Dan DeSena
Randall Logan
Professor Phillips
VaST 231
3/9/12
A Successful Movie
As time progresses, it seems that more and more books are being turned into
movies. Genres range from children’s books to mature and sophisticated reads.
Some movies become giant successes, while other movies are considered a
disappointment to many. The question that arises in my mind is: How strictly
should a movie adhere to the book? To answer this question, we will examine three
different books that have been turned into movies. By examining these books, we
will be able to discover what characteristics a book must have in order to be turned
into a successful movie.
One of the most popular complaints about movies is that they do not adhere
to the story of the book. Although following the storyline of a book is the most
important characteristic, I also believe that there is more to making a successful
movie than meets the eye. When thinking of books that have been turned into
movies, three books come to mind: Harry Potter, Where the Wild Things Are, and The
Lord of the Rings. These three books have had high expectations for being turned
into films. Some of these books have lived up to these expectations, while others
have failed miserably. By looking at different examples, we will be able to see the
characteristics that a book must posses to be able to be turned into a movie.
First off, we will start by discussing one of the most popular book series:
Harry Potter. Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written for kids, teens,
and adults. The series became extremely popular and is worth over $15 billion
dollars. The popularity of this series made it an extremely good candidate to be
turned into a movie series. This best selling book series was soon transformed into
the highest grossing film series of all time. Harry Potter has the advantages of being
a long book, which allows the director plenty of material to work with. Additionally,
the audience is vast. It is easy to see how people of all ages enjoy watching these
movies. Some critics complain that the Harry Potter movies do not adhere to the
books and are somehow a disappointment. However, I believe that Harry Potter is a
fantastic representation of how a movie should adhere to the story of the book. The
only reason that the director was unable to include the entire story is due to time
limitations. If every detail of Harry Potter book were included in the movie, people
would complain that the movies were too long. This can be seen by the fact that the
last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was split into two separate movies:
Part one and Part two.
Another example of a movie that did an exceptional job of staying true to the
book is the Lord of the Ring trilogy. The Lord of the Rings audience was intended at a
similar audience as Harry Potter. The main problem that the Lord of the Rings had
was the same as Harry Potters. They had to take a die-hard fan base that was in love
with the books and make them fall in love with the movie. From the results of the
movie, this situation is an example where the movies were able to earn a lot more
money and popularity than the books did. In fact, the third movie alone won eleven
Oscars including best picture. When people talk about the Lord of the Rings, they are
generally referring to the movies. The movies were made so well that there were
very few complaints about what was taken out or missed.
On the contrary, the movie Where the Wild Things Are did not impress critics.
There are many reasons why this occurred. The most obvious reason of all is that
Where the Wild Things Are is a ten-sentence picture book, which was created for
children. Contrary to this, the movie has been described by many as boring and sad.
These same people who described the movie as being boring and sad, described the
book as their childhood favorite. The movie concentrates on themes such as
sadness, fear, and loneliness, which never appeared in the book. I believe that this is
an indication that the book was simply not long enough to be turned into a
successful one and a half hour movie. Additionally, I believe that the director did
not recognize the true audience for the movie and therefore made it too adult. The
director simply took the movie in a completely different direction than many
expected. By doing this, he disappointed many people and scared numerous
children.
I believe that it is quite obvious that some books are better left as books,
rather than turned into movies. However, in today’s media and technology driven
age people want to see things on screens rather than read them on paper. There is
more demand for books to be made into feature films now. The burden is put on the
director to keep everything that made a book great and put that on screen. In most
cases this is nearly impossible. The film Where the Wild Things Are is a prime
example of what happens when a director does not follow the storyline of the book.
The directors of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings had more information to
interpret what the audience wanted to see on screen. Even then, there were still
many critics who were upset with what the directors decided to put on screen. The
die-hard fans of the books will very rarely be pleased with the movies because of all
the undertones and messages that could potentially be missed by the directors.
In order to make a successful movie, it is necessary to seek out a book that
has a vast audience, proper length, and is popular. Additionally, the most important
part of making a successful movie is adhering to the storyline of the book. If the
director does not adhere to the book’s storyline, he will suffer many harsh critiques.
As we have seen, if a book does not meet all of these requirements, there is a very
slim chance that it will be turned into a great movie. It is extremely difficult to take
a short story and expand it to an hour and a half long movie, without losing the
interest of the audience. This is not to say that it can’t be done, however, there is a
much greater chance for success if the movie follows these characteristics.
Work Cited
BBC News. BBC. Web. 09 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2001/12/11/lord_of_the_rings_fellowship_of_
the_ring_2001_review.shtml>.
"From the Bookshelf to the Box Office: Fall 2009 Movie Adaptations." Examiner.com.
Web. 09 Mar. 2012. <http://www.examiner.com/books-in-portland/fromthe-bookshelf-to-the-box-office-fall-2009-movie-adaptations>.
"The 'Harry Potter' Complaint Box: Nitpicking J.K. Rowling's Almost Perfect Saga.
Your Quibbling Is Desired." EW.com. Web. 09 Mar. 2012.
<http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/07/17/the-harry-potter-complaint-boxnitpicking-j-k-rowlings-almost-perfect-saga-your-quibbling-is-desired/>.
"Parents Upset, Bored by 'Where the Wild Things Are'" CNN. 19 Oct. 2009. Web. 09
Mar. 2012. <http://articles.cnn.com/2009-1019/entertainment/parents.wild.things.are_1_movie-wild-things-violentscenes/2?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ>.
"Where the Wild Things Are." - Movie Review. Web. 09 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/where-wild-thingsare>.
Reflection:
The collaboration progress made writing the paper more interesting. It
allowed me to discuss ideas with my partner and have the input of another student.
Additionally, we were able to bring two different backgrounds and sets of
knowledge to the table. They always say that two heads are better than one, in the
case of this paper; I believe that this saying is correct. Instead of having two eyes
read over the paper, we had four eyes. I liked using google docs because it was a
very interesting way of collaborating in real time.