Best movies based on books
Release date: Nov. 21, 2008
Director: Catherine Hardwick
Plot: The first of five films based on the best-selling teen novels by Stephenie Meyer chronicling the romantic relationship between teenager Bella Swan and vampire hunk Edward Cullen.
Release date: Nov. 16, 2001
Director: Chris Columbus
Plot: Based on the first book in the "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling, the movie is about a young orphaned boy who discovers he's a wizard and will be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Release date: May 23, 1980
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Plot: Based on the Stephen King book by the same name,the film concerns a family that moves into a secluded hotel for the winter, where the father gradually goes insane.
Release date: Nov. 10, 2010
Director: Danny Boyle
Plot: A climber hiking alone in the mountains in Utah falls into a crevice, pinning his arm under a rock wall. Based on a true story by Aron Ralston, "Between a Rock and a Hard Place."
Release date: June 30, 1971
Director: Mel Stuart
Plot: Based on the children's story "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl (read his bio), in which a boy finds a golden ticket and wins a visit to a magical chocolate factory.
Release date: June 25, 2004
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Plot: Based on the best-selling novel by Nicholas Sparks, this is a romantic saga about a young man from the wrong side of the tracks who falls in love with a rich society girl
Release date: Aug. 13, 2010
Director: Ryan Murphy
Plot: A true story of an unhappy housewife who divorces her husband and embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Based on the best-selling memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert.
Release date: 1962
Directors: Robert Mulligan and Alan J. Pakula
Plot: Set in a racially divided Alabama town in the '30s, the story follows a young girl named Scout, whose lawyer father, Atticus Finch, agrees to represent a black man accused of raping a white woman.Based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel of the same name.
Release date: June 30, 1995
Director: Ron Howard
Plot: An adaptation of a true story by astronaut Jim Lovell and journalist Jeffrey Kluger, the movie dramatizes a lunar mission crisis and the courageous astronauts on Apollo 13.
Release date: Sept. 21, 2007
Director: Sean Penn
Plot: Based on Jon Krakauer's novel by the same name, the story follows a recent college graduate who cuts his ties with family and friends and travels to Alaska seeking a greater understanding of and spiritual connection with nature.
Release date: Dec. 5, 2003
Director: Peter Jackson
Plot: The first in a three part epic tale and based on J.R.R. Tolkien's best-selling novel, the movie concerns a young hobbit named Frodo who has been given a mysterious ring with dark powers.
Release date: June 11, 1993
Director: Steven Spielberg
Plot: A new theme park housing living dinosaurs suffers a power breakdown, putting two dinosaur experts on a preview tour in extreme danger. The movie is based on Michael Crichton's best-selling novel.
Release date: Dec. 9, 2005
Director: Andrew Adamson
Plot: The first book in the popular children's series by C.S. Lewis, the movie follows four siblings who find a magic wardrobe that transports them to the supernatural land of Narnia
Release date: Dec. 21, 2007
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Plot: Based on the best-selling novel by Irish writer Cecelia Ahern, the movies is about a recently widowed woman who discovers that her late husband left her a series of letters to help her grieve and move forward with her life.
Release date: Jan. 17, 1939
Director: Victor Fleming
Plot: A tumultuous love affair between willful Scarlett O'Hara and the dashing, no-nonsense Rhett Butler dominates this epic tale set in the South during the Civil War.The movie was adapted from the best-selling book by Margaret Mitchell.
Release date: Nov. 20, 2009
Director: Wes Anderson
Plot: A stop-motion animation filmbased on Roald Dahl's children's tale. A cunning fox continually outsmarts three chicken farmers, who go to extreme measures to protect their livestock.
Release date: March 15, 1972
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Plot: The head of an organized-crime family grooms his youngest and most independent son to take control of the family business. Based on the crime novel by Mario Puzo.
Release date: April 13, 2001
Director: Sharon Maguire
Plot: A young, neurotic British woman searches for love and weight loss in this romantic comedy based on the best-selling novel by Helen Fielding.
Release date: Dec. 15, 1993
Director: Steven Spielberg
Plot: Based on a true story in the book by Thomas Keneally, the film concerns a German factory owner in Poland who becomes increasingly concerned about his Jewish workers' welfare.
Release date: Sept. 23, 1994
Director: Frank Darabont
Plot: Despite his claims of innocence, a banker is convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. He meets a fellow prisoner, and together they seek solace within a brutal environment. Based on a short story by Stephen King.
Release date: May 19, 2006
Director: Ron Howard
Plot: After a murder at the Louvre museum in Paris, a policewoman and a symbolist specialist collaborate to solve a mystery involving ancient clues and secret societies. Based on Dan Brown's novel.
Release date: Nov. 28, 2008
Director: Mark Herman
Plot: Adapted from John Boyne's novel set during World War II, the film follows the young son of a prominent Nazi who, unbeknownst to his family, befriends a boy imprisoned in a concentration camp.
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