Some studios believe that upcoming novels hold such promise, they purchase the rights to the movie adaptation before the book has even been published. This was the case with somemovie adaptations better than the source material, demonstrating the keen eye of some directors and producers.Other movie rights were only bought ahead of time because they exhibited obvious genre popularity,and the studio executives knew they shouldn’t pass up the chance to produce the movie fast.
Thebest YA book adaptationswere produced in rapid succession because of the knowledge that the particular subgenre was popular, and getting the movie out before it faded away was advisable. Yetthere are still some book-to-movie adaptations that were bought early for no reason other than qualityand resulted in stellar finished products. Other than a few rare cases of horrible adaptations, this was in service of giving the fans the movie they wanted without having to wait too long.
10The Godfather (1972)
Book By Mario Puzo
The Offerchanges the book/movie timeline ofThe Godfatherfor its miniseries about the circumstances of the landmark movie’s production.Paramount bought the rights toThe Godfatherin 1967,before author Mario Puzo had even completed it (viaLA Times). This paycheck even allowed Puzo to be able to complete the novel. While Paramount originally envisioned a much smaller-scale movie, Francis Ford Coppola transformed the project once he was hired.
The Godfather
Cast
The Godfather chronicles the Italian-American Corleone crime family from 1945 to 1955. Following an assassination attempt on family patriarch Vito Corleone, his youngest son Michael emerges to orchestrate a brutal campaign of retribution, cementing his role in the family’s illicit empire.
Coppola and Puzo worked together to write the screenplay,while the book was released and production of the movie got underway. Given Puzo’s average career as an author and Paramount’s less ambitious plans for the adaptations, there is no definitive reason to believe that studio executives knew what they had stumbled onto and bought the rights before someone else got the privilege of making the movie. They got lucky with the source material and the director, leading to arguably the best gangster movie of all time.
Book By Suzanne Collins
Sunrise on the Reaping is moving even faster through the book-to-movie pipeline, with a book release in 2025 and a movie release in 2026.
Suzanne Collins surprised her dormant fanbase with the announcement that she was writing aHunger Gamesprequel,more than a decade since the last book. Shortly after, Lionsgate confirmed that it was already setting up a movie adaptation, unsurprisingly confident in the potential blockbuster and only too happy to return to the profits of the oldHunger Gamesmovies.
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a prequel movie set 64 years before the events of the original movie with Katniss Everdeen. The film centers on a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) and shows his rise to power as the leader of Panem. Taking place during the 10th Hunger Games, Snow is tasked with mentoring Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), the tribute from District 12.
WhileThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakeswas released in May 2020,the movie came out in November 2023. Furthermore,The Hunger Gamesfranchise is now planning on the same thing with Collins' next novel,Sunrise on the Reaping, following the events of the 50th Hunger Games (24 years beforeThe Hunger Gamesand 40 years afterThe Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes).
10 Movie Adaptations Where You Really Should Read The Book First
Reading the book before watching its film adaptation can greatly enrich the viewing experience and enhance understanding of the movie’s story.
Sunrise on the Reapingis moving even faster through the book-to-movie pipeline, with a book release in 2025 and a movie release in 2026.Given thatThe Hunger Gamesis Lionsgate’s most profitable franchise, it is logical that they are invested in fast adaptations,based on remaining goodwill for the series.
8Hidden Figures (2016)
Book By Margot Lee Shetterly
TheHidden Figuresbook was released in September 2016, while the movie became available in public movie theaters only a few days into 2017 (it is generally said to be a 2016 release due to earlier screenings). The movie and book would have been completed alongside each other, with author Margot Lee Shetterly credited as both a writer and executive producer for the movie.Deadlinereported on both the upcomingHidden Figuresbook and movie in July 2015,mentioning some of the actresses considered who would eventually be cast.
Hidden Figures
Based on the lives of Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, Hidden Figures tells the untold stories of the three African-American mathematicians and their work at NASA during the Space Race of the 1960s. Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe star as Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson respectively, with a further cast that includes Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, and Mahershala Ali.
Hidden Figuresis a biographical drama,and the events depicted would have been great to be seen as a movie regardless if a book had been written first. Oscar-hopeful directors often turn to history as the basis for their projects, but Shetterly’s book contributed to a movie with fully realized characters. With an invested author already doing a significant amount of research and writing,Hidden Figureswas on its way to being an even better movie.
