12 Times Hollywood Turned Great Books Into Terrible Movies
It's always a risky proposition to adapt a beloved book into a movie. You not only have to keep it faithful for the fans of the book, but you also have to figure out how to take a massive collection of words and make it into a 2-hour movie. Some adaptations turn out great, but these 12 are not among them.
Dune (1984)
David Lynch tried to adapt one of the most sprawling, influential science fiction books of all time, and the result is a mess of a movie where all the dialogue is exposition.
The Cat In The Hat (2003)
After the success of Jim Carrey's run in How The Grinch Stole Christmas, they decided to cast Mike Myers as Dr. Seuss' other most prolific character. The results are unintentionally terrifying.
Eragon (2006)
The beloved young-adult fantasy series got a film adaptation that had barely anything to do with the books, and featured awful performances from normally great actors.
Queen of the Damned (2002)
Anne Rice's vampire trilogy got a great movie adaptation with Interview With The Vampire, but the studio struggled to put anything else out before the rights would expire. The result was this awful adaptation that would prove to be Aaliyah's last project.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
The original graphic novel is a fun mixup of famous literary characters by legendary comic writer, Alan Moore. The movie is an awful action flick that caused Sean Connery to quit acting.
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The Scarlet Letter (1995)
This literary classic got an absolutely awful adaptation starring Demi Moore and Gary Oldman, but thankfully got a much better modernization with Easy A.
The Hobbit (2012)
Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is one of the best in cinema history, but his adaptations of The Hobbit are bloated and unnecessary, and did not need to be three movies.
Stephen King's The Shining (1997)
Famously unhappy with how much Stanley Kubrick's amazing adaptation of The Shining differed from the original novel, King lent his name to this made-for-TV remake, which is hilariously awful.
Gulliver's Travels (2010)
Jack Black stars in this incredibly loose adaptation of a literary classic that nobody asked for. It was neither funny nor interesting.
The Golden Compass (2007)
The "His Dark Materials" franchise is a beloved young adult fantasy series that got a mediocre adaptation thanks to the Harry Potter movies making money.
Timeline (2003)
Michael Crichton has gotten some awesome adaptations of his books over the years, like Jurassic Park and The 13th Warrior. Timeline is not one of them.
The Giver (2014)
Not even Meryl Streep could save this terrible adaptation.