Books That Should Be Movies Or TV Shows

Post Reply New Topic

Which books can you think of should be movies or TV shows, even if you don't watch movies or TV very much?

Movies:
The Catcher In The Rye
{Considered the "Holy Grail" of film adaptations, there are so many screenplays of The Catcher In The Rye at different studios, even one supposedly written by JD Salinger himself. Although there have been numerous attempts to make a Catcher In The Rye movie, nothing has been greenlit yet.}

100 Years Of Solitude
{Considered one of the best works of magical realism, writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez has not granted the film rights to any particular studio.}

A Confederacy Of Dunces
{At one point, production was set to begin ten years ago for a Fall 2006 release, but the studio pulled the plug at the last minute.}

City Of Glass
{No one knows the actual meaning of the book, despite its meta undertones. No studio has expressed interest in making the novel into a movie yet.}

The Dharma Bums
{Fans of Jack Kerouac's work may be skeptical that this would be a great movie after On The Road flopped at the box office a few years ago.}

The Foundation
{Back in 2010, Roland Emmerich was rumored to direct a movie based on Issac Asimov's book, but there hasn't been much details since.}

TV Shows:

2061: Odyssey Three and 3001: The Final Odyssey
{Apparently the Syfy Channel has been developing a mini-series based on 2061 and another mini-series based on 3001. At one point for the movie version of 3001, Tom Hanks was in talks to star as lead character Frank Poole with the possibility of directing it too. Syfy wants production on the 3001 mini-series to start sometime next year, with airing it sometime in 2017.}

American Gods
{It was rumored that HBO was developing a TV show based on Neil Gaiman's book, although the rights were given to the Starz channel. The series will air in late 2016.}

Angel Falls -- a movie about a woman who has a horse accident...the family must endure the drama that follows and must help her get closure on a past situation. I feel this would be a great date night movie for couples that are going steady and or are married, and not just for couples. It's a GREAT story and I'm not really moved or liking stories that have that Lifetime feel to it. I've told the author plenty times to get this made into a movie.


With The Light -- A lot of people here might be familiar with this story. It was already made into a tv series in Japan. But something like this needs to be made in America. The manga not only focused on a boy with ASD, but later in the series it introduces OTHER "disabilities" and how each person deals with it.


Maximum Ride -- A modern day story about a group of kids born with avian/human dna. There's been a rumor of a movie for years now, but so far nothing. But if Harry Potter, Twilight, Hunger Games can get movies made...why not Maximum Ride?


Blood Ties -- A great vampire series great for Showtime or HBO. If you liked True Blood, you'll love Blood Ties!

I'd love to see a film or miniseries adaption of Clive Barker's Abarat. I wouldn't care if the screenplay was awful, I just want to see how they bring his fantastical visions to life.

Similarly, I also want a cinematic adaption of The Edge Chronicles. Get the Jim Henson Company onto it, particularly the puppeteers behind The Storyteller, and it could be fantastic.

More Discworld adaptions would suit me as well. The one of Going Postal just worked for me, the set design and the costumes more-or-less matched what was going on in my head. A live-action miniseries about Grannie Weatherwax or Vimes would be great.

I've also been thinking that the old cartoon Wacky Races could make a brilliant film. While boring old CGI would make sense, I'd prefer it to be live-action with exclusively practical effects and creative costumes. Beyond Dick Dastardly and his dog these characters are largely unknown to the public, giving the filmmakers some freedom to work with. And the licensed games would be obvious Mario Kart knock-offs, which would just make sense. This could be ace.

Even though the movie Sahara bombed back in 2005, any of Clive Cussler's book characters such as {for example} Isaac Bell should be given the movie treatment.

The Bone Season and the Mime Order by Samantha Shannon.

There's been talk about making James Elroy's American Tabloid into a movie or TV mini series for some time. I personally loved that book, and either would be great. I just wish they'd go beyond the talking stage.

I was going to say Philip K. Dick's Ubik and H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness, both of which have had many failed attempts at being filmed over the years; but thinking about it for a minute, I'm not sure what the point would be. They've both strongly inspired other films: the former inspired Open Your Eyes, its remake Vanilla Sky, and Inception, and the latter inspired The Thing and Prometheus. Any official film versions would likely be seen as rip-offs, just like how John Carter was seen as a rip-off of Avatar even though it was adapting the source material that inspired the latter.

Yep, I was hoping Gondry could make it happen.

For fans of Stephen King and his novel 11/22/63, here are the trailers for the upcoming miniseries, set to premiere on HULU in February 2016.

Have you seen Igby Goes Down? It has the same sort of feel to me as Salinger's stories, and though apparently autobiographical has a lot in common with Catcher. One of my favourite films.

^^
No, I have not seen Igby Goes Down, but I'll try to find a copy I can buy for cheap.

apparently, after watching willy wonka and the chocolate factory (1971) dahl himself hated it forbid the production of a movie adaptation to the great glass elevator book.

which was a shame. the great glass elevator was among my favorite books as a kid and having loved tim burton's 2005 movie (unlike some people) i would have liked to see his interpretation of a sequel.

Blood Meridian

I don't read any books these days..

1984
{I've read that the 1985 version of George Orwell's novel flopped at the box office, despite good reviews. It has also been rumored that George Orwell's estate is still refusing to sell the rights to any particular studio.}

Fahrenheit 451
{About ten years ago, WB or Universal was rumored to have been developing a new movie based on Bradbury's book set in a world where all books are banned. Nothing new has been heard of since.}

Animal Farm
{There has been speculation that there will be an animated movie or an animated mini-series based on George Orwell's novel about farm animals taking over their farm with Andy Serkis not only producing, but also playing the voice of the lead character Napoleon. The animation will likely be stop-motion instead of CG or motion-capture.}

Brave New World
{It has been speculated for some time that Leonardo DiCaprio will star in a new movie under the direction of Ridley Scott, although no screenwriter has been confirmed.}

You're not the only one who likes Tim Burton's adaptation of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Trust me. One of the things that really annoys me is when people refer to Burton's version as a "remake" of Willy Wonka when it's not. Even on the Wikipedia page for the movie it says that it's the second adaptation of the book. It often seems like people want to just ignore the fact that the book even exists. But enough about that. Here are some of my ideas for books that should be made into movies.

Maximum Ride: A series that I only came across recently but can already see plenty of potential for it to be put up on the big screen.

The WaterFire Saga: While the final book in this tetralogy (series of 4 books like Twilight except written better) doesn't come out until this summer, I've LOVED the first 3 books, Deep Blue, Rogue Wave, and Dark Tide and have had a hard time putting them down. I could see this being a very strong visual spectacle as it would bring to life these fantastical underwater kingdoms and the Merfolk that live in them. I have really high hopes that this will eventually become a movie series.