Many bookworms tend to share a contempt for movie adaptations, which is usually understandable. “That’s not in the book!” and “They changed a very critical part!” are common refrains that frustrate the most avid reader.  

However, there are some exceptions where on-screen hits have outshined in-print misses. In fact, many of them have won prominent awards and become cult classics.

14 Movies Better Than the Books That Inspired Them

Here are 14 films that are better than the books that inspired them.

1. The Princess Bride 

This 1987 movie is a childhood favorite of the eighties. It captured the characterization so effectively, it’s considered better than the book in breathing life to the love story between pirate Wesley and the bossy Buttercup. Plus, it also remained true to the witty wordplay in the book. 

2. The Godfather 

This mainstay in any film buff’s collection offers an exciting look at the life of a mob family in New York. While the book itself topped the New York Times bestseller, the movie adaptation—considered by many to be a cinematic masterpiece—effectively cut out many less relevant subplots, which helped focus the story on the protagonist and tragic hero, Michael, portrayed by Al Pacino.

3. Jaws

The novel by Peter Benchley truly came alive with Steven Spielberg’s terrifying classic film, released in 1975. Who can forget the harrowing tale of Quint, a modern Captain Ahab, who partnered with a small-town cop to get rid of a killer shark plaguing their town? And this was all in the days before computer-generated images! 

4. Mean Girls 

Did you know that this box office hit was inspired by a self-help book? Tina Fey penned her first screenplay based on the book Queen Bees & Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, which intended to help parents guide teenaged girls guide through a world of gossip, cliques, boyfriends, and other issues in the modern high school ecosystem.

5. Brokeback Mountain 

The short story written by Annie Proulx won several literary awards when it first appeared in The New Yorker back in 1997, but the 2005 film adaptation captured the story of two cowboys who worked together as sheepherders and formed an emotional bond through excellent cinematography and heartwrenching portrayals by Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger . 

6. Blade Runner

This dystopian tale, based loosely on the 1969 novel by Philip K. Dick entitled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, effectively played out the bioengineered creatures living among ordinary humans. We say it was “loosely based” because the director actually made extensive changes, and although Dick died before the movie came out, the rough cuts he saw convinced him that the movie did his work justice. 

7. Silence of the Lambs 

The 1991 film adaptation of Thomas Harris’s eerie story of a cannibal psychiatrist on the trail of a serial killer stayed true to the text, but clearly upped it with the stellar performances by the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. 

8. The Shawshank Redemption 

Although Stephen King remains unchallenged in the area of horror storytelling, who knew that he also wrote stories without any scary elements? Interestingly, his novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption would have stayed on the shelf, had Frank Darabont not chosen it as the inspiration for what would become one of the greatest movies of all time, The Shawshank Redemption. 

9. The Devil Wears Prada 

Who would’ve thought that a ho-hum read about a young girl’s first job at Vogue would turn into such a memorable movie? Perhaps a streamlining of the plot contributed to the clearer rendering. Of course, the performance of Meryl Streep didn’t hurt either. 

10. The Notebook 

Expert romance novelist Nicholas Sparks’ book couldn’t have been made better than the 2004 adaptation. Ryan Gosling’s role as the leading man in a love affair confronted by disapproving parents and war perhaps added to the chemistry with leading woman Rachel McAdams. 

11. Forrest Gump 

Winston Groom’s novel, published in 1986, may not have been really that memorable, but the Oscar-winning cinematography, along with the topnotch performances by the likes of Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Sally Field, and Gary Sinise have propelled Forrest Gump onto the list of the greatest movies of all time. 

12. Psycho 

Who knew that one of the most memorable murder scenes in cinematic history was only written as one line in the book that inspired it? Yes, Alfred Hitchcock took the one line depicting that horrifying shower in the 1959 novel Psycho by Robert Bloch and effectively built up the suspense and thrill factor of that scene. 

13. Bridget Jones’s Diary

The unique “diary” format documenting the fun adventures of this book’s main character, as well as her daily logs of her caloric intake and weight, resonated with women everywhere. But Renée Zellwegger played Bridget so convincingly in the hit film adaptation, and Colin Firth brought out the magic in what was a blah love interest in the book version. 

14. No Country for Old Men 

The prose devoid of punctuation is not an easy read, but the 2007 film adaptation brought out the dark tale buried in Cormac McCarthy’s writing. Javier Bardem starred as the hitman running from the law, and Tommy Lee Jones played the small-town sheriff on his trail, garnering the film several Oscars. 

Film Adaptations of Books 

Making film adaptations of books is tricky business. After all, how can you squeeze three hundred pages worth of plot and characterization into a two-hour movie without at least a little cutting and trimming?

Thankfully, talented storytellers in the film industry have been able to bring out the magic in a story without sacrificing quality, and this is where this list of movies exceed our expectations. 

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