This has been a banner year for book-to-movie adaptions including some much anticipated blockbusters. There’s still time to read many of them before they release in theaters, or check out the book adaptions that were released January through June for some you may have missed.
19 Book-to-Movie Adaptations to Read Summer 2016
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Movie Release Date: July 1, 2016
Book Synopsis: A young girl named Sophie who’s growing up in an orphanage, encounters the Big Friendly Giant. Despite his intimidating appearance, it turns out that he’s a kindhearted soul who’s is ostracized by his peers because he refuses to conform to their ways. The two develop an unlikely friendship.
Movie Details:
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Cast: Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill, Penelope Wilton, Jemaine Clement, Bill Hader, and Adam Godley
- Studio:Walt Disney Studio
- MPAA Rating: PG
Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates: And a Thousand Cocktails by Dave and Mike Stangle
US Theatrical Release Date: July 8, 2015
Book Summary: A Craiglist ad for wedding dates goes viral.
Film Details:
- Director: Jake Szymanski
- Cast: Zac Efron, Anna Kendrick, Adam DeVine, Aubrey Plaza, Sam Richardson
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- MPAA Rating: R
Nerve by Jeanne Ryan
US Theatrical Release Date: July 27, 2016
Book Summary: Vee is chosen to play an anonymous game of dare which is broadcast on line called NERVE. She’s excited when she discovers that the game knows her when they tempt her with prizes they’ve found on her ThisIsMe page and then they team her up with the perfect boy. But her exhilaration turns to fear when they’re directed, along with five other players, to a secret location to compete in the Grand Prize round which turns out to be all or nothing with their lives on the line.
Film Details:
- Director: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
- Cast: Emma Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Dave Franco, Emily Meade,Samira Wiley,Kimiko Glenn
- Studio: Lionsgate
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Indignation by Philip Roth
US Theatrical Release Date: July 29, 2016
Book Summary: Marcus Messner is a law-abiding Jewish college sophomore at Ohio’s Winesburg College in 1951. It’s a conservative Christian campus far from home because his father has gone mad and wants to protect him from the dangers of the world.
Film Details:
- Director: James Schamus
- Cast: Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, Tracy Letts, Ben Rosenfield, Linda Emond, Danny Burstein, Pico Alexander, Philip Ettinger, Noah Robbins
- Studio: Summit Entertainment
- MPAA Rating: R
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
US Theatrical Release Date: September 2, 2016
Book Summary: A lighthouse keeper and his wife find a baby in a rowboat and decide to raise it as their own.
Film Details:
- Director: Derek Cianfrance
- Cast: Michael Fassbender, Rachel Weisz, Alicia Vikander
- Studio: DreamWorks
- MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material and some sexual content
Queen of Katwe by Tim Crothers
US Theatrical Release Date: September 23, 2016
Book Summary: The true story of nine-year-old Ugandan Phiona Mutesi who’s chance encounter with Robert Katende would result in her rising above poverty through her chess skills.
Film Details:
- Director: Mira Nair
- Cast: Lupita Nyong’o, David Oyelowo, Esther Tebandeke
- Studio: Walt Disney Studios
- MPAA Rating: PG
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
US Theatrical Release Date: October 7, 2016
Book Synopsis: She takes the same train every day and everyday is the same. Until the days she sees something and it changes everything and soon she’s entangled in the investigation as well as the lives of everyone involved.
Film Details
- Director: Tate Taylor
- Cast: Luke Evans, Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett
- Studio: Universal Studios
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Inferno by Dan Brown
US Theatrical Release Date: October 14, 2016
Book Synopsis: He wakes up in a hospital with no recollection of what he’s done the last 36 hours. The Harvard professor of symbology must figure out the origin of the macabre object he finds hidden in his personal belongings while being trailed by an assassin.
Film Details:
- Director: Ron Howard
- Cast: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Ben Foster
- Studio: Columbia Pictures
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
US Theatrical Release Date: October 14, 2016
Book Synopsis: A deeply moving and darkly funny story of a boy, his seriously ill mother, and their unexpected monstrous visitor.
Film Details:
- Director: J A Bayona
- Cast: Liam Neeson, Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Toby Kebbell
- Studio: Focus Features
- MPAA Rating: PG-13
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back by Lee Child
US Theatrical Release Date: October 21, 2016
Book Summary: Jack Reacher, former military cop, heads to the Virginia headquarters of his old unit. Instead of being welcomed back, he’s arrested for a murder that happened 16 years earlier.
Film Details:
- Director: Edward Zwick
- Cast: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders, Danika Yarosh, Aldis Hodge, Patrick Heusinger, Holt McCallany, Robert Knepper
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
US Theatrical Release Date: October 21, 2016 (limited)
Book Summary: Swede Levov, is living the American Dream in the 1960’s until his adored daughter changes from the quick-witted girls he loves to a sullen and fanatical teenager capable of a savage act of political terrorism.
Film Details:
- Director: Ewan McGregor
- Cast: Jennifer Connelly, Ewan McGregor, Dakota Fannint
- Studio: Lionsgate
- MPAA Rating: R for some strong sexual material, language and brief violent images
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain
US Theatrical Release Date: November 11, 2016 (Veteran’s Day)
Book Summary: When a Fox News crew is embedded in the Bravo Squad, they capture their firefight with Iraqi insurgents. They become heroes and and have to deal with their new life that involves being approached by Hollywood producers, fans, and more as part of their Victory Tour and the conflict it creates.
