The date’s locked in! Presenting the worst book to screen adaptations ever made

For reasons that are pretty obvious, we’re constantly bombarded with book-to-screen adaptations – and, more often than not, they either become massive critical and/or commercial hits or spectacularly flop. When popular books are brought to life on screen, the pressure to meet audience expectations is sky-high. Who’s playing the beloved characters fans have been dying to see? Do they look or act like the characters we imagined? How closely does the adaptation stick to the source material? All of these factors can make or break a project, and now, we’ve got some analysed data rounding up the absolute worst book-to-screen adaptations ever.

The truth is, book-to-screen adaptations fail a lot, and it’s not hard to see why. Translating hundreds of pages of deep inner monologue and intricate world-building into a 2-hour movie is like trying to shove an entire pizza into a pack of Lunchables. The belief that the magic of the book can survive the editing room often leads to a confusing mess of missed moments and awkward pacing. And don’t even get me started on the characters who look nothing like what we envisioned in our heads.

Book enthusiasts at Aura Print analysed the differences between the GoodReads book score and the IMDb score of the screen adaptation to see those with the biggest percentage difference – giving us a top 10 rundown of the worst book to screen adaptations ever. Buckle up.

10. Where The Crawdads Sing

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The big screen adaptation of Where The Crawdads Sing had a lot of hype – mostly because of its big casting of Daisy Edgar Jones and a huge Taylor Swift original song on the soundtrack. However, despite decent commercial success – the film has a disparaging score between its decent GoodReads 4.38/5 and its IMDb 7.2. This is a 21.7 per cent difference.

9. The Perfect Couple

Via Netflix

Nicole Kidman had huge viewership success with this year’s The Perfect Couple– everyone binged it in a weekend. However the whodunnit didn’t go down as well on screen as it did in the book. GoodReads gives Elin Hilderbrand’s book a 3.98 – but the show has an IMDb score of 6.5. This gives the versions a difference of 22.5 per cent.

8. Elvis and Me

Elvis and Me was adapted to the 2024 Sofia Coppola movie Priscilla, which saw Priscilla Presley act as producer. Honestly, I loved this film and Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi were great. To be fair, though, I never read the book. Elvis and Me has a GoodReads of 4.0 and Priscilla has an IMDb score of 6.5 – giving them a 23.1 per cent difference.

Justice for Priscilla to be honest.

7. Damsel

You know an IMDb score hates to see Millie Bobby Brown coming – has she ever been in a film that has gone down well? This Netflix adaptation of Damsel has a contrasting percentage of 24.6, with a GoodReads 3.8 and an IMDb 6.8.

It just got even worse with The Electric State – but to be fair, it wasn’t a book. So she escapes the stigma this time.

6. The Boys in the Boat

Remember seeing the trailer for this and thinking: Who’s arsed? Apparently, no one. GoodReads score of 4.39 out of 5 – very high – but a mid IMDb of 7. Percentage gap of 25.4 – moving on.

Really came and went this one didn’t it? Even my parents with the worst film taste ever didn’t like it. And that really is saying something.

5. The Colour Purple

A horrendous stat that this is even in the list, let alone top five worst book to screen adaptations. Let’s be serious! The book is amazing and the film is great – but alas the great GoodReads score of 4.27 has a 25.6 per cent difference to its IMDb rating of 6.8.

4. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

Holly Jackson’s book has a hefty GoodReads score of 4.38 – but this year’s TV adaptation did not stick the landing, with a much lower 6.8 score on IMDb. That 26.8 per cent difference has got it in fourth.

3. It Ends With Us

Here we go – the big chaos and controversy laden disaster of the year thanks to Blake Lively. The Coleen Hoover book was hugely popular and yet the film was a car crash for many, many reasons. The two versions have a 27.4 per cent difference in quality, as per a GoodReads of 4.14 VS an IMDb of 6.5.

And now, things just went from bad to worse. Everyone involved is wishing this film just never happened.

2. The Changeling

The worst thing here is this version of The Changeling is actually good, but the IMDb score is shocking – with the 2023 series getting a 5.8 compared to a decent GoodReads. Refuse to believe this is worse than It Ends With Us!

1. Uglies

And here we are: The worst book to screen adaptation of all adaptations. This year’s panned Uglies on Netflix was a disaster – and the ratings percentage different says it all. Hold your breath – there is a 63.8 per cent difference!!! Wild. The GoodReads has a 3.85 in contrast to a dismal IMDb of 4.7.

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