30 Movies That Are Better Than the Book, Ranked

Even book lovers might agree that these movie versions have the edge.

It’s not unusual to ask someone’s opinion of a movie and hear the phrase, “It’s not as good as the book.” And in many cases, that’s the truth. Perhaps the “magic” of the book gets lost somewhere en route to the big screen.

But sometimes a movie adaptation comes along that’s superior to the original text. That’s why we ranked 30 movies that are considered by many to be better than the books that preceded them. Their box-office earnings certainly agree, with one movie earning as much as 14 times its original budget.

30. Random Hearts

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Based on: “Random Hearts”

Author: Warren Adler

Release date: Oct. 8, 1999

Budget: $64 million

Box-office earnings: $74.6 million

Bottom Line: Random Hearts

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The budget of “Random Hearts” was astronomical, and the movie itself doesn’t really show where that $64 million went. Take into account it’s a movie that is centered around a plane crash we never actually see.

That’s because a good chunk of that money went to star Harrison Ford, who was definitely worth the money. This is one of his more underrated films.

While it didn’t do very well at the box office, it was definitely an improvement on the book, which ended up serving as more of a baseline to the movie’s plot than anything else.

29. I Am Legend

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Based on: “I Am Legend”

Author: Richard Matheson

Release date: Dec. 4, 2007

Budget: $150 million

Box-office earnings: $585.3 million

Bottom Line: I Am Legend

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Richard Matheson’s novel was actually adapted before Will Smith turned it into a big-budget extravaganza. Charlton Hesston made it into “The Omega Man” in the 1970s.

Starting in the 1990s, Matheson’s novel was a hot property that was circled by almost every major star in Hollywood, but the massive budget involved scared off most studios until they landed on Big Willie Style in his prime.

And he knocked it out of the park.

28. Gangs of New York

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Based on: “Gangs of New York”

Author: Herbert Asbury

Release date: Dec. 20, 2002

Budget: $100 million

Box-office earnings: $193.8 million

Bottom Line: Gangs of New York

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Leave it to Martin Scorsese to take an obscure novel from the 1920s and turn it into a big-budget movie that’s equal parts drama and action movie.

The fight scenes from “Gangs of New York” alone set it apart. While the movie was set up as a star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio, it’s Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill the Butcher who steals the show. And it was Day-Lewis who walked away with the Best Actor nomination.

Herbert Asbury could never have imagined this when his book was published in 1927.

27. American Assassin

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Based on: “American Assassin”

Author: Vince Flynn

Release date: Sept. 15, 2017

Budget: $63.2 million

Box-office earnings: $67.2 million

Bottom Line: American Assassin

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One of the more underrated action movies of the last decade (if not of all time), if you want to see a really talented, young actor doing his thing, check out Dylan O’Brien in “American Assassin.”

It’s O’Brien who really takes Vince Flynn’s novel and elevates it in cinematic form. The opening action sequence at the resort is truly something to behold.

Also, having Michael Keaton in your movie is almost always a great move.

26. Stand By Me

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Based on: “The Body”

Author: Stephen King

Release date: Aug. 22, 1986

Budget: $8 million

Box-office earnings: $52.3 million

Bottom Line: Stand By Me

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Stephen King’s “Different Seasons” featured four novellas. Three of them were turned into films, and two of them became all-time classics with “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Stand By Me” based on “The Body.”

This a set ’em up, knock ’em down for a writer and director in their primes. King wrote the brilliant story, and Rob Reiner brought it to life on screen, fleshing out more of what King was shooting for in his novella.

25. The Godfather

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Based on: “The Godfather”

Author: Mario Puzo

Release date: March 24, 1972

Budget: $7 million

Box office earnings: $287 million

Bottom Line: The Godfather

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Please don’t take this as a knock on “The Godfather” novel by Mario Puzo.

Director Francis Ford Coppola actually mined the novel for half of the plot of “The Godfather: Part II,” and in the late 1990s, there was a plan to rip even more of it out for a presumptive “The Godfather: Part IV.” That was going to be based around a young Sonny Corleone, juxtaposed with his son, played by Andy Garcia, running the Corleone organization in the mid-1980s.

What “The Godfather” movie does improve on is taking out some of Puzo’s more cringeworthy moments. Removing most of the plotline of Sonny’s mistress and Garcia’s mother is one notable part missing. Thank goodness.

24. Mean Girls

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Based on: “Queen Bees and Wannabees”

Author: Rosalind Wiseman

Release date: April 30, 2004

Budget: $17 million

Box-office earnings: $150.1 million

Bottom Line: Mean Girls

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Screenwriter Tina Fey turned her own teenage years and Rosalind Wiseman’s book and mashed them up to make “Mean Girls,” a surprise box-office hit in 2004.

The movie that propelled Lindsay Lohan, albeit briefly, onto Hollywood’s A-List of actresses, was a perfect example of taking a contemplative text like what Wiseman wrote and turning it into something more.

As far as movies about teenage life go, this is always going to be one of the best.

23. Die Hard

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Based on: “Nothing Lasts Forever”

Author: Roderick Thorp

Release date: July 15, 1988

Budget: $30 million

Box-office earnings: $141.5 million

Bottom Line: Die Hard

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Be honest. You’re just finding out right now that “Die Hard” was based on a novel.

