Books Into Film: Sometimes It Works
What makes a story move successfully from the pages of a book to the big screen? If filmmakers knew for sure, there wouldn't be so many disappointing movie adaptations.
The appeal of using a best-selling book is the advantage of pre-existing name recognition and a potential built-in audience.
Some box office hits that originated with bestselling books include:
- Jurassic Park, which made $357M
- Forrest Gump, $330M
- The Perfect Storm, $181M
- The Green Mile, $137M
- The Bridges Of Madison County, $71M
"I didn't read it but I still hated the movie," said CBS News Early Show Anchor Bryant Gumbel.
The new movie Pay It Forward is taken from a book of the same name, but it's too soon to know how it will do at the box office.
Some readers feel betrayed when filmmakers change a story they love. What often happens is that the studio executives or movie producer will pressure the screenwriter to change a sad ending to a "Hollywood" ending, in order to appeal to a movie-going audience.
On the other hand, what a lot of people don't realize is that a screenplay is usually only about 110 pages; so to adapt a book that may be 300, 500 or more pages, a screenwriter has no choice but to streamline the story.
Hibberd says the key to a successful adaptation is star power, a good story line and mass appeal.
"You're never going to get the readers 100% because a pure reader will never be happy with how a book has been turned into a movie," said Hibberd.
One rare exception is To Kill A Mockingbird, a movie that virtually everyone agrees is as much of a masterpiece as the original book.
It had a star, Gregory Peck, who was perfectly cast as Atticus Finch. The casting for the other characters was inspired too. The screenplay by Horton Foote was faithful to the book. It's also a dramatic story with a lot at stake and a lot of "heart." The book won a Pulitzer Prize and the movie won three Academy Awards.
Movie adaptations that by contrast, were disappointing include:
- Where The Heart Is, even though it had a big star, Ashley Judd. It only made $34M
- Beloved, a Pulitzer-Prize winning book with Oprah's name attached to it. $23M
- Battlefield Earth, which had John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer, $21.4M
"It was supposed to be open in August," said Hibberd, but it isn't going to open until November 3rd. According to Hibberd, some people say the movie's opening was delayed so it would be fresh in the Academy members' minds. Others ay it's so bad that Dreamworks didn't want to release it in the summer.