Thread: Books you don't want made into movies

The Picture of Dorian Gray. Which they are making into a movie. And Ben Barnes is going to play Dorian. I bet you they don't even dye his hair.

There aren't very many film adaptations of books I like, but I really did enjoy the movie version of Fight Club.

His Dark Materials was an okay set of books but when I heard they were making the films I thought surely they won't get this to work on-screen: Talking, armoured, polar bears. Daemons- talking cats, etc. I think it worked in the books but couldn't see it working on film. I saw a clip and it put me off seeing the film. It's like animals like ja-ja binks and others that don't have our vocal cords or lips speaking perfect english. You can will the suspension of disbelief easier in a book. Your own imagination itself can help out the author and even improve it. A film can take that all away and replace it with great imagary but can look foolish as with Ja Ja Binks. Though I haven't seen The Golden Compass.

I thought Pelican Brief the Movie was better than the book. All other John Grisham novels turned into films were just far inferior to the books, especially A Time to Kill and The Runaway Jury (oh and the rainmaker).

I haven't read his Dark Materials but saw The Golden Compass - I hated it and so did my mum and mrs who read the books.

I think novel adaptations work better on TV then on film - look at NO.1 Ladies Detective Agency, The Stand, Ruby in the Smoke.

I liked Sleepers the book better than the film although the ending translated better (and carried more of an emotional whack) than the book.

No more John Grishams, Stephen Kings and please no more Period dramas e.g. Jane Austin or Charles Dickens - I mean how many times does Oliver Twist have to be filmed? Talk about overkill.

Is it just me or is anybody else irked by multiple movie adaptations of the same book?

I'm irked by multiple movie adaptations period. Remakes are almost always much worse than the original. At the very least they warp the storyline so much it's hard to get the original story out of it.
Please, no more Stuart Gordon gorefest Lovecraft adaptations. No more Jurassic pork.

I'm worried about a flood of poorly made comic book movies. They were already on the rise, but after The Dark Knights huge well-deserved success. Marvel seems content to just put out as many Marvel movies as possible. We may see some more greats, Watchmen possibly, but we will see a lot more stinkers coming over the next few years.

Originally Posted by spider8

His Dark Materials was an okay set of books but when I heard they were making the films I thought surely they won't get this to work on-screen: Talking, armoured, polar bears. Daemons- talking cats, etc. I think it worked in the books but couldn't see it working on film. I saw a clip and it put me off seeing the film. It's like animals like ja-ja binks and others that don't have our vocal cords or lips speaking perfect english. You can will the suspension of disbelief easier in a book. Your own imagination itself can help out the author and even improve it. A film can take that all away and replace it with great imagary but can look foolish as with Ja Ja Binks. Though I haven't seen The Golden Compass.

WILT. Oh I forgot, they did that didn' they. QED

Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human BioComputer by John Lily

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes

Would be hard to sit through 'em.

Actually these are books you don't even have to read. The titles tell you the whole story.

*snarfle* I've read those. I concur.

Originally Posted by lisajane

I think both Requiem for a Dream, and the Virgin Suicides, turned out to be better movies than they other novels.

I don't think there's really any novels I like that I wouldn't like to see made into movies. Except the remaining novels of the Twilight series, based on the trailer.

I know! I mean, the movie looks like it will suck. They got rid of all the cute parts and turned it all weird and dark.

I didn't like the film "The Davinci Code".

I don't really like it when novels are made into films; they are hacked to pieces every time.

There have been some pretty succesful adaptations to film:
Amazon.com: "Book to Movie: Oscar-Winning Adaptations"

In fact, many films are adapted from some material or another. I agree that some turn out really bad, but hey... it can't all be Dark Knight...

novels are made into films; they are hacked to pieces every time.

An absurb generalization. Many of the greatest films ever were based on books. Take a look, think if over. To get you started:
Gone With The Wind
The Wizard of Oz
Ben Hur
Fight Club
Blade Runner
Little Big Man
etc
etc

Well, often hacked to pieces. I really disliked like The DaVinci Code and Memoirs Of A Geisha when they were made into films.

There are quite a fair few that were well done.