Does Everything Need A Movie Adaptation?

It seems like every year, every season at this point, there’s a new movie adaptation. Sometimes it’s from a book, other times a game, but the fact of the matter is the stories aren’t really original. After all, it’s not like the writers or directors came up with the idea themselves. There’s plenty of creative liberty taken – see the How to Train Your Dragon movie versus the original books for example – but it still leaves me sighing in the end. 

Are we just running out of ideas?

Maybe not. After all, Obsession was an original plot and that did amazing at the box office. Hoppers was also a fantastic animated film that was an original idea too. Shocker since it was a Disney film. However, the theaters are dominated with adaptations and sequels. 

I’m not going to harp on about how adaptations are the worst thing ever. For one, if an adaptation is done right I think it can be really good. Take Project Hail Mary for example. The film came out earlier this year to a massive success. There were definitely a few changes from book to screen, it’s not like all five hundred pages of content can be easily condensed into a two and a half hour movie after all, but fans of the book still enjoyed the film. Plus, I know many of those that hadn’t read the book before, myself included, then went on to do so. 

Early cinema also saw a lot of adaptations, so it isn’t as though this is a completely novel concept. All the way in 1899 films were being made based on Shakespeare’s works following the death of King John. Les Misérables (1909), L’Inferno (1911), and Oliver Twist (1912) were some of the first feature films in history. What do they all have in common? All of them are adaptations by books of the same title. 

If adaptations aren’t new, why did they start, and why do we keep producing them?

The biggest factor, as all things in life come down to, is money. Cue Cabaret.

Adaptations have something that original films don’t have – a previously dedicated audience. When you make a movie off a book there’s significantly less financial risk, especially if that book is exceptionally popular like Harry Potter or Twilight. Producers can practically guarantee that a good portion of readers will file in to see the movie. The same thing holds true to any other kind of adaptation such as game-to-film, musical-to-film, or journalism-to-movie. With a dedicated audience, directors will be rolling in cash without worry.

But what happens when the market becomes so oversaturated with adaptations that they start to lose their charm? I think that may be the direction we’re heading in.

Pump the breaks for a second.

That isn’t to say that every film adaptation ever is going to fail now. We’ve had some pretty big ones this year already with even more to come, but I do think it’s something producers, writers, and directors should all be cautious of. 

At some point, we will run out of things to adapt. And you might say, “well that’s silly, there’s new books coming out every year!” Take a step back though. How many of those books are really new? How many of them tell the same story over and over again with a new cover slapped on? 

Once you realize that, it’s not so novel anymore.

Let’s say there is a new book though, one with a completely original idea that you absolutely love. Is the movie going to hit the mark every time? I’m inclined to say no as someone who watched both the Percy Jackson movies – fun to watch, yes, terrible adaptations. 

Oftentimes a book-to-film adaptation loses a lot of the charm, the nuance, the gritty details that make books so fun. With a book you can always take a break from it, put a bookmark in and leave it off for another day. The same can’t be said when you head to a theater to watch a movie. And let’s be clear, sitting through four hour plus movies all the time wouldn’t be too fun either.

Besides, isn’t it great to walk into a movie with absolutely no idea how it’s going to go? Some of my favorite films are original concepts like God’s Own Country, La La Land, and Knives Out. They’re brilliant, beautiful, and best of all original! They exist on their own (yes, I know Knives Out has sequels, Wake Up Dead Man is my favorite), and that’s something beautiful in of itself.

I want to regain the excitement I used to have as a kid going to the movies where everything felt new, even if I was watching an adaptation and just didn’t know it. 

Film makers are some of my favorite kinds of artists, and I know they can make brilliant art without relying on a previously developed story. 

I guess I’ll see you in the movies. Hopefully with something fresh.