Lights! Camera! Adapt!

Page to screen adaptations have been a staple of television and cinematography for

many decades, ranging from The Wizard of Oz to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,

Little Women to James Bond. Authors from ages past and those emerging alike see

their works adapted by talented filmmakers and producers, into some of our favourite

movie night staples or Netflix binge subjects. Through the hundreds of examples,

there are always a few, for me, which standout beyond the rest.

We must begin with The Lord of the Rings. Written by J.R.R. Tolkien throughout

1954 and 1955, the book has become a giant of English literature, telling the thrilling

tale of Frodo Baggins who alongside a fellowship of men, elves, dwarves, a wizard

and fellow hobbits, must destroy the One Ring which holds the power of the evil

Sauron. Spawning a trilogy of films in 2001-2003, the series has grossed almost $3

billion worldwide and director Peter Jackson’s works are universally regarded as

pure mastery. Exciting and powerful, The Lord of the Rings is arguably the best

book-to-screen adaptation in existence.

But it’s not the only book series that has made waves on the big screen. Suzanne

Collins’ The Hunger Games, the competition pitting twelve districts’ young people

against one another to win favour of the Capitol, grossed $3.3 billion from the five

movies, including last year’s prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Starring

Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson and the late Donald Sutherland, the dystopian

world crafted by Collins is cemented in pop culture, both on screen and the page.

Switching to television, a slightly lesser-known adaptation that has always held a

special place in my mind comes from the 2015 BBC miniseries adaptation of Agatha

Christie’s And Then There Were None. With ten strangers lured to an isolated island

off the Devon coast, they all quickly find that they’re not all who they say they are,

complicated by their murders in tune with a nursery rhyme. The series may not have

seen much widespread reception after its release, it received high ratings and was

the second most watched programme on Boxing Day 2015, the date of the first

episode’s release.

There are thousands of book-to-screen adaptations, and millions of potential

additions to this collection, one which will surely see great expansion in the coming

decades. With opportunity aplenty, I see no sign of the adaptation anticipation

subsiding anytime soon.

Edited by: Jasmine Pegg