The Success of Book to Film Adaptations
A book can be adapted to fit many mediums such as television series, plays, video games, audio and the most popular, film. Most adaptations are based on non-fiction and more commonly fiction consumer publishing.
Films adapted from books are typically more successful than original screenplays as they generate 53% more revenue (£68m)than original screenplays worldwide. An incredible 70% of the world’s top 20 grossing films are based on books (Frontier Economics).
The percentage of books adapted for film vary each year, sometimes substantially, as trends in popular culture must be followed. For example, in 2005 66% of films released were based on books, this then dropped significantly to 28% in 2011 and then rose to 65% in 2015.
Why adaptations are more popular?
Adapted films are more popular and successful than original screenplays because the book or author already have a following that equals a guaranteed audience which ensures that it will not “flop” at the box-office. And due to the pre-existing audience and modern social media, fans have the ability to spread the word about the adaptations allowing for it to become a part of popular culture.
We have seen this happen with the Game of Thronesphenonium. The shows first season’s finale had 3 million viewers, whereas by the season eight finale it had an incredible 19.3 million viewers, and this was mainly due to its popularity on social media (Fitzgerald, Forbes 2019).
Requirements for adaptations
Besides from a book’s popularity what does make a book a good candidate for adaptation to film? It has been seen that the Adventure, Drama and Horror genres have a larger percentage of adaptations from literary fiction than original screenplays (Fellows, 2014). This may be largely due to a more complex plot being expected, so a popular novel from these genres are sort after as the plot and storyline are already proved to work and appeal to an audience.
How many times can a book be adapted?
There are many examples of a book being adapted more than once in multiple remakes. But is there a limit to how many times one novel can be adapted and still be successful?
One example being Louisa May Alcott’s popular novel Little Woman. Since its release in 1868 the novel has been adapted for film seven times and the eighth will be released in December this year with a star-studded cast including Emma Watson and Meryl Streep. This will mean that the film will appeal to a whole new generation that will buy the 1868 novel and it will come into popularity once again.
Therefore, I believe that adaptations should be remade periodically to suite a new generation so that the publishing industry is continuously benefiting.
Why they are beneficial
But how beneficial are book to film adaptations for the publishing industry? Adaptations of a novel can guarantee an increase in income for the publishing industry. After the film is released there will be a significant rise in books sales. The books may also be given new cover designs and re-merchandised to include the films actors and actresses which will result in further sales.
This increase in revenue benefits the world of books significantly as Publishers can now afford to increase their lists and are in a position to take more risks with books in the future. In addition, the author will receive a substantial amount from the success of the film meaning that they will be able to write and release more books and start the cycle again.
However, as with everything there are always disadvantages. Occasionally novels that have been adapted to film result in a negative effect for the book. Some films take altering a novel, so that it suits the medium, to extremes. There are cases where the book in which it is based off of has become unrecognisable as so many changes have been made. This can upset the novels original audience and it may also dissuade the films audience from reading the book as they prefer the films version of events.
This happened with My Foolish Heart, an adaptation of J. D. Salinger’s novel Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut. With the author hating the end result as well.
Overall, adaptations have benefited the publishing industry and I amongst many, are excited to see what stories are brought to life in the future.
Fellows, S. (2014). What are the highest-grossing movie adaptations?. [online] Stephen Follows. Available at: https://stephenfollows.com/highest-grossing-movie-adaptations/ [Accessed 4 Oct. 2019].
Forbes.com. (2019). ‘Game Of Thrones’ Finale By The Numbers: All The Show’s Ratings Records. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonifitzgerald/2019/05/20/game-of-thrones-finale-by-the-numbers-all-the-shows-ratings-records/#19aa33345f73 [Accessed 4 Oct. 2019].
Odinity. (n.d.). A Look at the Relationship between Book and Film. [online] Available at: https://www.odinity.com/adapting-to-adaptations-a-look-at-the-relationship-between-book-and-film/ [Accessed 4 Oct. 2019].
Willow and Thatch. (2019). Little Women Movie & TV Adaptations • Willow and Thatch. [online] Available at: https://www.willowandthatch.com/little-women-literary-film-adaptations/ [Accessed 4 Oct. 2019].