10 Movies That Are Actually Better Than the Book

I love snuggling up with a good book and going on an adventure in my mind. And I think that's what makes adaptations so hard. You can really only pick the best parts of the book to translate them to the big screen.

But sometimes, screenwriters find books that are good...and are able to make movies that are great.

Today, I want to go over 10 movies I think actually turned out better than the books.

Let's dive into these amazing book-to-movie adaptations.

1. The Godfather (1972)

• Author: Mario Puzo
• Director: Francis Ford Coppola
• Writers: Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola
• Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton

Mario Puzo’s novel is a gripping page-turner, but it’s also filled with subplots that feel more like pulp fiction (looking at you, Lucy Mancini). It lacks the cohesion and, honestly, the worldbuilding that the movie does so well.

Francis Ford Coppola stripped away the fluff and focused on the tragedy of the Corleone family. He turned a bestseller into arguably the greatest film ever made.

2. Jaws (1975)

• Author: Peter Benchley
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Writers: Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb
• Cast: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss

In Peter Benchley’s novel, the characters are mostly unlikable. And it lacks the dynamic ending, focusing on drowning the shark. There’s even a weird affair subplot between Ellen Brody and Matt Hooper. Spielberg threw all that out. He focused on the camaraderie among the three men on the boat and the primal terror of the unseen; he invented the summer blockbuster by blowing the shark sky-high.

3. Fight Club (1999)

• Author: Chuck Palahniuk
• Director: David Fincher
• Writer: Jim Uhls
• Cast: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter

Even the book’s author, Chuck Palahniuk, has admitted he prefers the movie. It just takes the story and gives it a drive and a twist that I think work better visually. David Fincher’s kinetic direction and the addition of the Pixies’ "Where Is My Mind?" at the end gave the story a weight that transcends the original novella.

4. Children of Men (2006)

• Author: P.D. James
• Director: Alfonso Cuarón
• Writers: Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby
• Cast: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine

P.D. James wrote a fine philosophical novel. But I think what the adaptation did was give it stakes beyond the idea. Alfonso Cuarón turned it into an immersive experience and gave us a dangerous world. He used long takes and a "documentary-style" lens to make us feel like we were there, too.

5. Blade Runner (1982)

• Author: Philip K. Dick
• Director: Ridley Scott
• Writers: Hampton Fancher and David Peoples
• Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a brilliant sci-fi meditation. But Ridley Scott gave it a "vibe" and also gave us more of a plot. We see the story unfold through the rain-drenched, neon-noir aesthetic of the film, which defined the cyberpunk genre.

6. Mean Girls (2004)

• Author: Rosalind Wiseman
• Director: Mark Waters
• Writer: Tina Fey
• Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey

The "source material" here was actually a non-fiction self-help parenting book called Queen Bees and Wannabes. It's so funny that Tina Fey took the sociological observations and translated them into an all-time great movie. She invented all of it and defined an era with quotes and burn books.

7. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

• Author: Stephen King
• Director: Frank Darabont
• Writer: Frank Darabont
• Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman

Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is a standout, but Frank Darabont found the soul of the story and translated it in a way that felt more expansive and also somehow more distilled. He dove deeper into the world of the prison and leaned into the relationship between Andy and Red to give the consequences of Andy's actions some weight.

8. No Country for Old Men (2007)

• Author: Cormac McCarthy
• Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
• Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen
• Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin

Not sure if this is a spicy take or not, but I prefer the movie! Cormac McCarthy’s prose is direct and interesting, but I just liked the way the movie felt more lively and natural, at times. The Coen Brothers stripped away the internal monologues and let the landscapes and Javier Bardem’s performance do the talking.

9. Forrest Gump (1994)

• Author: Winston Groom
• Director: Robert Zemeckis
• Writer: Eric Roth
• Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise

This book is insane. It contains so much sex, and Gump also curses all the time and even goes to space. But Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Eric Roth decided to make the story a fable about innocence and American history, which resonated much more deeply with audiences. I still think this is an aspirational movie about an America we can strive to be...if we treat each other well.

10. Psycho (1960)

• Author: Robert Bloch
• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Writer: Joseph Stefano
• Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin

In the original novel, Norman Bates is an overweight, middle-aged, and deeply unappealing protagonist. Also, he's a murderer...which he always is...but you get the picture. Hitchcock’s decision to cast the boyish, charismatic Anthony Perkins made the twist far more shocking and the character's descent into madness much more haunting for the audience. Also, the culmination of the music and cinematography sold a world the book never could.

Summing It All Up

These are some of my picks out there for movies that are better than the book, but I bet you have a couple I need to add. I want to know what they are and how it changed for the better!

Let me know what you think in the comments.