Well, it was, and “Nothing Lasts Forever” was actually written as a sequel to another book by novelist Roderick Thorp that was turned into another big-time movie with another big-time star. “The Detective” was optioned by Frank Sinatra, and he made it into a movie in 1968.

One notable change from the “Die Hard” book to the movie is that the character of John McLain goes to visit his wife in the movie. In the book, the character is a much older man, named Joe Leland, and is going to visit his daughter at the high-rise building she’s working at.

22. The Revenant

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Based on: “The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge”

Author: Michael Punke

Release date: Dec. 25, 2015

Budget: $135 million

Box-office earnings: $533 million

Bottom Line: The Revenant

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If you want to get technical about it, “The Revenant” is based on a book that was based on a poem that was based on the real-life events surrounding the ordeal of frontiersman Hugh Glass in the 1820s.

Either way, neither poem or book could match the masterpiece of cinema put together by director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and star Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass.

Filmed using natural light in a grueling shoot, the film brought home a long-coveted Academy Award for Best Actor for DiCaprio and brought Inarritu his second consecutive Academy Award for Best Director.

21. There Will Be Blood

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Based on: “Oil!”

Author: Upton Sinclair

Release date: Dec. 26, 2007

Budget: $25 million

Box-office earnings: $76.2 million

Bottom Line: There Will Be Blood

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Often referred to as the best film of the last 20 years, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” was based on a little-known 1927 novel “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair.

Daniel Day-Lewis is hypnotizing as oilman Daniel Plainview, and the film’s opening sequence is as unusual as anything you will see in modern cinema. Day-Lewis doesn’t speak for almost 10 minutes before uttering one word: “No.”

Day-Lewis won the Academy Award for Best Actor, but Anderson lost out on Best Director, which went to the Coen brothers for “No Country For Old Men.” The debate about whether that was the right call continues to this day.

20. The Exorcist

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Based on: “The Exorcist”

Author: William Peter Blatty

Release date: Dec. 26, 1973

Budget: $12 million

Box-office earnings: $441.3 million

Bottom Line: The Exorcist

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This is an interesting case of a movie being better than the book, and we need to give props to “The Exorcist” author William Peter Blatty. He was adamant that he be hired to write the screenplay for the movie based on his novel, and that paid off in a big way.

It’s hard to explain exactly how terrifying audiences found this movie when it first came out, or what a gigantic hit it was. “The Exorcist” made $441.3 million at the box office in 1973, which is equivalent to $2.7 billion in today’s money.

That’s roughly the same amount of money that the No. 1 box office movie of all time, “Avengers: Endgame,” made when it was released in 2019.

19. Jackie Brown

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Based on: “Rum Punch”

Author: Elmore Leonard

Release date: Dec. 25, 1997

Budget: $12 million

Box-office earnings: $74.7 million

Bottom Line: Jackie Brown

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It’s a testament to author Elmore Leonard’s talent that only once has famed director Quentin Tarantino made a film that wasn’t from one of his original scripts, and that was “Jackie Brown” in 1997 — based on Leonard’s 1992 novel “Rum Punch.”

Because it was his follow-up to “Pulp Fiction,” audiences probably didn’t appreciate “Jackie Brown” like we should have when it first came out, and looking back, it’s another one of Tarantino’s film that should have gotten way more Oscar shine than it did.

18. First Blood

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Based on: “First Blood”

Author: David Morrell

Release date: Oct. 22, 1982

Budget: $15 million

Box-office earnings: $125.2 million

Bottom Line: First Blood

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There is something truly harrowing about Sylvester Stallone’s performance in “First Blood.” The movie has proved infinitely rewatchable and spawned a whole “Rambo” franchise that now encompasses five films, seven video games and an animated series.

It’s not just Stallone that takes David Morrell’s novel to a new level. Costars Brian Dennehy and Richard Crenna turn in bravura performances as well — Dennehy as the evil, corrupt sheriff and Crenna as Rambo’s commanding officer in Vietnam.

Is this the greatest action movie of all time? It should at least be in the discussion.

17. Fletch

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Based on: “Fletch Won”

Author: Gregory Mcdonald

Release date: May 31, 1985

Budget: $8 million

Box office earnings: $59 million

Bottom Line: Fletch

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“Fletch” is one of the best comedies of all time and is the perfect example of Chevy Chase’s brilliance, in the face of how notoriously difficult he was to work with.

Author Gregory Mcdonald eventually wrote 11 novels with journalist Irwin M. Fletcher as the main character, but none matched the popularity and staying power of the original “Fletch” movie.

We say this with a tremendous amount of confidence because the sequel, “Fletch Lives,” is widely considered one of the worst sequels of all time.

16. Goodfellas

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Based on: “Wiseguy”

Author: Nicholas Pileggi

Release date: Sept. 19, 1990

Budget: $25 million

Box office earnings: $47.1 million

Bottom Line: Goodfellas

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“Goodfellas” might be the greatest movie of all time. It’s so highly regarded that most people don’t associate it with the book it was based on, “Wiseguy” by Nicholas Pileggi.

Pileggi’s nonfiction book used the actual names of real people while Scorsese’s movie was able to take some of that narrative and use characters based on the real-life versions — most notably the characters of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.

Scorsese adapted another of Pileggi’s nonfiction books into a movie five years later when he made “Casino” in 1995.