IMDb fan's top 50 favorite book-to-screen adaptations
We asked IMDb fans on social media to share their favorite book-to-screen adaptations with us, and the results are in. Here are your 50 favorite movies and series based on books.
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50 titles
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTim RobbinsMorgan FreemanBob GuntonOver the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.Based on the book Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsMarlon BrandoAl PacinoJames CaanThe aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.Based on the book The Godfather by Mario Puzo
- CreatorDavid BenioffD.B. WeissStarsEmilia ClarkePeter DinklageKit HaringtonNine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.Based on the book A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLiam NeesonRalph FiennesBen KingsleyIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.Based on the book Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsElijah WoodIan McKellenOrlando BloomA meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.Based on the book The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsBrad PittEdward NortonMeat LoafAn insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.Based on the book Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
- DirectorFrank DarabontStarsTom HanksMichael Clarke DuncanDavid MorseA tale set on death row, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the lead guard, Paul Edgecombe, recognizes John's gift, he tries to help stave off the condemned man's execution.Based on the book The Green Mile by Stephen King
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsCillian MurphyEmily BluntMatt DamonThe story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.Based on the book Oppenheimer by Kai Bird
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsJodie FosterAnthony HopkinsScott GlennA young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.Based on the book Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsAnthony PerkinsJanet LeighVera MilesA Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.Based on the book Psycho by Robert Bloch
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsChristian BaleHugh JackmanScarlett JohanssonAfter a tragic accident, two stage magicians in 1890s London engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion while sacrificing everything they have to outwit each other.Based on the book The Prestige by Christopher Priest
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.Based on the book The Shining by Stephen King
- StarsLeVar BurtonRobert ReedJohn AmosA dramatization of author Alex Haley's family line from ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to his descendants' liberation.Based on the book Roots by Alex Haley
- CreatorBruce MillerStarsElisabeth MossYvonne StrahovskiAnn DowdSet in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.Based on the book The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsKeir DulleaGary LockwoodWilliam SylvesterAfter uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.Based on the book The Space Odyssey series by Arthur C. Clarke
- DirectorRobert MulliganStarsGregory PeckJohn MegnaFrank OvertonAtticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a Black man against an undeserved rape charge, and tries to educate his young children against prejudice.Based on the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.Based on the book A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsSam NeillLaura DernJeff GoldblumA pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.Based on the book Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
- DirectorCurtis HansonStarsKevin SpaceyRussell CroweGuy PearceAs corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.Based on the book L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
- DirectorVictor FlemingGeorge CukorSam WoodStarsClark GableVivien LeighThomas MitchellA sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.Based on the book Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsTommy Lee JonesJavier BardemJosh BrolinViolence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.Based on the book No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
- DirectorJohn FordStarsHenry FondaJane DarwellJohn CarradineAn Oklahoma family, driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl, joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression.Based on the book The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsRoy ScheiderRobert ShawRichard DreyfussWhen a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.Based on the book Jaws by Peter Benchley
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsHarrison FordRutger HauerSean YoungA blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.Based on the book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsBen AffleckRosamund PikeNeil Patrick HarrisWith his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.Based on the book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
- DirectorDanny BoyleStarsEwan McGregorEwen BremnerJonny Lee MillerRenton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.Based on the book Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.Based on the book The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRobin WilliamsRobert Sean LeonardEthan HawkeMaverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.Based on the book Dead Poets Society by N.H. Kleinbaum
- DirectorBrian Desmond HurstStarsAlastair SimJack WarnerKathleen HarrisonEbenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeonly, miserly businessman, has no time for sentimentality and largely views Christmas as a waste of time. However, this Christmas Eve, he will be visited by three spirits who will show him the error of his ways.Based on the book A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- DirectorVictor FlemingKing VidorStarsJudy GarlandFrank MorganRay BolgerYoung Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.Based on the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsOlivia de HavillandMontgomery CliftRalph RichardsonA naive young woman falls for a handsome young man her emotionally abusive father suspects is only a fortune hunter.Based on the book Washington Square by Henry James
- DirectorTate TaylorStarsViola DavisEmma StoneOctavia SpencerAn aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.Based on the book The Help by Kathryn Stockett
- DirectorRoger MichellStarsAmanda RootCiarán HindsSusan FleetwoodTheatrical film of Persuasion with Ciaran Hinds & Amanda Root. Directed by Roger Michell.Based on the book Persuasion by Jane Austen
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsTimothée ChalametRebecca FergusonZendayaA noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy's most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.Based on the book Dune by Frank Herbert
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsSteve McQueenDustin HoffmanVictor JoryA French convict in the 1930s befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence in the South American penal colony on Devil's Island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.Based on the book Papillon by Henri Charrire
- DirectorMorten TyldumStarsBenedict CumberbatchKeira KnightleyMatthew GoodeDuring World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.Based on the book Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsCharlton HestonOrson WellesJanet LeighA stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping and police corruption in a Mexican border town.Based on the book Touch of Evil by Orson Welles
- CreatorNeil GaimanStarsDavid TennantMichael SheenMiranda RichardsonThe End of the World is coming, which means a fussy Angel and a loose-living Demon who've become overly fond of life on Earth are forced to form an unlikely alliance to stop Armageddon.Based on the book Good Omens by Neil Gaiman
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsCary ElwesMandy PatinkinRobin WrightA bedridden boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.Based on the book The Princess Bride by William Goldman
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsMatt DamonJessica ChastainKristen WiigAn astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.Based on the book The Martian by Andy Weir
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsAmy AdamsJeremy RennerForest WhitakerA linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world.Based on the book Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
- DirectorStephen ChboskyStarsLogan LermanEmma WatsonEzra MillerCharlie, a 15-year-old introvert, enters high school and is nervous about his new life. When he befriends his seniors, he learns to cope with his friend's suicide and his tumultuous past.Based on the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- StarsRichard ChamberlainRachel WardChristopher PlummerIn the arid 1920s Australian Outback, a Catholic priest and the beautiful niece of a vast sheep station owner stand powerless before God's will, tormented by desire. How far are they willing to go in the name of love?Based on the book The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
- DirectorAng LeeStarsSuraj SharmaIrrfan KhanAdil HussainA young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.Based on the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- DirectorGreta GerwigStarsSaoirse RonanEmma WatsonFlorence PughJo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women, each determined to live life on her own terms.Based on the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- DirectorLewis MilestoneStarsLon Chaney Jr.Burgess MeredithBetty FieldA mentally disabled giant and his level headed guardian find work at a sadistic cowboy's ranch in depression era America.Based on the book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- DirectorDoug LimanStarsFranka PotenteMatt DamonChris CooperA man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and attempting to regain his memory.Based on the book The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsDaniel CraigRooney MaraChristopher PlummerJournalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for 40 years by young computer hacker Lisbeth Salander.Based on the book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroAl PacinoJoe PesciAn illustration of Frank Sheeran's life, from W.W.II veteran to hit-man for the Bufalino crime family and his alleged assassination of his close friend Jimmy Hoffa.Based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsJames CaanKathy BatesRichard FarnsworthAfter a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.Based on the book Misery by Stephen King