Top Ten Thursdays

April 9th, 2010

top-ten-thursdays

Last week Nicholas Sparks turned his 80th (I mean 8th) book into a film. The Last Song is the latest love/cry/death fest (seriously, why does someone always die in his books?) to be adapted to the big screen by Sparks. This week we’re counting down the Top Ten authors that have turned their books into films. We’ve got vampires, wizards, chocoholics, and people with giant feet that spend three books/films walking.

Check it out after the jump!

William Shakespeare

Okay, so maybe Shakespeare didn’t make his books into films, but a lot of other people have! Some stick to the original language while others adapt the script to a modern telling (O, 10 Things I Hate About You). Hands down the best piece of Shakespeare’s work turned into a film is Baz Lurhman’s Romeo and Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Lurhman stays true to Shakespeare’s language and adapts the characters and setting to present day. A-may-zing.

Romeo and Juliet

JK Rowling

Rowling created an alternate universe in the form of Hogwarts School, which was so detailed and believable that making a movie seemed like the obvious decision. The Harry Potter series is one of the few examples of a movie living up to an amazing book. Not too shabby for a single mom who wrote the first book while trying to pay her bills on welfare cheques.

Harry Potter

Dr. Seuss

I’m sure that Horton would know Who,
Wrote about the Grinch and a Cat in a Hat,
This person did not just sit around
Getting pudgy and smudgy and fat

This Dr. turned his books into films
They were colourful and zany and great,
We want to see more on the screen
So far, only four movies to date.

The Grinch That Stole Christmas

Stephanie Meyer

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the Twilight book phenomenon has led way to the Twilight film phenomenon. The book/film franchise has made worldwide celebrities out of Meyers and the films stars. Meyers is coming out with two new books in the next year that will most likely be made into films (wild guess here). I’m just happy that she’s made being extremely pale cool.

Twilight

Nicholas Sparks

Two people from two different worlds. They meet and fall in love. Sickness/death/combination of both strike! Love triumphs all. The end. Repeat 15 times.

The Last Song

Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and The Giant Peach, Matilda, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Witches…Dahl’s brain was about as big and creative as it gets. It’s been almost forty years since Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory came out in theatres. How is it that we can have an iPad but no one has made an actual room where everything is made out of candy??? How!? Let’s try to get our priorities straight, technology.

Charlie and The CHocolate Factory

C.S. Lewis

Before there was Harry Potter and Bella Swan there were the four siblings from London. Like the Potter series, the Narnia movies have done an amazing job of bringing the words in the book to life. Unfortunately, I don’t think that all seven books are going to be made into films.

Narnia

J. R. R. Tolkien

Straight up, I haven’t read the series. I’ve literally started The Hobbit four times and couldn’t get pass the first three pages. But, I did see all three movies! I’m halfway there!

LOTR

Ann Brashares

Good luck getting through the books/movies without crying. The four books in the series were turned into two films, forcing directors to make many revisions to the script in order to fit as much of the storyline from the books into the two films. I put both films up on the same pedestal as Mean Girls – great, great films for teenagers.

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants