8 Most Disappointing Book-to-Movie Adaptations of All Time, Ranked

Hollywood has been adapting books and short stories for the screen for ages, and many of the greatest films of all time have been born from this cross-media translation. But while movies like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Godfather, and Dune have become massive successes that are popular with both general audiences and fans of the source material, there are also many adaptations that have fallen short of the mark.

Sometimes, a movie adaptation fails because it can’t capture the spirit of the book despite its production values. Other times, it’s because they outright ignore the heart of the source material, creating adaptations that are nothing like the books they claim to be based on. Read on to discover our ranked selection of the most disappointing book-to-movie adaptations ever, including some that truly infuriated fans.

8

‘Murder on the Orient Express’ (2017)

Image via 20th Century Studios

Based on Agatha Christie’s eponymous 1934 novel, Murder on the Orient Express is the first installment in Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot film series, with Branagh co-producing, directing, and starring as the iconic Belgian detective. The movie follows Poirot as he investigates a murder aboard the luxury Orient Express train service in the 1930s. The film’s ensemble supporting cast includes Tom Bateman, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odom Jr., Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley.

Murder on the Orient Express was a commercial success, but it failed to impress critics and Agathe Christie fans, who compared it unfavorably to Sidney Lumet’s 1974 adaptation of the source material and the Poirot BBC series starring David Suchet. The film makes various changes to the novel’s plot, and Branagh’s performance as Poirot feels poorly executed. On the plus side, the film does have some great visuals and a stylish production. It’s perfectly enjoyable if you’ve never read the book or seen any other adaptation, but if you have, then you’re better off never watching this big-budget approximation.

7

‘World War Z’ (2013)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Inspired by Max Brooks’ eponymous 2006 novel, World War Z is an action horror film that stars Brad Pitt as former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane. Set in the aftermath of a sudden zombie apocalypse, the movie follows Gerry as he travels to zombie hotspots around the world, hoping to find a way to save humanity. The film’s supporting cast includes Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, Matthew Fox, and more.

World War Z had a pretty troubled production, with multiple rewrites and filming delays, but it was quite well-received after its premiere in 2013, becoming the highest-grossing zombie film of all time and earning largely favorable reviews. It is a great movie when taken on its own, but it makes far too many deviations from the source material to satisfy fans of Brooks’ acclaimed novel. Trading in the thought-provoking critiques and analyses of the novel for a simpler action-adventure storyline, the film offers an entertaining experience but lacks the soul of its source material.

6

‘The Golden Compass’ (2007)

Image via New Line Cinema

A fantasy adventure film adapted from Philip Pullman’s 1995 novel Northern Lights, The Golden Compass is a fantasy adventure movie that was the first film adaptation of Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. The film follows Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards), a young orphan in an alternate reality who embarks on an epic adventure to save her best friend from a mysterious group of child-snatchers. The movie also features Nicole Kidman, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, Daniel Craig, and more in significant roles.

On its own merits, The Golden Compass is a fairly enjoyable movie with Academy Award-winning visual effects, and it performed decently at the box office, but it received a very mixed critical and fan reception. The key problem with the movie is that it dilutes the darker themes and messages of its source material, particularly its condemnation of dogmatic religious groups, ultimately delivering a film that was equally hated by the religious and the secularists. Two sequels were planned and scrapped, but the franchise got a television reboot, His Dark Materials, in 2019, which was much better received by both critics and viewers.

5

‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’

Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first part of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy (in turn, a prequel to Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy) and is adapted from J. R. R. Tolkien’s 1937 novel The Hobbit. Set 60 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, the movie stars Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who is recruited by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to help exiled dwarf prince Thorin Oakenshielf (Richard Armitage) and his clan on a quest to defeat the dragon Smaug. The film’s ensemble cast includes Ken Stott, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, James Nesbitt, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, and more.

