why make a movie at all?"
Makes me wonder what the trailer for Warriors will look like when it comes out
Timeline
"Timeline. They took my favorite Michael Crichton book and absolutely butchered it so badly that Michael Crichton refused to license any more movies based on his novels."
This was the first book I read by that author and I remember being so amazed at the details. Too bad really
Persuasion
"Netflix's take on Jane Austen's Persuasion. I endured 10 minutes of it. Then again, it's Netflix's. I did it to myself."
I am in the minority because I didn't hate this Dakota Johnson Persuasian. I adored the Amanda Root/Cieran Hinds version but appreciated the winking speaking to camera Anne Elliot over the long silent looks.
The Beach
"The Beach. The book is AMAZING but the movie is just horrible. Probably because it entirely omitted one of my favorite characters from the book."
The Dresden Files
"The Dresden Files TV series. Continuity errors in the story because episodes were broadcast out of order. Trying to crush an entire novel, Storm Front, into a less than one hour (when counting commercials) episode and failing. I will never not be disappointed that Dresden's car in the books, a Volkswagen Beetle named the Blue Beetle in the books (a non-sentient character in its own right), changed to a Jeep for the TV series. I think Paul Blackthorne as Dresden hit it on the nose with his looks and performance. The actors portraying the characters of Lt. Murphy and Warden Morgan did a great job capturing the essence of the books characters. But looked different from the physical descriptions of the characters in the book series. I'm okay with this. For me, the end result was The Dresden Files TV series coming across as being okayed by the powers that be, but without a clear and coherent path for the series."
I am a huge Jim Butcher fan, so I was excited for the show even though I did not have high hopes, knowing it was a Sci-Fi channel production (think they still spelled it that way when this was made). Paul Blackthorne wax such an excellent choice I still think of him as Harry Dresden all these years later, regardless of whatever else I've seen him in. Sadly, with better writing, I think this show could have been successful as a hybrid monster of the week/crime drama, but with the deeper reveal of the NeverNever and the magical world running in the background as an overarching story arc, since that's has been the tone of the book series, but TV producers rarely seem to have that deep an understanding of the source material.
Aurora Teagarden Mysteries
"Honestly, it’s prob easier to name one that didn’t disappoint but if I have to pick the one I hated the most, it’s the Aurora Teagarden mysteries. The books are so good and then Hallmark sucked all the quirk out of the characters and plots. The acting is so terrible and bland."
The Book Thief
"The Book Thief. That book made me sob my heart out, and to have such a poor film adaptation was disappointing."
Foundation: Death And The Maiden
"Foundation. Loved the books, and had high hopes for the series, especially after the first ep. Then, straight into the toilet. Why film an "adaptation" that has almost nothing to do with the source material? So disappointing."
Annihilation
"Annihilation was a let down for me. They omitted quite a few things that I was looking forward to seeing adapted in the movie. They even omitted the reason why it is called annihilation!"
That movie was so boring. And the sound was so low throughout that I had to risk keeping max volume just so I could hear most of the dialog.
A Discovery Of Witches
"A Discovery of Witches. I didn't even make it past the first episode. I had just started re-reading the books when someone mentioned that there was live series that had just released. Didn't even make it past the first episode."
Honestly if I didn't love the show I never would have finished the book they r great but slow to start
Inkheart
"Inkheart. I loved the story of a man with such a beautiful, melodic voice that the stories he told came to life. No hate but that is not Brendan Fraser. Not to mention they changed the plot so much that they couldn't have done the sequels if they wanted."
Altered Carbon
"Altered Carbon. They got the look and atmosphere of the book, but diverged on every other count. The book was built around themes of anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism, the show homogenized everything and stripped out everything contrary to the establishment. Not only that but because they savaged and mashed together 3 books of plots and characters into one season, they kinda shot themselves in the foot for doing any more seasons, as evidenced by the limp second season."
The Goldfinch
"It made me question if I even read the book or just skimmed it. So, I reread the book and still loved it. The movie was just boring."
