Six Upcoming Movies Based on Our Favorite Books

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As readers, we’re generally of the opinion that the book is always better—but, after looking into some of these highly anticipated adaptations, we may have to reevaluate our stance. Some of these films you may have heard of; others are lesser known. Don’t worry, though; you still have enough time to read the novels behind the movies before they hit theaters…if you get started now.

1. Leave the World Behind

Part comedy of manners, part dystopian thriller, Rumaan Alam’s 2020 novel about two families forced to cohabitate through an apocalypse perfectly captured the absurdity and tragedy of that year. The book became an instant bestseller, a National Book Award finalist, one of our Best Books of the Fall selections, and one of former president Barack Obama’s summer favorites. Obama liked the story so much that he personally provided notes on the film adaptation. Julia Roberts (who is also a producer on the film) and Ethan Hawke play wealthy Brooklynite parents who rent a luxurious Airbnb on Long Island, hoping for an idyllic getaway with their two teenage children. Instead, they get a knock on the door in the middle of the night; fleeing widespread electrical blackouts, the couple who owns the home (Myha'la and Mahershala Ali) must hunker down with the vacationing family. As the disasters outside the home intensify, the social dynamics inside it grow tenser. Surviving a crisis is one thing; living in a world transformed is quite another. The film will show in select theaters beginning on November 22, 2023, and will be released on Netflix on December 8.

2. The Color Purple

In 1985, Oprah made her acting debut as Sofia in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Now the two are joining forces yet again to bring this timeless story to a new generation, coproducing an adaptation of the musical—which premiered on Broadway in 2005— alongside Quincy Jones and Scott Sanders. “To reinvent the movie at this time is to reinvent a phenomenon,” says Oprah. And though we would be predisposed to love the film regardless (sorry, it’s true), the early previews are, indeed, nothing short of phenomenal. The new cast features a host of Grammy-winning singers, including Danielle Brooks, who takes on Oprah’s former role of Sofia, Fantasia Barrino, who stars as Celie, and H.E.R. as Squeak. Halle Bailey and Ciara add even more sparkle to the cast, both portraying Nettie at different stages in her life. The film premieres on Christmas Day, 2023, meaning get your presents over and done with—and meet up by the popcorn stand.

3. Eileen

Ottessa Moshfegh’s breakout novel gets the red-carpet treatment with Anne Hathaway playing one of the cult favorite author’s most delightfully deviant characters: Rebecca, a glamorous, newly hired counselor at a boy’s juvenile corrective facility with her own twisted sense of justice. Set in a small New England town in the 1960s, the acclaimed literary thriller centers around the budding friendship between Rebecca and Eileen (Thomasin McKenzie), the prison’s desperately lonely secretary. Where Eileen is repressed by her gender, her father’s alcoholism, and her own darkly obsessive mind, Rebecca seems self-possessed and spotless. But lurking beneath Rebecca’s exterior are secrets Eileen couldn’t dream up in her most violent fantasies—and soon both women will enter a nightmare of their own making. The adaptation, which Moshfegh wrote in collaboration with her screenwriter husband, will be released in December by Neon.

4. All of Us Strangers

Two of television’s steamiest and most soulful actors— Normal People’s Paul Mescal and Fleabag’s Andrew Scott—play star-crossed lovers in this supernatural romance loosely based on Taichi Yamada’s hit novel Strangers. Adam (Scott) is a screenwriter with a raw tragedy in his past and a new man in his life (a mustached Mescal). As their relationship heats up, Adam makes an impulsive visit to his childhood home, where he discovers nothing has changed but him; his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), who died in a car accident when Adam was a child, are frozen in time. This is the second adaptation of Yamada’s prizewinning and widely translated novel, which was originally published in Japan in 1987. The first, The Discarnates, hit Japanese theaters in 1988—and featured a lot less queer romance and a lot more straight-up horror than the upcoming remake, scheduled to premiere on December 22, 2023.

5. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

This is not a drill. After eight long years without a Hunger Games movie, we’re returning to Panem. But instead of watching how this brutal dystopian society comes to its knees, here we get to see how it came to be in the first place. Set 64 years before the first Hunger Games book, Suzanne Collins’s 2020 prequel tells the story of the 10th annual Hunger Games—where children from the Capital’s 12 oppressed districts must fight to the death on live television. But this is far from the perversely glitzy affair that Katniss and Peeta are enlisted in; still reeling from its war with the districts, the Capital is trying to determine the style and, more importantly, the purpose of such a violent spectacle. This film features many characters whose names fans will recognize but whose younger faces and personalities will seem thrillingly new. For example, Coriolanus Snow is not the heartless old president we know and hate but a confused 18-year-old trying to do right by his country, his family, and his own conflicted heart. The upcoming release has the same director as three of the four original movies, as well as some fresh star power, including Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, and EGOT winner (and Oprah’s Book Club author) Viola Davis! Safe to say, we’ll be refreshing the Fandango page daily to be sure we get the first tickets for November 17.

6. Mickey 17

Bong Joon-ho, the multihyphenate, multi-Oscar-winning South Korean filmmaker, is back with his first movie since Parasite—and his first American production ever. Starring Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Naomi Ackie, and Mark Ruffalo, the psychological sci-fi thriller is an adaptation of Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel, Mickey7. Pattinson stars as the titular Mickey, an “expendable” employee sent on a dangerous mission to colonize a foreign planet with the understanding that if—or, likelier, when—he is killed, his body will simply regenerate with most of the previous Mickey’s memories intact. As with Parasite, Bong will not only direct the film but serve as a producer and screenwriter. With this much talent packed into a single production, it’ll be hard to wait until its March 29, 2024 release date.

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