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Get Lit(erary) with These 25 Movies Adapted from Books
Alert your book club — these films are all based on great reads.
By Mary Sollosi and Erin Corbett
Nov. 14, 2025
25 Best Movies Adapted from Books, to Stream When You're Feeling Literary - Netflix Tudum
It’s official: The book isn’t always better than the movie.
Filmmakers have been interpreting popular books for the screen since the dawn of cinema, from influential novels to page-turning mysteries, comics, and buzzy book-club picks. But if you’re looking for a book-to-movie viewing recommendation, no need to consult a librarian — we’ve rounded up some of the most exciting and engrossing films that’ve been adapted from the page.
Because there are so many adaptations out there, we’re keeping this list to original Netflix films. Those page-to-screen stories include titles as varied as Rebecca Hall’s moving take on the Harlem Renaissance classic Passing, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s kinetic action flick taken from the panels of comic book The Old Guard, and Martin Scorsese’s engrossing crime saga realizing the nonfiction mob chronicle I Heard You Paint Houses — among many others. Whether you want to see one of your favorite books brought to life on screen or you’d rather watch the movie than read a whole novel (it’s OK, we’ve all done it), check out these flicks to get your literary fix.
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All Quiet on the Western Front
There was plenty of noise for All Quiet on the Western Front when it came out in 2022: Edward Berger’s German adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel collected nine Oscar nominations, winning four (Best International Feature Film, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design). The stunning anti-war epic follows an idealistic young German soldier in World War I (Felix Kammerer) whose dreams of heroism evaporate as he becomes acquainted with the harrowing realities of war — from which, he learns, the most he can hope for is survival.
Ballad of a Small Player
Following the critical success of All Quiet on the Western Front, director Edward Berger turns from war-torn Germany to the streets of Macao. An adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel, the operatic drama stars Colin Farrell as Lord Doyle, a high-rolling gambler whose insatiable appetite threatens to unravel his life as he navigates Macao’s glittering casino floors.
Beasts of No Nation
Back in 2015, it was the first feature film to be distributed by Netflix; now, a few years and a few hundred movies later, Beasts of No Nation is still very much worth a stream. Adapted by Cary Joji Fukunaga from Uzodinma Iweala’s 2005 novel, the sobering drama revolves around Agu (Abraham Attah) a young boy living in an unspecified West African country embroiled in civil war. Recruited as a child soldier, Agu performs atrocities and suffers abuse at the hands of the sadistic Commandant (Idris Elba, in a SAG award-winning performance).
Bird Box
In late 2018, Susanne Bier’s Bird Box (adapted from Josh Malerman’s 2014 novel) became something of a digital sensation; following its release, social media exploded with blindfold-centric memes. The inspiration? The horror-thriller’s chilling premise, wherein a woman (Sandra Bullock) navigates a post-apocalyptic world where people suffer disturbing visions that drive them to suicide, but can protect themselves by covering their eyes. The Bird Box cinematic universe expanded in 2023 with Bird Box Barcelona, which takes place in a timeline parallel to the original film.
Enola Holmes
How about an adaptation of a reinvention? Nancy Springer’s series of young adult detective novels imagines the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes — the titular Enola — as a clever young woman in Victorian England solving her own mysteries, despite the limiting conventions of the era. Millie Bobby Brown produced and starred in Harry Bradbeer’s charming caper (alongside Henry Cavill as Enola’s famous big brother and Helena Bonham Carter as their mother) and returned to crack another case in the 2022 sequel.
Frankenstein
Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro brings new life to Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 tale. At the heart of the story is Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), a brilliant but tortured scientist whose daring experiment to awaken a creature (played by Jacob Elordi) leads to a tragic fate for both creator and creation. Mia Goth, Felix Kammerer, Christoph Waltz, and Lars Mikkelsen help round out the monstrously talented cast.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
There’s no straightforward way to describe the kaleidoscopic I’m Thinking of Ending Things, written and directed by Charlie Kaufman and based on Iain Reid’s 2016 novel, but here’s an attempt: A young man (Jesse Plemons) takes his girlfriend (Jessie Buckley) on a trip to meet his parents (Toni Collette and David Thewlis). Simple, right? Except that’s only really half of it, unless it’s not even any of it, or possibly that’s actually more than what’s going on. Anyway, definitely stream it. Resist the urge to take notes, if you can.
The Irishman
Few filmmakers can get away with making a three-and-a-half-hour movie (and expecting people to watch the whole thing), but it’s safe to say that Martin Scorsese is among them — and The Irishman earns all of its 209 minutes (and its 10 Oscar nominations). Based on former investigator Charles Brandt’s nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses, which recounts the life of mob enforcer Frank Sheeran and is based on almost five years of interviews Brandt conducted with him, Scorsese’s riveting crime epic stars Robert De Niro as Sheeran, Joe Pesci as Russell Bufalino, and Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa.