The Tragedy Of Macbeth
"I recently watched Joel Coen’s adaptation of Macbeth and it made me very unhappy. The cinematography was beautiful and I found Kathryn Hunter’s interpretation of the Weird Sisters as a sort of gestalt consciousness inhabiting a single body to be interesting but Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were just awful."
Sphere
"The book was SO GOOD! I read it as a teenager and when they finally made a movie about it I was so stoked! And wow, what a dog of a film... I refuse to watch it ever again."
Oh man lmao, i still have " PTSD " from this movie, só i worked at a theater at the time, which means i could watch the movies for free, só we had Titanic on One Room, and " Sphere " on the other, since Titanic was full Room, and Sphere had almost no One, i went to watch it, i woke up with my coworker calling me, and laughing at me, só 2 days later i tried to watch it again..... Same frikking result, after that i Gave up.
Johnny Mnemonic
"Johnny Mnemonic was so deeply disappointing. What made it worse was that apparently William Gibson was involved in the production."
No Exit
"I couldn't agree more on No Exit. It's the book that got me into reading. I was so happy when I saw that they did the movie. But it was absolute trash."
Station Eleven
"There was a lot I liked about the changes to Station Eleven (Jeevan and Kirsten staying together longer was really lovely), but I really hate the changes they made to Tyler’s plot. I didn’t want redemption for him and shoehorning it in didn’t work at all."
Jurassic Park
"When Jurassic Park came out, I read the book first and the movie didn’t come close. Never did watch the movie all the way through."
The book and the film are both great, though. Like The Shining, it's a good film but a poor adaptation.
Sum Of All Fears
"Sum of all fears. It is not very complex, not very good but trashy entertainment., and the high power adaptation made it generic and boring."
Legend Of The Seeker
"Sword of Truth Series, the books were alright up until about book 6, but the TV show, I have NO idea where they were going with it and it was a laughable mess right from the get go."
Catch-22
"Catch 22. It's my favorite book. The OG movie is okay I guess. Was so stoked for the mini series. George Clooney nailed it in his first episode -he's obviously read and understood the damn thing- but it was like the directors sat him down and said "No George, you can't be over the top. This ain't a comedy" because the rest of his scenes were a bore. They sucked all the dark humor smooth out of it. Again."
Longmire
"The Longmire Series by Craig Johnson. The TV series has so little in common with the books, they should have called it something else. The TV series has no humor, no interesting characters, no sexual innuendo, few positive depictions of the Indians, no change of seasons, and frankly, very little to recommend it. And now that I recall specifics, the worst thing was when Lucian (a tough as-steel Doolittle raider somewhere between 90 and 100 years old with one leg) runs and jumps off a cliff committing suicide. Preposterous!!!"
I'm surprised Doctor Sleep hasn't made it on this list. I couldn't even finish that movie, it just made me angry.
The worst adaptation in history must be BBC's The Watch. It was supposed to be an adaptation of Terry Pratchetts stories about the Night Watch. But the writers, the producers and the director had probably only read a Wikipedia summary, decided it was not necessary to read any of the books and made a serie from a manus writen on a very wet saturday night, after smoking way to much weed. It was absolutley horrendous, even if you ignore the claimed Terry Pratchett connection. Oh, it went so bad on the early stages that the late Sir Terry Pratchetts daughter left and refused to have anything to do with it.
I'm surprised Doctor Sleep hasn't made it on this list. I couldn't even finish that movie, it just made me angry.
The worst adaptation in history must be BBC's The Watch. It was supposed to be an adaptation of Terry Pratchetts stories about the Night Watch. But the writers, the producers and the director had probably only read a Wikipedia summary, decided it was not necessary to read any of the books and made a serie from a manus writen on a very wet saturday night, after smoking way to much weed. It was absolutley horrendous, even if you ignore the claimed Terry Pratchett connection. Oh, it went so bad on the early stages that the late Sir Terry Pratchetts daughter left and refused to have anything to do with it.