Creative ideas for movies can come from any place and throughout the history of movies, books have been a frequent cinematic inspiration. 

In fact, books are great fodder for films, because they already have established fan bases.

Of the hundreds of movies based on books, here are some of the most successful book-to-film adaptations of all time. 

The science fiction novel ‘Jurassic Park’ by Michael Crichton, published in 1990 was adapted for the big screen by Director Steven Spielberg, in 1993. 

It became the highest-grossing film of 1993 and was followed by four commercially successful sequels: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park III (2001), Jurassic World (2015), and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), with a fifth sequel, Jurassic World: Dominion, scheduled for a 2022 release. Jurassic Park is considered a landmark in the development of computer-generated imagery and animatronic visual effects

The 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film ‘Forrest Gump’, starring Tom Hanks, 

directed by Robert Zemeck is an adaptation based on the 1986 novel by Winston Groom.

Forrest Gump won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Hanks, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing among many other accolades. 

 Peter Jackson’s trilogy of the epic fantasy adventure film series ‘Lord of the Rings’ was based on the novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The entire trilogy which was filmed within a year, is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential film series ever made. The entire series has been critically acclaimed with high praise and has garnered 17 out of its 30 Academy nominations. Combined, the franchise grossed over $2.9 billion at the global box office. 

The ‘Harry Potter’ series, which is one the most popular film franchises in history. The eight films are based on the seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling, grossed a combined $7.7 billion at the global box office. While the eighth film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, grossed $1.3 billion in 2011, becoming the highest-grossing book-to-movie adaptation in history. 

From being the internationally best-selling novel to blockbuster hit ‘Harry Potter’ is an ideal book to film adaptation for fans who want nothing more than to see the incredible wizarding world they’ve just read about.

The ‘Fantastic Beasts ‘ franchise, a Rowling published spin-off prequel of the Harry Potter series, is likely to stack another few billion.

The ‘Harry Potter’ series, which is one the most popular film franchises in history. The eight films are based on the seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling, grossed a combined $7.7 billion at the global box office. While the eighth film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, grossed $1.3 billion in 2011, becoming the highest-grossing book-to-movie adaptation in history. 

From being the internationally best-selling novel to blockbuster hit ‘Harry Potter’ is an ideal book to film adaptation for fans who want nothing more than to see the incredible wizarding world they’ve just read about.

The ‘Fantastic Beasts ‘ franchise, a Rowling published spin-off prequel of the Harry Potter series, is likely to stack another few billion.

The first film in The Twilight Saga film series, ‘Twilight’ (2008) grossed over US$393 million worldwide upon its release. This romantic fantasy film was based on Stephenie Meyer’s 2005 novel of the same name. Following the film’s success, New Moon and Eclipse, the next two novels in the series, were produced as films the following year.
‘Little Women’ (2019) is the seventh film adaptation based on the popular classic by Louisa May Alcott grossed $216 million worldwide. Among its numerous accolades, the film garnered six Academy Award nominations, five British Academy Film Award nominations and two Globe

“The pen may be mightier than the sword” but “A picture is worth a thousand words”, seems to be justified by all these successful book to film adaptations.