Top 10 Books I Want to See as Movies

Top 10 Books I Want to See as Movies

I'm definitely not the kind of person to run around shouting "THE BOOK WAS BETTER" (not that there's anything wrong with that) when a film based on a book comes out (sometimes the film was better than the book), and I'm definitely not one to say that I don't want my favourite book to ever become a film. This topic came up as one of the introduction questions for Armchair BEA, and I've thought about it more and have more books that I would want to see as films. So, here we go!

As much as I love the Lux series, I'm putting it this low down on the list because I have a horrible feeling that the marketing for this film would be pretty bad. I can just see it now: The New Twilight. Just. No. Once you market something as being 'the new Twilight', tons of people are put off it before even looking at what it even is. I wouldn't want to see this beloved series of mine go through that kind of marketing, but I would like to see it on the silver screen. Can you just imagine the chemistry that would burn off the screen? Holy crap, I would want to see that so badly. 

We need more films based on YA contemporaries! A lot of paranormal and dystopian books are being made into films, and the release of The Fault in Our Stars and If I Stay has made me hope that more contemporary books will be made into films. I think Anna and the French Kiss would make a wonderful film, and I think that this one would be handled best by an independent director rather than a major Hollywood studio, which kind of makes sense because Anna loves films and watches a lot of independent films.

I think this series would be a little difficult and would require a lot of prosthetics and makeup if it was going to be made into a live action film. But I'd love to see how that would be done because the Uglies series is one of my favourite book series of all time. I mean, can you imagine how awesome the sets would be in an Uglies film? Holy crap, I'm having a total scenerygasm just thinking about it *drools* I just love it that much and I would actually kill to see it made into a film.

Here's another film that would be pretty tricky to make into a live action film, but I would still like to see one. I imagine that they could make this film like how Tron was made, which isn't realistic at all. In fact, it could be a combination of CGI and real sets, which would look soooo cool! Like, just imagine all of the special effects and the sets that would be designed to look like virtual worlds, and even the book's real world. Damn, this book would make for one cool looking film.

Another contemporary! Anatomy of a Boyfriend would make the most hilarious comedy, and there really aren't enough films based on YA contemporaries, so this book would make a really good film. My only concern is that if someone was to make this book into a film, they might have to take out a lot of the sex scenes to get the rating that they want which would kind of take away the whole point of the story, which is Dom's first sexual experiences with her first real boyfriend. But seriously, though, with the right actors I would probably cry with laughter at a film based on this book.

Despite its world-building problems, I think the Chemical Garden series (which I still have yet to finish, btw) would make for a very different series of dystopian films. Both the Hunger Games films and the Divergent film (which I haven't seen yet, and I'm not sure if I want to) are quite action-oriented (even the Twilight series was as the films progressed), while this series isn't really. I would love to see how the Ashby's mansion would look, and also the effects of the disease on screen, which would probably look quite grisly.

There's quite a few horror films that are based on books (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Shining, and Carrie, just to name a few off the top of my head [I don't know the precise number, but nearly all of Stephen King's novels have been adapted for film or TV]), but from my knowledge, not many are based on YA horrors. The Anna series would make for a pretty gory and cool duology of films (hopefully it would be kept at two and not go into a million like the Friday the 13 series), that I would actually watch, despite my aversion of horror films. And to look at it another way, the whole 'OMG there's ghost in our house, let's film ourselves being dragged away by the forces of evil' thing is going a bit stale now. And that's coming from somebody who doesn't even watch horror films.

The 5th Wave is one of my favourite books, so it's pretty natural that I want to see a film based on this book in the future. I get that there's tons of alien invasion films out there, but I'm thinking about marketing with this one. If you were around in 1998 (I was, but I was far too young to even know about this, with being 2 years old and all), Godzilla attempted to have a marketing campaign of not showing the monster until you actually went to see the film. I say 'attempted' because that campaign failed miserably. However, that kind of marketing would be perfect for The 5th Wave because you never see the aliens or even the distruction in full. It's so mysterious that it would just make for an amazing and possibly terrifying film experience.

EDIT: they're making this into a film! Holy crap, my dreams have come true!

I am soooooooo desperate for this book to be made into a film. Steven Spielberg had initially comitted himself into making Robopocalypse into a film, and then last year he postponed the project indefinitely. That basically means that he won't make the film. I totally get that it would be too expensive to make, but isn't that why animation exists? I love me some authenticity and old-school special effects, but you could always create the robots using CGI. I'm pretty sure that not all of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park were robotics, so get back on it Spielberg (or even Del Toro, just not James Cameron. I'll take anybody but James Cameron). I'll be waiting impatiently and reading Robogenesis in the meantime.

This was the answer that I gave in my Armchair BEA introduction post! Leviathan would make such an amazing film, especially if it was made into an animated film. This book is one that you just wouldn't be able to make in live action, due to all the machinery and fabricated beasties that are seen, so animation is definitely the way to go. And no CGI animation! I would totally want Studio Ghibli to make a Leviathan film because their animation is simply the best and most beautiful in the entire world, now that Disney no longer does traditional animation anymore (grr...). Somebody should totally join me in bugging Studio Ghibli to make a film based on these books (they've done sequels before, and adaptations of western books)!

• Bright Young Things trilogy (would make a great TV series)
• Final Crisis (technically not a book, but this would be awesome as one of DC's direct-to-video films)

Which book would you want to see as a film? Who would your dream cast be?