Movie adaptations of your favorite books are always a mix of exciting and worrisome. Will they cast the right person? Is your favorite plot point included? Is it going to hit all the major details?
However, sometimes movies just share a name, or take ideas from a book and change it, so it is almost unrecognizable. Unfortunately, it happens a lot more than you might expect.
Warning, some of the items in this list may contain spoilers.
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22 Howl’s Moving Castle
Studio Ghibli
Howl’s Moving Castle is a Japanese animated movie by Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki, who is well known and loved in the Japanese movie industry. While the movie is loved and is a cute story that is fun to watch and ends with a powerful romance, it has to be said that it is very different from the book.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
People who love the book and the movie have pointed out that there are six pretty significant changes between them. One of them is pretty obvious since it is the drastic difference between the looks and personality of the main girl, Sophie. Not only does she look different with ginger hair, but she is powerful, and somewhat angry, which we miss a lot of in the movie. There are also some other changes, like our main wizard not really being a big flirt, the doors in the castle leading to a whole different world, Howl being cursed, and how the love between the two main characters changes, or doesn’t change, them.
Both are good, and many people find that they can love both equally and separately, but there is no denying that the movie is pretty different from its source material.
21 War of the Worlds
DreamWorks Pictures
War of the Worlds was originally a book written in 1898 by H.G. Wells. Later it was adapted into a film by Steven Spielberg. While the movie isn’t completely different from the book, it does take some pretty big liberties with the plot.
Two of the most noticeable changes are the time period and the purpose for the main character to continue doing what he did. While the book had the story set in the 19th century, the movie was changed to fit in more of the 2000s time period. Our main character also changes from someone that wants nothing more than to go home and see his wife again to a single, divorced dad trying to save his kids. But, hey, at least they got the aliens down somewhat accurately.
But trust us, if you struggle with classics, War of the Worlds isn’t for you. It’s much harder to read than most classics thanks to H.G. Wells’ verbose, detailed writing style.
20 Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
Warner Bros.
While many people loved the 1971 version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder, the author hated the changes with a passion. In fact, he hated it so much that he refused to let any of his other books be made into a film again.
Though many people still enjoyed the movie, it makes sense why the author was mad. The book was meant to be a dark tale that warned naughty children of the horrible things that could happen to them. Willy Wonka wasn’t a nice, slightly eccentric man, but completely demented, and Oompa Loompas were slaves. But the movie was made to be a little more light-hearted and musical, getting rid of some of the darker aspects.
19 I Am Legend
Warner Bros. Pictures
Many people probably don’t realize that there was a book source for the monster movie featuring Will Smith. That’s because the book I Am Legend was written in 1954 and isn’t a well-known classic like some of the others.
There were a few adaptations of the book, but the 2007 version is the most popular. However, it also made some pretty dramatic adaptations from the book. The first is that the main character is not a hero in the book. He is a killer and has to pay for his crimes against the vampires that live in the world. In the movie, Will Smith is a hero that works to save others and is willing to sacrifice himself to do so.
If that wasn’t enough, the kinds of creatures, how the apocalypse occurs and changes, and the setting are all different as well. If the movie didn’t share the same name, most people probably wouldn’t even realize that the movie was based on the book.
18 Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Paramount Pictures
Breakfast at Tiffany’s book was made to be a bit darker than the light romance that we see in the movie. This leads to a couple of different changes in the movie, especially the ending.
The ending of the movie is a lot more upbeat and happy, with the writer and Holly getting together at the end. However, in the book, Holly disappears never to be seen again by the writer. Throughout the movie, there is also less openness about what exactly Holly’s profession is while in the book, it’s a lot more direct.
The time period is also slightly different, with the book being set in the 40s and surrounded by the war, while the movie is in the 60s.
17 The Golden Compass
New Line Cinema
The Golden Compass is the first book in a trilogy called His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman and is meant to poke fun at Christianity and their belief in churches and a higher power they know nothing about. It does this while telling a creative story about children, creatures they are connected to, and how things don’t always turn out well. It wasn’t meant to be a lighthearted story by any means; many people end up dead, and the bad guys are truly bad.
