Books On Screen

Making films from existing famous fiction novels has become a sort of trend in the past years. Here are five famous novels which have been adapted into films and have garnered huge praise from the audience.

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather is a crime novel written by American author Mario Puzo. Originally published in 1969 by G. P. Putnam's Sons, the novel details the story of a fictional Mafia family based in New York City, headed by Vito Corleone. It is one of the famous and most-loved novels of all times. The fans have this dedication, a completely different one. This novel has a noteworthy contribution for introducing Italian words like consigliere, caporegime, Cosa Nostra, and omertà to an English-speaking audience. This book inspired a film which was made in 1972 and had two film sequels in 1974 and 1990 respectively. The novel remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 67 weeks and sold over nine million copies in just two years. What is interesting is that the movie gathered more praises than the book and turned out to be one of the highest grossing movies in 1972. So, the film of The Godfather is rarest of phenomena, a movie that was better than the book. It won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for several others.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl, a novel written by Gillian Flynn is one of the most famous psychological thrillers in the current years. The book was published in June 2012, and in the next two years, it was adapted for a film seeing its popularity. In several interviews, Flynn has said that she was inspired to write the novel by the disappearance of Laci Peterson. It was amongst the profitable movies in 2014. It also received positive reviews from the critics. The monologue from Rosamund Pike still gives the chills.

Harry Potter

It is not possible that this masterpiece is not mentioned when we are discussing book adapted movies. J.K Rowling created a magical masterpiece called the “Harry Potter” and it is one of the best series to exist. Every child knows what Harry Potter is. The seven-book fantasy series gathered an immense audience and is loved by all. The novels chronicle the lives of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This was made into a film series by Warner Brothers beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The response to the movies was a mix one, some of them were accepted while the rest felt that it could’ve been much better than the movies lack in some way or the other and provide incomplete information.

Twilight

Twilight is a young adult fiction published in 2005 which introduces seventeen-year-old Isabella Swan who moves to Washington and falls in love with a vampire Edward Cullen. The series consists of four novels, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. Twilight received a lukewarm response, some praised the way the emotions of teenagers was portrayed, while others argued that there wasn’t much of character development that was taking place.

The film series is called ‘The Twilight Saga’ consisting of five movies, which gathered a lot of attention from the audience. The films were loved a lot, especially by the teenagers and the films were a hit at the box-office. Everyone was interested in who would Bella choose- Edward or Jacob? When she makes the choice, the audience had a mixed reaction. The fandoms were divided into ‘Team Edward’ and ‘Team Jacob’. One could say that the films were loved more than the books, but nevertheless it set records which still haven’t been broken worldwide. Bella was played by Kristen Stewart, Edward by Robert Pattinson and Jacob by Taylor Lautner.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is a trilogy of young adult novels written by American novelist Suzanne Collins. The series is set in The Hunger Games universe. It is about the journey of Katniss Evergreen, how she decides to participate in the Hunger Games to ensure her family’s survival. The first novel was released in the year 2008, and the first adapted film was released in 2012. Lionsgate Entertainment acquired the worldwide distribution rights for the film. The cast included Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Josh Hutcherson as Peeta, and Liam Hemsworth as Gale. Both the books and the movies received a lot of response from the audience, the attention specially on the love triangle and who would Katniss choose- Peeta or Gale?