Originally published in print in February 2026. View print issues here.

From debuting on the bookshelves to appearing on TV screens, book adaptations have become a major trend in the film industry. 

Book adaptations are films transformed from a literary source, such as novels or comics, to a new interpretation of the story shown through movies, TV shows or other spin-offs. These adaptations can vary from the dystopian genre with book-to-film movies like “The Hunger Games” released in 2012 to embracing the romance genre with “People We Meet on Vacation” released in 2025. 

With many of these books already having a present fanbase, senior Tatum Wadholm has noticed the entertainment industry using this to their advantage to reimagine fan favorites with a new perspective. 

“I think that film directors, actors and writers are picking stories that already have a fanbase, making it more successful than a new story,” Wadholm said. 

Senior Isla Gordon, Book of the Month Club secretary, believes the rise in popularity of these films is due to decreased interest in reading among people who favor digital media rather than physical literature. 

“When you’re reading, some people just read the words and enjoy it that way,” Gordon said. “For me, I see it like a movie in my head, so for those who can’t imagine the story in their head, I feel like the movie does that and broadens the story.”

AP English Language teacher Heather Amanatullah believes BookTok, an online community for book lovers who share reviews and opinions about books and literature, contributes to the popularity of book-to-film adaptations. Amanatullah says that this community brings a larger audience to books and requests for these films. 

“Hollywood doesn’t want to do the work of developing their own kind of creative writing, so I also think the popularity of BookTok has made it explode when readers are saying to Hollywood, ‘We’re really enjoying these [books]. Show us what it could look like on film and on TV,’” Amanatullah said.

Recent book adaptations have also sparked interest in new literature within the Branham community. For example, the success of TV show “Heated Rivalry” released in November 2025 has drawn many like Wadholm to read the original book.

“It did a really good job of highlighting different aspects that the book didn’t, especially with the characters’ sexual identities [and] relationship through different ways,” Wadholm said. 

Readers are fond of seeing their favorite books being shown on screen, especially when film writers adhere to the original plot and the author’s imagination of their work. Wadholm viewed “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series as a successful adaptation since the original novel author Jenny Han had a voice while producing the series. 

“When making movies that are adapted for TV, it’s really important to have the author of the story have a voice in the retelling of their story,” Wadholm said. 

There are also critiques to the rise of these films. As someone who reads before watching the film, Amanatullah avoids book adaptations that are very different from the original books. For instance, she did not enjoy the new “Frankenstein” film released in 2025. 

“I like the Frankenstein novel,” Amanatullah said. “It’s one of my favorite books to read and teach, so when I watched the first 20 minutes, I had to turn it off because it was so different from the novel that even though it was beautiful and rich in detail, I was raging.”

Watching book adaptations is becoming an additional way to enjoy contemporary literature, bringing more fans to the book world. Gordon uses reading and — more recently, book adaptations — as a way to escape from the chaos of life. 

“People want a way to escape from the stress of life or what’s going on in the world, and [watching book adaptations] is what I can do to escape our world and come into a different reality,” Gordon said.

Illustration by Grace Ngo/Special to Bear Witness