Some of the best movies ever made began their lives as books. The Godfather, Forrest Gump, and Remains of the Day all started as novels, but have been outshone — at least in popularity — by their film counterparts.
But what makes a book-to-movie adaptation successful? It’s not money — Eragon had a budget of $100 million, which is around the same as The Da Vinci Code. It’s not necessarily a big-name cast, either, as The Dark Tower proved by casting Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey only to become a flop.
The answer is a little bit more complex. There is no singular thing that book to movie adaptations do well, but rather, a whole host of well-thought decisions and a little bit of luck.
Dialogue – Case Study: The Lord of the Rings
You’d think that book-to-movie dialogue would be easy — after all, it’s written for you, right? In reality, book adaptations end up causing more headaches for scriptwriters, who must hover painfully between source material and movie script when attempting to rewrite a story for film production.
As far as book-to-movie dialogue goes, Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Lord of the Rings does a stellar job. As most fans know, some of the iconic languages from JRR Tolkien’s novel are kept and major changes are made to adapt the story to the big screen, yet they only add to the overall “feeling” of Middle Earth.
Perhaps the best dialogue in the trilogy comes from Sir Ian McKellen, who fully inhabits the role of Gandalf. Gandalf delivers many lines that border on becoming soliloquies, and are drawn directly from the book. But, his most famous line “You shall not pass!” is not in the book at all — instead, Gandalf should say “You cannot pass” when he stands against the Balrog at Khazad-dûm. McKellen, perhaps leaning on his dramatic training, changes the line for a more forceful impact.
Pacing – Case Study: Dune
Potentially the biggest headache that studios face when producing a book-to-movie adaptation is pacing. Novelists give their audiences days, weeks, or even months to finish their work — but all that must be compacted into around 120 minutes on the big screen.
Perhaps no book-to-movie adaption has worse pacing than David Lynch’s 1984 Dune. The film was eviscerated by critics on release, as Lynch was forced to cram roughly 10 hours of storytelling into the space of 137 minutes. Much of the storyline is cut and has been replaced by lengthy exposition, and the film artificially speeds up around the hour mark.
For comparison, Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 Dune adaptation has a running time of 155 minutes, and only covers the opening third of Frank Herbert’s novel. This changes the pacing dramatically and allows Villeneuve to introduce audiences to the massive expanses of Arrakis with lengthy panning shots that don’t compromise the integrity of the story.
Internal Development – Case Study: Remains of the Day
Novels can delve into the internal life of characters for entire pages. But, for movies, a flicker of the eyes, a tremble of a lip, or the rise of an eyebrow must suffice in showing the audience how a character feels and what they are thinking. In many ways, this should make a book-to-movie adaptation impossible, but the best actors find a way to make it work.
Take, for example, James Ivory’s 1993 adaptation of Remains of the Day. The novel, written by Kazuo Ishiguro in 1983, essentially describes the internal feelings of a butler, Stevens, who works in a grand stately house and never lets himself express his emotions — even to the love of his life.
Translating this internal strife from book to big screen is what makes Remains of the Day so well-loved and critically acclaimed. Anthony Hopkins portrays Stevens perfectly and uses every ounce of restraint, lengthy dramatic pauses, and perfectly delivered dialogue to show that beneath his orderly surface, his heart is breaking.
Market Research
So, how in the world do directors, producers, and screenwriters make the transition from book to big screen work? Much of the answer lies in that ephemeral quality we call “genius”, but the rest is made up through dedicated market research.
You may not realize it, but even the most experimental of films are run past focus groups, panels, and executives before they get the green light. And you can see why — an average budget in today’s film industry is well above $100 million.
To mitigate risk, and ensure that films have the best chance of succeeding, more studios are using artificial intelligence to make decisions. AI can draw from massive data sets that are effectively incomprehensible for humans. This allows studios to see what audiences love about a particular book before the movie adaptation is even announced.
The use of AI in making a movie might sound like a sci-fi plot in itself, but the reality is that we live in a data-driven culture. This means that execs, casting directors, and scriptwriters can minimize risk by tapping into AI analysis to identify the passages which film viewers will enjoy the most. These insights are increasingly invaluable in an industry that demands success at every outing.
Not all book-to-movie adaptations are flops or triumphs. Some, like Ready Player One, are “okay” and turn over a small profit with an even smaller cult following.
However, some of the best-loved movie franchises owe their inception to the humble novel.