The Killer
For his 2023 adaptation of the French graphic novel series The Killer, by the writer known as Matz and the artist Luc Jacamon, David Fincher brought his own killer instinct to the source material. Minimal, stylish, and darkly funny, the neo-noir thriller stars Michael Fassbender as an unnamed assassin who is as precise and intentional about his work as Fincher famously is about his own. When the perfectionist killer makes an uncharacteristic mistake, however, it provokes a reaction from his employers that prompts him to seek revenge — a new mission that will require him to break all of his obsessive rules.
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Following its private publication in 1928, D.H. Lawrence’s novel was banned for obscenity in the United States for more than 30 years. Luckily, as the book approaches its 100th anniversary, there’s nothing stopping you from streaming Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s 2022 adaptation of it. Emma Corrin stars as the lady of the title, Constance Chatterley, whose wealthy husband (Matthew Duckett) is paralyzed from the waist down after serving in World War I. She finds unexpected passion with the gamekeeper Oliver Mellors (Jack O’Connell), who she takes — memorably and explicitly — as her lover.
Leave the World Behind
Ever wonder what the end of life as we know it might look like? Sam Esmail’s unsettling adaptation of Rumaan Alam’s novel posits that it could resemble an ordinary day — until it very much would not. When a Brooklyn couple (Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke) go on vacation with their children, their getaway is interrupted by a pair of strangers (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la). The mismatched group winds up navigating a mysterious, cataclysmic crisis together, all while their pre-apocalyptic egos, fears, and prejudices intervene.
The Lost Daughter
It’s Elena Ferrante à la Maggie Gyllenhaal: The pseudonymous Italian author’s 2006 novel provided the source material for the celebrated actor’s directorial debut, for which she earned a best adapted screenplay Oscar nomination. The enigmatic, psychologically complex drama stars Olivia Colman as Leda, a professor and translator who befriends a young mother (Dakota Johnson) while on vacation alone, stirring up decades-old memories of her own early days of motherhood (during which she’s played by Jessie Buckley) — and the profound ambivalence she felt about her new maternal role.
My Oxford Year
Anna (Sofia Carson) is an ambitious young woman from Queens, New York, who has planned out every detail of her life. When she leaves NYC for England to study poetry at the University of Oxford for a year, everything starts out according to plan. That is, until she meets Jamie (Corey Mylchreest), a charming local who also happens to be her TA. Through their shared love of literature, the pair begin a whirlwind romance that changes everything for Anna. My Oxford Year was written by Allison Burnett and Melissa Osborne, and is based on the novel by Julia Whelan, which was itself adapted from Burnett’s original screenplay.
Night Always Comes
Based on Willy Vlautin’s 2021 novel The Night Always Comes, this thriller follows a woman’s desperate fight to save her family home over the course of one consequential night. With just 12 hours to obtain the $25,000 she needs to secure the deal, Lynette (Vanessa Kirby) finds herself navigating a series of dicey scenarios and risks losing everything in the process. Kirby is joined by an all-star cast, which includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zack Gottsagen, Stephan James, Julia Fox, Eli Roth, Randall Park, and Michael Kelly.
The Old Guard
The Old Guard got the film treatment in 2020 via Gina Prince-Bythewood’s take on Greg Rucka’s comic, about a group of immortals who have spent hundreds of years taking on dangerous missions for the good of humanity. Charlize Theron stars as Andy, the leader of the centuries-old team of mercenaries, who enter a new era of their eternal lives when a new human being (KiKi Layne) joins them after being mysteriously blessed (or cursed) with the gift they all share. Once you’ve finished the first movie, there’s more action waiting for you in The Old Guard 2, directed by Victoria Mahoney. In the sequel, the iconic Uma Thurman joins the cast as Andy’s new and mysterious adversary, Discord.
Passing
Poetically, actor turned director Rebecca Hall chose to shoot her adaptation of Nella Larsen’s seminal 1929 novel in expressive black-and-white. Passing tells the story of two childhood friends — both Black women with light complexions — who meet again as adults in New York in the 1920s. One of them (Tessa Thompson) lives in Harlem and is married to a Black man, while the other (Ruth Negga) passes for white and is married to an oblivious, racist white man. Hall was inspired to make the novel her directorial debut due in part to her own family history.
