20 movies you might not know that were adapted from books

It’s maybe the greatest action movie of all time and also the greatest Christmas movie. What’s for sure is that it made Bruce Willis a movie star. However, it’s also an adaptation of the 1979 novel “Nothing Lasts Forever” by Roderick Thorp. It was the sequel to his novel “The Detective,” which had been turned into a Frank Sinatra movie in 1968. Because of this, technically, Sinatra had to pass on starring in “Die Hard” before they could cast the role of John McClane.

It seems like an idea built for Robin Williams. Have him do a broad drag character with a broader English accent and watch the comedy unfold. There’s a reason why “Mrs. Doubtfire” was such a massive movie. Surprisingly, though, it is actually based on the 1987 novel “Alias Mrs. Doubtfire” by Anne Fine, a novel most people have never heard of.

Much like “Mrs. Doubtfire” seems designed for Robin Williams, “Big Fish” feels like an idea out of the mind of Tim Burton, though maybe a bit less goth perhaps. The script originally came from John August, who wrote the screenplay based on an early manuscript for Daniel Wallace’s novel “Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions,” which came out in 1998 and was swiftly overshadowed by the movie.

A narrative movie based on a non-fiction book is not unusual. “Mean Girls,” though, is a bit unusual. Tina Fey’s script was largely influenced by a self-help book for parents called “Queen Bees and Wannabes,” which was designed to help parents help their teenage girls navigate high school. From there, we got to “You go, Glen Coco!”

“Shrek” was a massive hit that yielded several sequels, including two spinoff sequels starring Puss in Boots. The whole thing with Shrek and the “Shrek” films is that they send up fairy tales. This was first done in book form all the way back in 1990. William Steig released a picture book starring the antisocial ogre that spawned the hit series.

“Pitch Perfect” is a musical that is built on a cappella versions of popular songs, and it is also built on a non-fiction book. It’s a loose adaptation of the book “Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate a Cappella Glory” by Mickey Rapkin. We wonder if maybe it is considered an adaptation mostly because they wanted to use “Pitch Perfect” as a title.

“Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is a seminal film, technologically speaking, a feat of live-action and animation working together. Also, Bob Hoskins is great in it. The character of Roger Rabbit comes from a 1981 novel called “Who Censored Roger Rabbit?” In the book, Roger Rabbit is a comic strip character, not a cartoon.

“Psycho” is indelibly connected to Alfred Hitchcock. It is perhaps his iconic film, and it is a quintessential, influential horror movie. The movie was actually a swift adaptation of a 1959 pulp novel by Robert Bloch of the same name. It’s only through the work of Hitchcock that it doesn’t feel like a “B” horror movie.

Animation takes a while to get going sometimes. Case in point, “How to Train Your Dragon” was a children’s book released in 2003, and DreamWorks Animation got interested in 2004. We would not see the first film until 2010, but it was followed by two more films. Author Cressida Crowell also stayed active, as there are now five “How to Train Your Dragon” books.

Body swap comedies are not exactly rare, so you might think this Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan vehicle was just another one of those. Well, in a way, it is, but it is also a book adaptation. The book does predate the surge in body swap films, though, as it came out in 1972.

Frank Capra’s Christmas classic was originally a flop, but it has since become considered iconic thanks in part to being shown on TV repeatedly over the years. “The Greatest Gift” is a little more of a short story or a novella, but it is a work of literature that was adapted into “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Notably, “The Greatest Gift” was self-published by author Philip Van Doren Stern.

As you may or may not know, Cameron Crowe was a journalist before he was a filmmaker. “Almost Famous” is loosely based on his experiences on that front. Before he got into directing, though, Crowe wrote the screenplay for his own book. For the non-fiction book “Fast Time at Ridgemont High, " he delved into teenage life,” which became a defining ‘80s teen comedy.

Hey, remember when “Slumdog Millionaire” won Best Picture? Danny Boyle’s film feels like it is from a bygone era, as it focuses on the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” It’s actually based on the novel “Q&A” by an Indian diplomat named Vikas Swarup. We hear it’s a pretty bonkers book that is not really worth reading.

Olivia Goldsmith struck, well, gold with her first novel. Released in 1992, “The First Wives Club” was turned into a film with quite the cast. When you write a book and it turns into a movie starring Diane Keaton, Bette Midler, and Goldie Hawn? That’s good stuff! Goldsmith wrote several other novels in her life, but none of them quite hit the same way.

In 1981, Chris Van Allsburg wrote and illustrated a picture book about an enchanted board game. That was “Jumanji.” Many years later, it would be turned into a film starring Robin Williams, which then got two belated sequels. Van Allsburg followed up “Jumanji” with a sequel as well, “Zathura,” which was also turned into a film.

Here’s a fresh one. The latest film from M. Night Shyamalan has all the usual issues with his films. He usually does his own thing, but he came to “Knock at the Cabin” in an atypical way. A film adaptation of the Paul Tremblay novel “The Cabin at the End of the World” was already in the works, but the original director dropped out. Shyamalan was going to produce, but then he decided to direct, at which point he rewrote the script, as he was not a fan of the novel's story arc.

Kevin Costner tossed skepticism aside when he hit it out of the park with his directorial debut. “Dances with Wolves” was a huge hit that won him Best Director and the movie took home Best Picture as well. Costner may have starred and directed, but he decided to start with solid source material for his first film. “Dances with Wolves” is also a 1988 book by Michael Blake, who adapted his own novel into a screenplay.

“In the Heat of the Night” is a Best Picture winner that yielded a sequel and a TV adaptation. The Norman Jewison film co-starring Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier was not an original story, though. This was another adaptation of a recent work at the time. John Ball’s novel of the same name came out in 1965.

“Jaws” was based on a novel, but we figure most people know that. “The Meg” is in a long line of films clearly indebted to “Jaws,” but it is also based on a novel. “Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror” by Steve Alten came out in 1997, and Disney quickly grabbed up the rights. Unfortunately, Disney’s film ended up in development hell, they let the rights go, and Warner Bros. grabbed them. The eventual film became a huge hit and earned a sequel.

One of the best films of the new millennium, “There Will Be Blood,” was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and won Daniel Day-Lewis an Oscar. It is actually a loose adaptation of “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair. Unsurprisingly, the muckraker’s 1927 novel is a criticism of the practices of the oil industry, much like his book “The Jungle” tackled the meat industry.