2023 Is Gonna Be a Big Movie Year for Book-Readers
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
What makes a great book to movie adaptation? It's not always about a word to word translation. Some of the best movies, like The Shining, divert away entirely from the author's original intent, but become classics in their own right. Moving from one creative medium to another takes a strong amount of imagination and confidence. Take Dune, for example, which took not one, but three tries to get right due to the visual difficulties in creating futuristic technology so viewers will suspend disbelief instead of seeing it as silly special effects. David Lynch's attempt at Dune vs. Denis Villeneuve's show exactly how hard it can be to make an adaptation people will take seriously. Not only are filmmakers trying to lure filmgoers into their audience, they're also trying to please a loyal fanbase of book-lovers who may not even see a point in a film adaptation.
Sci-fi isn't the only genre to deal with the struggle to adapt material. Netflix's Persuasion, starring Dakota Johnson, faced ridicule for its fourth-wall breaking approach to a classic romance novel. Do a book to movie adaptation right, and people will be talking about it for years to come (see a better classic romance adaptation with Emma), but do it poorly and you may scare future filmmakers from touching the book again.
Thankfully, 2023 looks like it'll be an exciting year for book to movie adaptations. Already one of the year's most lauded films, Women Talking, is in the running for Academy Awards. And as silly as it looks, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is causing conversation that will likely get people to pay money to see how A. A. Milne's children's characters will be turned hostile. Below, we've got all the most anticipated movies based on books coming out in 2023, and where you can watch them once they're out.
Women Talking
This harrowing film is based on a 2018 book by Miriam Toews, which in turn is inspired by the real-life tale of a Mennonite community in Bolivia. Women Talking is nominated for Best Picture at the 95th Oscars. Although it technically released in 2022 (on a limited basis), it had it's wide release in January 2023—and so we're counting it as a 2023 film here.
See the original post on Youtube
Knock at the Cabin
M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin is an adaptation of the horror novel Cabin at the End of the World. Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, and Ben Aldridge star in this film about a family who is interrupted during their vacation by kidnappers who demand they sacrifice someone to prevent the world from ending.
See the original post on Youtube
Blackberry
Glenn Howerton, Jay Baruchel, and others star in Blackberry, a retelling of the rise and fall of the personal technology company. Based on Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry, the film already has positive reviews from its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival.
See the original post on Youtube
Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan writes and directs this highly anticipated drama starring Cillian Murphy. Based on the biography American Prometheus, the film follows the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his contributions to the creation of the atomic bomb.
See the original post on Youtube
Red, White & Royal Blue
Red, White & Royal Blue, a popular romance book, is finally hitting the big screen. The book follows the son of the first U.S. female president, who has to make nice with the Prince Henry of the British Royal family. As the two grow closer, they both focus on keeping their relationship a secret to avoid the public fallout.
The Last Voyage of the Demeter
Based on a chapter of Bram Stoker's Dracula (that's right, just one chapter), The Last Voyage of the Demeter follows a ship crew who begin to experience strange supernatural occurrences.
See the original post on Youtube
A Haunting in Venice
Kenneth Branagh returns as Detective Poirot in this long-running mystery series based on Agatha Christie's Poirot series. The film takes the story from Christie's Hallowe'en Party, where a now retired Poirot must solve the murder of a guest at a seance. Kelly Reilly (from Yellowstone) and Michelle Yeoh (from Everything Everywhere All At Once) are set to star alongside Branagh.
This film is set to premiere on September 15, 2023.
See the original post on Youtube
Dumb Money
Studios love ripped from the headlines adaptations, and Dumb Money is one such case. The film chronicles Reddit users who gamed the stock market, baffling Wall Street businessmen. The book is based on The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich.
This film is set to premiere on September 22, 2023.
See the original post on Youtube
Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese's upcoming film has no official release date, but it stars Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jesse Plemons, Lily Gladstone, and Brendan Fraser, and we're expecting a 2023 release for it. Based on a book of the same name, the film follows an FBI investigator looking into murders taking place at a Native American reservation.
This film is expected to premiere October 6, 2023.
The Exorcist
18 years after the last installment in The Exorcist franchise, the newest reboot of the horror saga is planned to be a new trilogy adding to the already existing canon, all inspired by the William Peter Blatty novel of the same name. David Gordon Green is set to direct.
This film is set to premiere on October 13, 2023.
The Killer
David Fincher directs this upcoming neo-noir starring Michael Fassbender. The film is based on a French graphic novel series about the life of an unnamed assassin.
This film is set to premiere on November 10, 2023.
The Ballad of Songsbirds and Snakes (November 17, 2023)
This Hunger Games prequel film is based on a Suzanne Collins' book of the same name. Set 64 years before the initial trilogy's story, the film will follow the adolescence of Coriolanus Snow (played here by Tom Blyth but in the original films by Donald Sutherland), who later becomes the book series' main antagonist.
This film is set to premiere on November 17, 2023.
See the original post on Youtube
Poor Things
Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe star in this strange film from director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Favourite, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) based on a 1982 novel by Alasdair Gray, about a woman who drowns herself to escape her abusive husband, who then has her brain replaced with that of her unborn child.
This film is set to premiere on December 8th, 2023.
See the original post on Youtube
Wonka
It's not a film adaptation anyone expected, but Timothée Chalamet will star in Wonka, a prequel to Roald Dahl's famous book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The film will also star Keegan Michael-Key, Olivia Colman, and others.
This film is set to premiere on December 15, 2023.
The Color Purple
Alice Walker's classic novel already has an untouchable adaptation starring Oprah Winfrey, but the 2023 musical version already has potential to be just as good. Starring Fantasia, Halle Berry, and Taraji P. Henson, the film is backed by Oprah, Steven Spielberg (who directed the 1985 adaptation), and others. Fingers crossed it's as good as the book and movie.
This film is set to premiere on December 20, 2023.
Nightbitch
Amy Adams is set to star in this upcoming horror film based on a book of the same name. A woman taking care of her toddler begins to think she turns into a dog at night.
This film has no release date, but is expected to premiere in 2023.
Salem's Lot
This upcoming Stephen King adaptation still doesn't have a release date, but we suspect it'll come out in 2023. The 1975 novel follows a writer who returns to his hometown after years away, only to discover the town's residents are turning into vampires. Lewis Pullman is set to star.
This film doesn't have a release date, but is expected to premiere in 2023.
You Might Also Like
