Sci-Fi Stories With Awful Movie Adaptations:
We live in a world full of amazing Science Fiction novels that have the potential to be adapted into spectacular movies. But in reality, it is a herculean task to adapt a good novel due to production, technological or visual limitations, and sometimes just ignorance from studio executives. These movies disappointed us greatly and turned are favorite stories into disasters.
#10: Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Novel: Johnny Mnemonic
Author: William Gibson
Johnny Mnemonic is the story of a data courier named Johnny, who is implanted with a special neural storage device to relay secret information safely, and the lead is played by the beloved Keanu Reeves. The fans were gravely disappointed as the makers decided to make an over-the-top action movie and completely discarded the core of the story.
#9: Dune (1984)
Novel: Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
Not even the Genius David Lynch was able to adapt this awesome story into a good movie. It is the story of a young man named Paul, who is dragged into a space war between noble families. The novel has won several awards in the Sci-fi genre, but the movie was nowhere near the books in terms of quality.
#8: John Carter (2012)
Novel: John Carter of Mars
Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
John Carter seemed like the perfect story for a movie adaptation but the final result was not at all satisfactory. Disney focused more on the visuals, where it should have concentrated on the plot. It felt like a cash-grab from the get-go and it got what it deserved from the fans.
#7: Ender’s Game (2013)
Novel: Ender’s Game
Author: Orson Scott Card
Ender’s Game is the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, a young boy who is recruited in an academy to become a war strategist against aliens. The movie tried appealing to a larger base, and in that bid, it had to tone it down significantly, so that everyone could follow the story. The over-simplification of the story disappointed the fans of the book.
#6: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Novel: Valerian and Laureline
Author: Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres
The moviemakers cannot win with such stories, as it is incredibly hard to adapt space stories as they require heavy use of CGI, and fans do not appreciate it. The movie failed to capture the magic of the award-winning novel and picked bad actors in a good story.
#5: The Giver (2014)
Novel: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Jeff Bridges wanted to make this movie for a long time, and it was perhaps the delay that deteriorated its quality. The movie made unnecessary changes to the story and it focused more on romance rather than the Science Fiction aspect.
#4: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Novel: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Author: Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
With such an intriguing and fun storyline, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen seemed like a sure-shot blockbuster. But the movie was nothing but a bag full of disappointments. It feels more like a League of Ordinary Gentlemen.
#3: The Time Machine (2002)
Novel: The Time Machine
Author: H.G. Wells
H.G. Wells is one of the most prominent Sci-fi figures of all time but no one could make a good movie on his story, The Time Machine. The movie missed the point of the novel entirely and gave us a mixed bag. If only we had a Time Machine to stop the makers of the movie.
#2: Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Novel: Ghost in the Shell
Author: Masamune Shirow
This movie was shrouded in controversy way before its release, as fans were not happy about Scarlett Johansson playing a character who’s Japanese in the novel. Even if you overlook the Whitewashing controversy, the movie did not follow the source material, which resulted in its failure at the box office.
#1: The Dark Tower (2017)
Novel: The Dark Tower
Author: Stephen King
A movie based on Stephen King’s work, starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba – feels like a dream come true, right? Well, the final result was more of a nightmare as the movie tried to compress a massive story in 90 minutes. The fans were let down by this movie greatly as the story was awesome and had a lot of potential.