7The Martian (2015)
Book By Andy Weir
Sci-fi author Andy Weir technically did writeThe Martianbefore he got his movie deal, but his story is unique.Unable to secure a publishing deal, Weir was publishingThe Martianone chapter at a time onlineand selling a 99-cent version of the book via Kindle before both the movie and the publishing deals happened around the same time in 2013 (viaPEOPLE). Crown Publishing re-released the book in 2014, whileThe Martianbegan its journey to the Oscars a year later.
The Martian
Adapted by Ridley Scott from Andy Weir’s novel of the same name, The Martian follows the plight of astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) after he finds himself stranded alone on Mars after he is falsely presumed dead during a mission. Unable to communicate with Earth and armed with little more than his scientific expertise as a botanist, Watney must find a way to survive on the barren planet until the next scheduled mission arrives.
Space adventures have long been lucrative for Hollywood, especially when they are directed by Ridley Scott.Gravitywas also released in 2013,going on to become another Oscar contender. After having ignoredThe Martianfor two years, everyone in the business was scrambling to acquire it and repeat the thrilling yet artistic successes ofGravity, Alien, and other movies like them.
6The Fault In Our Stars (2014)
Book By John Green
The timeline ofThe Fault in Our Starsis very narrow: the book was published on August 04, 2025, whilePublishers Weeklyreported on August 01, 2025 that Fox had optioned the rights to the movie.Major news outlets were already talking aboutThe Fault in Our Starsin early and mid-January,but it’s not likely that Fox executives started the process only once they had heard these reviews. Someone at Fox probably got an advance copy and was already in talks to adapt it before publication.
The Fault in Our Stars
Based on the bestselling novel by John Green, The Fault in Our Stars follows Hazel Grace Lancaster, a teenage girl living with cancer who meets fellow cancer patient Augustus Waters at a support group and begins and romance with him. Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort star as Hazel and Gus.
At the time, Green had already publishedAn Abundance of KatherinesandLooking for Alaska, but neither had led to major movie adaptations.The Fault in Our Starswould become linked with the YA dystopia era because of the involvement of Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort,but they wouldn’t have yet known that they could count onDivergentfans showing up. Fox probably believed that the story would make a good movie and only hoped that it would appeal to a young adult audience.
5Twilight (2008
Book By Stephenie Meyer
Twilightwould give rise to other vampire stories in movies and TV, but vampires did not have such a status that it would be automatically assumed that a studio would invest in the book long before it was out.MTV Films bought the rights toTwilightin April 2004,with the book’s future publication set for October 2005 (viaEW).
Twilight
Based on Stephenie Meyer’s book of the same name, Twilight follows Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart), who falls madly in love with Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), who she soon finds out is a vampire. Falling in love with her at the same time, Edward and Bella must overcome obstacles to preserve their forbidden relationship.
At this time,MTV envisioned a movie very different from Stephenie Meyer’s book.Twilight’s original script had a vampire slayer Bella, perhaps trying to reinvent Buffy’s legacy. However, the project went into turnaround and was bought by Summit Entertainment in 2006.
11 Book Adaptations To Get Second Chances As TV Shows
Whether or not the film adaptation was successful, novels like Percy Jackson and Interview with the Vampire have gotten second chances as TV shows.
Given both the early movie option and the bidding war for theTwilightbooks,it seems like the entertainment industry just had a sense thatTwilightwas going to be a new pop culture phenomenon.Right around the same time as the movie’s release,True Bloodbegan its run in 2008 withThe Vampire Diariesfollowing in 2009.
4World War Z (2013)
Book By Max Brooks
Plan B Entertainment won the rights to adaptWorld War Zin June 2006,a few months before the book’s release (viaVariety). The movie faced significant delays during development before finally hitting theaters in 2013. Notably,World War Zdrastically changes the book’s ending, moving away from the source material’s fresh take on the zombie apocalypse genre to a more classic action movie structure.