Though it was one of the highest-grossing movies of 2012, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was not very well-received by critics at the time of its release, largely because of technical issues like a higher frame rate that took away from the otherwise gorgeous visual effects. Among fans of Tolkien’s landmark novel, the Hobbit film series is largely seen as a highly unfaithful reimagining that overstuffs the plot and drags a one-book story out over three feature films. The film was originally planned as a two-parter, not a trilogy, which in hindsight might have better suited the narrative of its source material.

4

‘Eragon’ (2006)

Image via 20th Century Studios.

Loosely adapted from Christopher Paolini’s eponymous 2002 novel, Eragon is a fantasy adventure film that was planned as the first installment of a franchise adapting Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle book series. The film stars Ed Speleers as the titular Eragon, a poor farm boy who discovers and hatches a dragon egg, an incident that thrusts him into the middle of a rebellion against a tyrannical king. The movie features Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, Djimon Hounsou, Garrett Hedlund, Joss Stone, and John Malkovich in key roles, with Rachel Weisz voicing Saphira, Eragon’s dragon.

Eragon takes a lot of liberties with its source material, which drew criticism from fans of the Inheritance Cycle novels, and its uneven screenplay put off most critics as well. While it does have some great visuals and CGI, the film lacks the emotional depth and world-building of Paolini’s book, delivering a story with extremely familiar beats that feel like Star Wars with dragons. The critical failure of the movie led to the planned sequels being scrapped, but a rebooted series adaptation has reportedly been in the works since 2022.

3

‘The Dark Tower’ (2017)

Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

A neo-Western science fantasy adventure movie, The Dark Tower is a loose adaptation of Stephen King‘s eponymous novel series that stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. The film follows gunslinger Roland Deschain (Elba) on his quest to protect the titular Dark Tower, a structure that supports all the realities of the multiverse, encountering a young boy with mysterious psychic abilities (Tom Taylor) who is being hunted by his nemesis, the evil Walter Padick (McConaughey). The movie also stars Katheryn Winnick, Nicholas Pauling, Claudia Kim, Fran Kranz, and more in supporting roles.

The Dark Tower was critically panned at the time of its release and didn’t prove too popular with audiences either. Planned as the first installment in a multimedia franchise, the movie combines elements drawn from all eight novels of the series and attempts to frame itself as a sequel/reboot of the books. The result is a haphazard mess that’s so incomprehensible, not even the performances of its talented ensemble can save it.

2

‘Artemis Fowl’ (2020)

Image via Disney+

Based on Eoin Colfer’s eponymous 2001 novel, Artemis Fowl is a science fantasy film starring Ferdia Shaw as the titular boy genius. The movie follows Artemis on a quest to rescue his kidnapped father by teaming up with a dwarf, a fairy, and his faithful butler, Butler (Nonso Anozie). The film also features Lara McDonnell, Josh Gad, Tamara Smart, Colin Farrell, and Judi Dench in key roles.

Colfer’s Artemis Fowl novels are a popular children’s series, so it was hoped that they would help launch a successful multimedia franchise. But after years in development hell, what we finally got was one of the worst fantasy movies of all time, which drew criticism from reviewers and fans for everything from its plot and dialogue to the visual effects. By taking a sanitized “market-friendly” approach to the source material and whizzing off in multiple directions for the sake of world-building, the film is an incoherent and underwhelming failure, both as an adaptation of Colfer’s darkly funny novel and in its attempts to build a successful franchise.

1

‘Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief’

Image via 20th Century Fox

The first installment in the short-lived Percy Jackson film series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was adapted from Rick Riordan’s Greek mythology-inspired 2005 fantasy novel. The movie stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, the demigod son of the Greek god Poseidon, who discovers his divine heritage just in time to be framed for the theft of an important magical weapon. The film’s ensemble cast also includes Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Catherine Keener, Kevin McKidd, Joe Pantoliano, and Uma Thurman.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was quite successful at the box office, but it received mixed reviews from critics and was pretty much hated by fans of the book series. Though it does have some great visual effects and action sequences, the movie makes far too many sweeping changes to the source material, retaining just a passing resemblance to the beloved novel it’s adapted from. A sequel, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, was released in 2013, which corrects some of the first movie’s mistakes but still failed to resonate with critics and audiences.