Film Details:
- Director: Ang Lee
- Cast: Garrett Hedlund, Joe Alwyn, Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, Steve Martin, Chris Tucker
- Studio: Sony Pictures
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling
U.S. & UK Theatrical Release Date: November 16, 2016
Book Synopsis: When Magizoologist Newt Scamander’s magical case is misplaced, his brief stopover in New York takes a turn when some of his fantastic beasts escape which spells trouble for everyone. This J.K. Rowling’s screenwriting debut.
Book Details: Age Range: 8 – 15 years Grade Level: 3 – 9
Film Details:
- Director: David Yates
- Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Ezra Miller, Carmen Ejogo, Faith Wood-Blagrove, Jon Voight, Ron Perlman
- Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Tony and Susan (Nocturnal Animals) by Austin Wright
US Theatrical Release Date: November 18, 2016
Book Summary: Fifteen years ago, Susan Morrow divorced her unpublished writer first husband 15 years ago. One day she receives a manuscript in the mail asking her to critic his first novel. Susan is drawn into the life of the fictional math professor heading to the family’s summer home in main. The story plunges Susan into the past to confront the darkness that inhabits her.
Film Details:
- Director: Tom Ford
- Cast: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Johnson, Isla Fisher, Armie Hammer
- Studio: Focus Films
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
U.S. Theatrical Release Date: December 25, 2016
Book Synopsis: When Jacob discovers clues to a mystery that spans different worlds and times, he finds a magical place known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. But the mystery and danger deepen as he gets to know the residents and ultimately learns that only his own special “peculiarity” can save his new friends.
Book Details: Interest Level – Grades 7 – 12 / Grade Level Equivalent: 8 Lexile® Measure: 890L DRA: 70 Guided Reading: Z
Film Details:
- Director: Tim Burton
- Cast: Eva Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Ella Purnell, Asa Butterfield, Chris O’Dowd, Allison Janney,Rupert Everett, Terence Stamp, Judi Dench
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
Silence by Shusaku Endo
US Theatrical Release Date: November 2016 (limited
Book Summary: Set in 17th century Japan, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to a country hostile to their religion, where they’re captured where they bear witness to unimaginable cruelties toward their Japanese Christian brothers which test their own beliefs.
Film Details:
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Cast: Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield
- Studio: Paramount Pictures
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
US Theatrical Release Date: TBA Fall 2016
Book Summary: The true story of Polish of how Polish zookeepers, Jan and Antonina Zabinski, save more than 300 people by hiding them in the zoo’s animal cages thus saving them from the Nazis.
Film Details:
- Director: Niki Caro
- Cast: Jessica Chastain, Daniel Brühl, Iddo Goldberg,Johan Heldenbergh, Michael McElhatton, Goran Kostic, Shira Haas
- Studio: Focus Features
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
The Circle by Dave Eggers
US Theatrical Release Date: TBA
Book Summary: Mae Holland’s hiring by the world’s most powerful internet company, The Circle, seems like opportunity of a lifetime. But there’s something not right behind the sprawling California campus, the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, and the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work. It’s a captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism which soon becomes a heart-racing story of suspense,
Film Details:
- Director: James Ponsoldt
- Cast: Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, John Boyega, Karen Gillan, Patton Oswalt, Bill Paxton
- Studio: EuropaCorp
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rates
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann
US Theatrical Release Date: 2016
Book Summary: The writer becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Percy Fawcett, a legendary British explorer who disappeared in 1925 after venturing into the Amazon jungle in search of The Lost City of Z. The story interwines the author’s journey with Fawcett’s.
Film Details:
- Director: James Gray
- Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Tom Holland
- Studio:Paramount Pictures
- MPAA Rating: Not Yet Rated
June 2016 Releases
Me Before You: A Novel (Movie Tie-In) The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving: A Novel
May 2016 Movie Adaptations of Books
Love & Friendship based on Jane Austen’s Lady Susan
High-Rise: A Novel by J.G. Ballard Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Manhattan Night: A Novel by Colin Harrison
April 2016 Book Adaptations
Kill Your Friends: A Novel by John Niven
The Family Fang: A Novel by Kevin Wilson
March 2016 Book to Film Adaptations
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot based on The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Kim Barker
The Young Messiah (Movie tie-in) (originally published as Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt): A Novel by Anne Rice
February 2016 Movies Based on Books
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (on DVD)
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
January 2016 Movies Adapted from Books
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (Buy on Bluray or DVD) based on the book Thirteen Hours: A Firsthand Account Of What Really Happened In Benghazi by Mitchell Zuckoff The 5th Wave: The First Book of the 5th Wave Series by Richard Yancey (Buy the 5th Wave on Blu-ray)
I gained an interest for comparing books to movie adaptations when my children were small. I noticed that a lot of the animated films were based on books and were very different from their written origins. Thanks for sharing the list.
My goodness, that is a lot of books to look at. Such a great list of book suggestions & as I always love reading something new, I am going to try as many I could!
What a great list of book recommendations. I need to carve out some tie for me to read a few.
Ooooo a lot of fantastic book suggestions here! I need some new reading material for when I’m
Out by the pool!
Thanks for the recommendations. I need a new summer read and I like comparing books to movies.