World War Z
Based on the novel by Max Brooks, World War Z tells the story of a world ravaged by a zombie virus. Former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) braves the apocalypse in search of a cure. He is tasked with finding the point of origin of the virus in order to synthesize a vaccine, reluctantly doing so in exchange for his family’s safety. His search takes him around the world, where he witnesses all the devastation of the apocalypse.
From the time that several studios entered a bidding war forWorld War Zto its era as a beloved novel to being critiqued as a lackluster adaptation, the"oral history of the zombie war"has seen several high and low points. Despite its future in Hollywood, Max Brooks' novel garnered a lot of interest that set it up to have an allegedly quick adaptation.Brooks had previously writtenThe Zombie Survival Guide,a fictional manual to his apocalypse, setting the stage for his most famous book and all the hype surrounding it.
3The Lovely Bones (2009)
Book By Alice Sebold
The creatives at Film4 production were the ones who saw the potential early on in The Lovely Bones but, unfortunately, didn’t get to see the payoff from betting on the story.
Film4 Productions originally bought the movie rights toThe Lovely Bonesin 2000, before Alice Sebold had even finished the book (viaVariety). After Film4 was shut down,the rights became a point of interest for several major Hollywood studios, as this was right around the timeThe Lovely Boneswas on the bestseller list.Peter Jackson became personally invested in adapting the movie, discussing the book in a 2005 interview withMovieWeb.
The Lovely Bones
After her murder, fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon watches over her family, friends, and killer from the “In-Between.” Her family and community grieve her death and attempt to find justice for Susie. Meanwhile, Susie struggles to move on to the afterlife while lacking closure in both her life and her murder.
The creatives at Film4 production were the ones who saw the potential early on inThe Lovely Bonesbut, unfortunately, didn’t get to see the payoff from betting on the story. Despite its strong cast,Jackson’s adaptation ofThe Lovely Boneswas review-bombed on Rotten Tomatoes.While the director may have been as mesmerized by the story as everyone else, it is possible that he should have stuck to his familiar subgenres of fantasy.
2The Hate U Give (2018)
Book By Angie Thomas
Debut author Angie Thomas saw a huge demand for her novelThe Hate U Give, which was won by HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray in a fierce bidding war in 2016, while the movie rights were picked up by Fox shortly after. The novel was released a year later, and the movie only a year after that. In 2017, Alexandra Alter wrote an article forThe New York Timesabout the"new crop of young adult novels exploring race and police brutality,“in which it is mentioned thatThomas wondered if she wouldn’t be able to sellThe Hate U Givebecause of its"polarizing"subject matter.
The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give is a drama film adapted from Angie Thomas' novel, which tells the story of Starr Carter, a teenager from a poor and mostly black neighborhood who witnesses her childhood friend being shot by a white police officer and must find her voice to stand up for what’s right.
Both the book and movie adaptation ofThe Hate U Givewere widely praised,making Thomas one of the most important YA authors to follow and taking Amandla Stenberg’s career to its next phase. Thomas worked alongside the movie’s director to make some adjustments to the story for the big screen. Meanwhile, the author has continued to have a groundbreaking career, including the bestselling prequel toThe Hate U Give, Concrete Rose.
1Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)
Book By Casey McQuiston
Red, White & Royal Blueis also an author’s debut novel engaging with current socio-political questions that garnered Hollywood’s interest early.Casey McQuiston’s premise is out-of-this-world and crowd-pleasingbut incorporates an impressive number of historical and cultural references. Amazon Prime bought the movie rights forRed, White & Royal Bluein April 2019, a month before the book was published (viaDeadline).
Red, White & Royal Blue
Red, White & Royal Blue is a romantic comedy film based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Casey McQuiston. The film follows the President of the United States son, Alex, and Britain’s Prince Henry, who are at odds over nearly everything. However, the two get into an altercation at a significant event, further causing a divide between the two nations; they are forced to reconcile their differences on paper. But as the two spend time together, their rivalry evolves into something more.
Prime was likely drawn to the premise and encouraged by great early reviews. However, the movie’s production was delayed due to lockdown and the release was pushed back to 2023.Red, White & Royal Blueis one of the quintessential BookTok books,wildly popular among readers using this platform at the time. As it is still thebest of McQuiston’s books, it is unsurprising that filmmakers were eager to adapt it, as well as other amazing novels that Hollywood eyed early.