The Power of the Dog
After more than a decade without making a movie (since 2009’s Bright Star), Jane Campion returned to features in 2021 with this potent adaptation of Thomas Savage’s 1967 Western novel. Benedict Cumberbatch plays against type as Phil, a sadistic but brilliant rancher in 1920s Montana whose brother and business partner (Jesse Plemons) marries a widow (Kirsten Dunst) with a teenage son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) — both of whom Phil torments. All four actors earned Academy Award nominations for their performances, and the film made Campion the third woman in Oscars history to win Best Director.
Rez Ball
An underdog story in an underseen corner of the sports world made it to the big screen — with a critical assist from producer LeBron James — in Sydney Freeland’s basketball drama Rez Ball. Inspired by Michael Powell’s celebrated 2019 nonfiction book Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation, the film dramatizes the story of a high school basketball team on a Native American reservation as they compete for the state championship after the tragic loss of their star player. Director Freeland, who played for her Navajo high school basketball team, co-wrote the script with Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs), drawing inspiration from her own experiences as well as Powell’s book. She described the film’s world to Netflix as “Friday Night Lights, but from an Indigenous perspective.”
Steve
A reimagining of Max Porter’s Sunday Times bestseller Shy, Steve stars Cillian Murphy in the titular role as a head teacher facing the impending closure of the reform school he’s fought to keep alive. As he struggles to protect the school’s future, he’s forced to confront his own inner turmoil. Running parallel is the story of Shy (Jay Lycurgo), a trouble student teetering between chaos and change. Written by Porter himself and directed by Tim Mielants, the film delves into the intertwined journeys of two troubled souls.
The Thursday Murder Club
Garden club, knitting club, book club — these are some of the activities that bring people together to build community at any age. Not for the seniors of this retirement home, who prefer to spend their free time solving cold cases. That is, until a real murder investigation lands in their laps. As the Thursday Murder Club sets out to uncover the truth, they find themselves mixed up in a dangerous situation, but this tight-knit group won’t be scared off that easily. Based on the bestselling novel by Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club is brought to life by a cast that includes Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie, Naomi Ackie, Tom Ellis, Jonathan Pryce, and many more.
The White Tiger
Epic in scope and rich in detail, Ramin Bahrani’s vivid adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s 2008 Booker Prize–winning novel is a thrilling, darkly satirical drama. Filmed entirely on location in India, the whirlwind story follows Balram Halwai (newcomer Adarsh Gourav), a young man who lives in a small village before scoring a job as a driver for a wealthy businessman (Rajkummar Rao) in Delhi. Smarter than his boss gives him credit for, Balram witnesses the corruption of the rigged and unjust system that’s always kept him down, and he uses what he’s learned to create a new life for himself.
The Woman in Cabin 10
A luxury yacht, a glittering guest list, and the assignment of a lifetime — all sounds picturesque, until everything goes horribly wrong. Travel journalist Lo Blacklock (Keira Knightley) thinks she’s landed the perfect story, but after witnessing what appears to be a woman thrown overboard, she’s pulled into a haunting mystery no one else believes. Based on Ruth Ware’s bestselling 2016 novel, this sleek psychological thriller blurs the line between perception and reality (and will keep you guessing to the end).
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More
It was with 2009’s stop-motion animated feature Fantastic Mr. Fox that Wes Anderson first applied his distinctive sensibility to the works of Roald Dahl, and he explored the dynamic further in this 2023 anthology of short films, each based on a tale from Dahl’s 1977 short story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. The title vignette (which earned Anderson his first Oscar, and his eighth nomination, for Best Live Action Short) stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a rich man who cultivates a sort of X-ray vision which he uses to cheat at gambling. In the short films that follow — The Swan, The Rat Catcher, and Poison — Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade all recur in various roles, bringing Anderson’s uncanny vision of Dahl’s magical world to life.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Nobody writes love letters anymore, but Susan Johnson’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before makes a good case for picking up the old-fashioned practice. Based on Jenny Han’s YA novel of the same name, the film is the first of a trilogy (its film’s sequels P.S. I Still Love You and Always and Forever are available to stream as well). Lana Condor and Noah Centineo both had breakout roles in the teen rom-com, in which the shy Lara Jean (Condor) writes secret, basically hypothetical love letters to her crushes (including Centineo’s character Peter) — only for her mischievous little sister to mail them without her permission.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
Is there any variety of personal drama more intense than the kind that comes between middle-school besties? You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah would suggest there isn’t. Based on Fiona Rosenbloom’s young adult novel of the same name, Sammi Cohen’s coming-of-age comedy stars Sunny Sandler (whose real-life dad, Adam Sandler, produces and plays her on-screen father) and Samantha Lorraine as BFFs whose shared plans for legendary bat mitzvahs get blown up when a crush drives a wedge between them.
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