Movies and books have very different ways of describing a story. Moviemakers have the liberty to change some details to better portray the plot on screen. However, some screenwriters take this liberty way too far and create disastrous movie adaptations that are nothing like the source materials. Needless to say, the fans are not happy.
So here are 12 disastrous movie adaptations that people think completely butchered the original books. Scroll down and see whether your least favorite film is on the list.
1. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Source: 20th Century Fox/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
Fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children have waited years for the adaptation. Everybody was hyped when they heard Tim Burton was going to direct the movie. And then he utterly butchered the book. The film came out as a huge flop. It's super boring and disappointing. The only good thing about it is Eva Green.
2. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Source: 20th Century Fox/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
The first Percy Jackson movie is one of the most infamous disastrous movie adaptations. The plot, the lines, the characters, and almost everything else were changed completely from the original source material. The moviemakers got rid of everything in the book that made it fun and entertaining. They even left out the main antagonist!
3. Water for Elephants
Source: 20th Century Fox/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
Water for Elephants is a great book, but its adaptation isn't a great movie. The cast is great, but the script just rips the soul out of the story. They somehow manage to make the circus boring. So much wasted potential! It's such a shame.
4. Eragon
Source: 20th Century Fox/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
The Eragon book is one hundred times better than the movie version. The film failed so hard at capturing the charm of the story. It's a big disappointment to fans of the books. After watching that horrendous adaptation, you might need to reread the original series to save yourself from the traumas.
5. The Hobbit
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
The Hobbit had so much potential. It's not completely bad. There are many aspects that, if you separate them from the rest of the films, you'll have a pretty damn good movie. However, the filmmakers wanted to go with a trilogy, which stretched the plot way too thin. They should have stopped at two solid movies instead of three films full of filler.
6. World War Z
Source: Paramount Pictures/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
The book talks about all the different zones where the plague breaks out, different points of view on the event, different opinions about the future of humanity, and the struggle to regain control of a world overrun by zombies. The film has none of that. It's a completely different story. The author's original vision is 100% lost in this adaptation.
7. Watchmen
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
The filmmakers failed to get one of the most iconic lines in the entire story right. They skipped over most of the key trauma that made Rorschach who he is. They made him into a bootleg Batman. And the worst part is everything in this movie is so over-the-top, like how Ozymandias just straight-up murdering people and snapping limbs in the alley. The Black Freighter subplot was scrapped despite its importance in the story.
8. The Lovely Bones
Source: Paramount Pictures/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
The Lovely Bones movie adaptation removed all the interesting things in the book and kept all the annoying details. Peter Jackson destroyed the mood and over-emphasized everything about the plotline that made the book suck. Who the hell put a zany comedy scene from a '90s music video in the middle of a grieving scene? The poor family just lost their teenage daughter, so let them mourn her in peace for god's sake!
9. Ella Enchanted
Source: Miramax/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
The movie version of Ella Enchanted was so bad. Everything was a mess. The evil uncle, the dance scene, the medieval fantasy shopping mall and a trillion more details in this movie are just garbage. The book was near and dear to many fans. It does not deserve this horrendous fate. The adaptation is a monstrosity.
10. Ender's Game
Source: Lionsgate/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
The movie Ender's Game left out two very important subplots that make the original series so interesting: the Demosthenes and Locke subplots. They have such a great cast too! You got Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, and Hailee Steinfeld but still messed up. How!?
11. Artemis Fowl
Source: Walt Disney Pictures/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
One of Artemis's first limes in the book was "fucking sunlight." It's pretty clear to us that he isn't an outdoor guy. And the movie opens up with him surfing, which is an activity that usually involves a degree of sunlight. Disney took an interesting novel and created a monstrosity out of it. They probably don't even read the book.
12. Jumper
Source: 20th Century Fox/ Courtesy of Everett Collection
Jumper is about a character who suffers from parental abuse so badly that he has to literally "jump" away. The filmmakers completely miss the point of the story. They turned a serious matter into something child friendly and removed all the best parts of the book. Hollywood should never let a superhero writer (David S. Goyer) rewrite a young adult dramatic book again.
Do you think there is still hope for these disastrous movie adaptations, or are they completely unsalvageable? For more differences between book versions and movie adaptations, check out our previous post
here. You will see how much the characters have changed in the movies!