3 Answers2025-07-25
There are many broken books of interest to filmmakers. ‘Pale Fire’ by Vladimir Nabokov is a poetic psychological thriller waiting to be made as a feature film. The rare book is comprised of a long poem followed by a lengthy commentary by an unreliable narrator, similar to that found in the novels by the author of this column.
‘The Silent History’ is another highly interesting work. Written by Eli Horowitz, Matthew Derby and Kevin Moffett, it first appeared as an app-based work presented as a serial of stories mostly set in the same location, each tagged with the Geo-location where they were written. Interesting in itself, it could also be extended as an interactive film, perhaps as a series of short films linked together by a conceptual framework and exploring the intersection of memory and technology – highly relevant to today’s world.
These books have already been turned into film in a pretty groundbreaking way, for Choose Your Own Adventure books the films were interactive and the audience even got to vote on what direction the plot would take in real time, it was really creative and could change the way we experience film and story even more if it were to be done again. Adapting broken books is pretty niche right now but who knows, it could blow up.
6 Answers2026-07-29
One of my favorite short stories of all time is ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ by Edgar Allan Poe. There have been so many film adaptations of this short story over the years, including a great version by Roger Corman with Vincent Price in the 1960s, and more recently a Netflix series by Mike Flanagan. The short story is a masterpiece of gothic horror that creates a great atmosphere of madness and decay and of a house literally falling down. Most film adaptations fail to capture the density of Poe’s words and try to recreate the mood of the story, with the main objective of inducing dread, of portraying decay, and of announcing doom. The series by Flanagan is a very loose adaptation, using the title and the themes of the short story to create a modern horror series.
6 Answers2025-08-06
I had forgotten that this project was stuck in development hell. I believe Warner Bros. optioned the rights in 2015, and that there was a screenwriter at one point or another. However, there has been no real development on the project in years. By Hollywood standards, this means that either the option has expired or the studio has lost interest. In recent years, the market for YA sci-fi film adaptations has cooled somewhat following the underperformance of ‘The Divergent Series’.
It’s a real shame, though. The visuals for this were going to look amazing. But translating a “dossier” type of story into film would be extremely challenging. You’d have to choose to do it in a found-footage style, or have characters address the reader and include written text on screen, which would be really tricky to pull off for a studio. The fact that it hasn’t happened yet is probably because there’s no clear and marketable take on how to do it, which is why it’s stalled after all this time. I’d check the authors’ social media from time to time for updates, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
8 Answers2026-05-31
There are zero adaptations of movies happening right now. The Outsiders finished up over a decade ago. The time to do an adaptation would have been when The Outsiders was flying off the shelves and hitting the top of the charts as a new release, and it was a recent release in the YA horror genre. But since so much time has passed, the horror that was being read by teenagers and pre-teens and published in the YA category has long since moved on to other subgenres of horror. Some crazy fan who loves The Outsiders and is now a producer or a director would have to make this as some sort of passion project. Until then, it will remain a beloved classic of the horror genre that people remember because they read it.
3 Answers2025-09-06
Nothing (widely released, anyway) yet. My mental list of favorite novels to make into movies continues to evolve and About Grace remains on the list. This novel is quietly complex, moody, and above all highly character-orientated, which is exactly why it will never be reduced to a film. I love these kinds of novels to read in silence with my notebook by my side. Occasionally there are wonderful scenes and sequences but ultimately it is a dense, complex novel that will inspire many conversations about it in a reading group and makes for a wonderful, short, indie film rather than a mainstream movie.
For now, adaptations of other literary works would have to do to feed your taste for the kind of introspective, atmospheric screen time About Grace offers. You could also just read the book yourself – preferably slowly, and maybe even aloud to another person. You can also set up a Google Alert for ‘About Grace adaptation’ and check IMDb from time to time for any news of a project; sometimes such information surfaces in the smallest of notices, like a casting announcement or a mention of a film playing at a festival. Maybe one day a thoughtful filmmaker will make a decent adaptation of the novel. Until then, I guess I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed.
2 Answers2026-05-29
I am interested in reading more of Zane’s books. As for the possibility of the stories being made into movies, there are none yet but I think she has screen potential. Her ‘Nervous’ series or ‘Skyscraper’ would make a great steamy and suspenseful drama. I would be first in line to watch it on television and then subsequent seasons on DVD to binge watch them.
9 Answers2025-06-24
I've dug deep into vampire lore across media, and 'Kindred' stands out as a groundbreaking novel, but it hasn't leaped to the big screen yet. The story's rich psychological depth and time-travel elements would make an incredible film, but rights and adaptation hurdles might be the reason. Fans have been clamoring for it, especially after Octavia Butler's works gained more mainstream attention. While waiting, check out 'Daughters of the Dust' for similar thematic richness—it captures the same haunting beauty of ancestral ties. Hollywood's slow to adapt complex stories like this, but with the right director, it could be a masterpiece.
4 Answers2025-06-21
'House of Many Ways' remains a book-only adventure. The chaotic magical story would make for a great film or TV show, particularly the ever-changing House and the bumbling and childlike Wizard. But for now, it remains a fantastic story between two covers.
9 Answers2025-06-26
'Don't Believe It' by Charlie Donlea caught my eye. As far as I know, there's no movie adaptation yet, which is surprising given its gripping plot. The book follows a documentary filmmaker unraveling a decade-old murder case, full of twists perfect for the big screen. Hollywood loves courtroom dramas mixed with true crime vibes—this one’s ripe for adaptation. Maybe a streaming platform will pick it up soon; the layered storytelling and unreliable narrator would translate brilliantly visually.
Fans keep speculating online, but no official announcements have surfaced. The author hasn’t hinted at any deals either. Still, the book’s structure—switching between trial transcripts and present-day investigations—feels cinematic. If adapted, it could rival hits like 'Gone Girl' with its suspenseful pacing. Until then, we’ll have to settle for re-reading those jaw-dropping final chapters.
10 Answers2025-12-22
No movie for “Pirate Latitudes”. That would be a book-only experience right now and although some stories could possibly be made better as movies, there are many that are perfect just the way they are – as a book. The experience of “Pirate Latitudes” is mainly in the pace of the writing and the rapid scenes that follow one another in a concrete fashion. A movie would have to add a lot of “filler” in order to get to a sufficient running time and thus would water down the pure adventure that is already there. Most of the time the movie that you make up yourself as you read a book is even better than the worst movie that they would make out of it in a studio. I have been burned too many times by bad movie adaptations of great books.