There's nothing quite like reading a good book. However, what happens when your favorite book comes to life on the big screen? The experience can be quite polarizing. Here are a few books that have been made into recent and forthcoming movies.
The eagerly awaited new adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning classic The Color Purple hits theatres this Christmas. The novel was previously made into a celebrated movie starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. The novel was later adapted into an acclaimed stage musical, and the new movie is adapted from that Broadway version.
Who can make a sunrise and sprinkle it with dew? Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two? Willy Wonka can, of course! In Roald Dahl's classic novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, five lucky children get to tour the mysterious chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. There are three movie adaptations of this book: 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 2005's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the upcoming prequel Wonka, which will be released on December 15.
Is the love of money the root of all evil? This appears to be the case in Osage County, where a series of grisly murders are taking place. In Killers of the Flower Moon, FBI agent Thomas Bruce White is tasked with investigating the murders of wealthy Osage Native Americans whose tribal land had oil on it. A riveting page-turner, this Martin Scorsese-directed film will leave you with as many interesting questions as answers.
J. Robert Oppenheimer was more than simply the father of the atomic bomb. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus, we learn that he was an important historical figure whose complex personality and hard-driving style changed the dynamics of physics. The book's film adaptation, titled Oppenheimer, captures the essence of a man who changed the world in his own way.
Some villains weren't born bad. This is just one of many lessons learned in the critically acclaimed Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Like many villains, Coriolanus Snow was born into wealth and privilege and had the world at his feet. So how did he become the diabolical, ruthless future President of Panem? If you want to find out, you'll have to read the book and watch the movie, out in theaters now.
Whether it's football, basketball, boxing or rowing, to play in competitive sports requires dedication and sacrifice. These are the traits that the eight-oared rowing crew displayed as part of the 1936 Summer Olympics. In The Boys in the Boat, we learn how the members bonded through poverty, classism and oppression to earn the gold medal. The movie version will roll out December 25.
Do you have a favorite recent book-to-film adaptation? Or a forthcoming one you're particularly excited about? Let us know in the comments below.
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