However, the filmmakers decided that their version of The Golden Compass needed to be more child-friendly and tame. They eliminated a lot of the deaths, made the bad guys a lot milder, and completely eradicated certain characters and storylines. Not to mention that the ending was different from the book, and many of the scenes are somewhat accurate, but out of order, which changes the story a bit.
16 The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Universal Pictures
The Lost World: Jurassic Park is based on The Lost World by Michael Crichton. It was the second book in his series about dinosaurs, and the second part of the film series.
While the first one had some differences, they weren’t as dramatic as the second part of the series. While the second book was a lot slower than the first, with a lot of dialogue, and explaining of theories with just a little action in parts. This wouldn’t do well for a movie, so it makes sense that the director decided to change some things up. However, he changed up a lot more than expected.
The deaths in the book are a lot more dramatic, but they are fewer and farther between. Most people describe the book as a slow burn, with the movie just being an action-packed video about dinosaurs. Additionally, there is a lot less explanation in the movie to draw away from the action. But some of the characters, like Sarah, are a lot blander in the movie, not adding much and seeming stupid and dumb, versus the strong woman she is in the book.
15 World War Z
World War Z was a unique movie with a fun take on zombies many hadn’t seen before. They were based on zombie ants, and were overall a lot more terrifying than the zombies we usually see on film creeping around at a slow speed. It is a movie full of action, drama, and threats at every turn.
However, the book isn’t like this. While it is still about a zombie apocalypse, the book focuses a lot more on the psychological and bureaucratic aspects of a zombie outbreak. It was meant to criticize the way governments work and all the red tape, such as focusing on costs, but we don’t see much of that in the movie at all. Most people agree that the only thing the movie and the book have in common is the title.
14 Who Framed Rodger Rabbit
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Called Who Censored Roger Rabbit in book form, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is an interesting movie that talks about the world if cartoons and real life combined. Though it has cartoon characters, it is a very adult-oriented movie focused on sharp and often harsh realities.
While it has a mix of sexy characters and harsh realities, it doesn’t really match the book. This isn’t entirely the director’s fault. The book is weird. It doesn’t quite live up to what the author was trying to do, creating a balance between science fiction and real life. He also tried to add a little mystery and several threads and subplots going on all at once. The plot gets convoluted and often misses the mark.
While the director liked the idea of pushing the boundaries between animation and real life, the plot wasn’t super useful or movie-adaptable. So the director threw it out and went with his own stories.
13 Animal Farm
Universal Pictures
Animal Farm is an animated movie supposed to tell the story of the book written by George Orwell. Like Lord of the Flies, it was meant to be a piece to describe the Russian Revolution in ways that anyone could understand, even without knowing any of the history.
The 1954 animated movie Animal Farm didn’t exactly have the same goal in mind. During the Cold War, the CIA actually funded the movie as anti-Soviet Union propaganda. This meant that a lot of the story had to change, most notably the ending. The ending of the movie was much more uplifting by overthrowing the pig, Napoleon. Meanwhile, the book was a little darker and more tragic, with the book revealing that the pigs were no longer distinguishable from the humans.
12 There Will Be Blood
Paramount Vantage
If you didn’t know that There Will Be Blood was based on a book, you’re not the only one. The book has a drastically different name, Oil by Upton Sinclair. Even if you read the book and watched the movie, you may be hard-pressed to find the similarities. While they both focus on an oil tycoon and his child, that is it.
Even the director says that the movie is more of a collaboration with the book, rather than being based on the book. Characters, and their roles in the story, are drastically different with even the main character being a lot more evil in the book.
11 The Jungle Book
Disney
It’s no surprise that a Disney movie is on this list. They often take darker stories like The Little Mermaid and twist them to have happy endings and fun stories that are palatable for children.
The Jungle Book is one such movie. The animated story by Disney is overall pretty cute. While there are some dangers with the tiger, the little boy has a loving found family that takes care of him until he is ready to be a human. This is because Disney told the design team to ignore the tone of the book and just focus on making the story as upbeat and fun as possible.
In the book, you see a lot more animalistic nature of the animals. Though they call themselves people of the jungle, they are distinctly animals, following the laws of the jungle.
The animals, though friendly, are a lot more powerful and deadly. The animals were wise and offered advice, instead of being silly and playful.
10 The Bourne Supremacy
The character of Jason Bourne is different between the movie and the book. A lot of the scenes that create his powerful backstory are missing, which leads him to be a bit of a flatter character in the movies.
Additionally, in The Bourne Supremacymovies, the story is much more fast-paced to keep watchers interested. However, as most often happens in many adaptations, Marie, Jason’s wife, is sort of left in the dust, becoming a boring, almost minor character that is much more interesting in the book. Some even argue that she is more interesting than Jason himself.
9 The Lawnmower Man
New Line Cinema / First Independent Films
The Lawnmower Man is a pretty trippy and confusing movie, which it honestly got from the book. However, that and the title are about all that the movie and the book had in common.
What the book by Stephen King did with satyrs and human sacrifice, the movie director Brett Leonard turned into virtual reality and the human mind. Strangely enough, despite being so different, there are actually nods to the book, including dialogue.
8 Minority Report
20th Century Fox
Minority Report starts right out the gate by changing the main character. Where John is described as being fat, old, and bald in the books, we get Tom Cruise playing John in the movies, looking just like he usually does.
The movie also makes some practical changes that help it age better. While it isn’t quite like the original book, it is more because the director needed to make some updates and not a crazy amount of creative license.
7 Simon Birch
Buena Vista Pictures
The movie Simon Birch is based on a book called A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. Though the author liked the movie, he did request that the title and characters’ names differ from those of his book since the movie deviated so much from his book. He didn’t want his readers to feel misled by the sharing of the name and get upset.
One big difference is the setting of the movie. The book was set around the Vietnam War era, but that isn’t the case in the movie. The characters get a pretty big change as well, with even the main character’s obsession being different, changing up the story. In the end, the director decided to credit the book by saying his movie was suggested by the book, which both the director and the author thought was a good call.
6 Adaptation
Sony Pictures Releasing
Based on the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean, Adaptation is a vastly different story than the book. It’s so different that it is often considered the best example of movies that deviated from the book.
The book itself was non-fiction about a man who stole rare flowers from a state park in Florida. The movie goes completely in the opposite direction, with a story about a writer who has a twin, who are both played by Nicolas Cage. He is working to adapt the book The Orchid Thief into a film, but that is just a minor subplot among all the crazy.
5 I, Robot
I, Robot is based on a book from the 1950s under the same title by Isaac Asimov. The book is a series of short stories about different, but all interesting, robots. Their stories came together to provide a history of how robots came to be.
In comparison, the movie is a thriller filled with evil robots and lots of hate for the AIs. The movie was originally going to be even more different, but Fox Home Entertainment told the director and screenwriter that some of the book’s elements had to be included since it had the rights to his story.
4 Die Hard
There was no way to expect Die Hard to be anything like the books. The whole history of the books and movies is pretty complicated, with the film being based on a book that is a sequel to a completely different book, which is based on a movie, which is based on two books. Confused? So are we.
However, the book the Die Hard movies most represent is something called Nothing Lasts Forever. The book is a lot darker, and the characters are older with widely different perspectives.
3 Planet of the Apes
Planet of the Apes was based on a book by Pierre Boulle. While they have a similar name, there isn’t much more in common. The biggest and most drastic difference is the ending, which is the big plot twist of the movie. The book and the movie are based on completely different planets.
The movie and the book also both feature twists and a bit of darkness, but they go their different ways, and can’t really be compared to each other.
