20 classic books that deserve a blockbuster adaptation

Moby Dicĸ is one of those novels that is rightly considered a true American classic. Its story about Captain Ahab and his desire to find the whale that took his leg is one that still has a great deal of power, and given the novel’s canonical status, it’s been adapted a number of times. However, few of these have managed to give the book the treatment it deserves. A new adaptation could make abundant use of advances in filmmaking technology to capture the power and the terror that are such a strong part of Melville’s novel.

The late Toni Morrison was undoubtedly a giant of American letters, and her novels are rich and wrenching explorations of the functions of race in America. Beloved is arguably one of her greatest works, with its searing look at American history, slavery, and the extent to which a mother will go to save her child from the horrors of being enslaved. Oprah starred in the 1998 version, but surely the works of someone like Morrison, whose literary legacy is so remarkable, deserve more big-budget Hollywood adaptations. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter remains a searing indictment of American religious hypocrisy, focusing as it does on a woman, Hester Prynne, who is forced to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest for the sin of adultery (despite the fact that her lover and father of her child is a priest). It’s had a remarkable afterlife since its publication, and it’s inspired its fair share of adaptations of various sorts. A skilled filmmaker like Greta Gerwig could find much in the source material that would make it a very timely film while still staying true to the book. 

Sir Walter Scott was and remains one of the most important figures in the history of historical fiction as a genre. His novel Ivanhoe  is a fascinating look at the Middle Ages, and it explores issues related to faith, history, and heroism. Like his other works, it’s also rich in historical detail. As a result of all of this, it’s one of those novels that continues to speak to the present. One can easily see it getting a spectacular and adrenaline-filled blockbuster treatment by a director like Ridley Scott, who never met an epic story he didn’t love.

George Eliot was and remains one of the most beloved Victorian novelists, and Daniel Deronda is the final book published in her lifetime. The story's heart is the relationship between Gwendolen and Daniel Deronda, the latter of whom is secretly Jewish. The novel grapples with some serious and weighty matters, including some ideas that would eventually lead to some forms of Zionism. Given the topicality of its story and the melodrama of Eliot’s plot, this could easily become a truly moving film. 

Charles Dickens’ epic novel of the French Revolution remains one of the author’s most enduring works. It’s heartbreaking and remarkably detailed in its descriptions of France both on the eve of and during the Revolution. Given the recent surge in films and TV shows depicting the foibles and flaws of the wealthy and the powerful, an adaptation of this work would have the advantage of being able to tap into the prevailing cultural zeitgeist. It’s also a remarkably moving piece of literature in its own right, and it’s high time it was brought to the screen again.

Robert Graves’ novels I, Claudius, and its sequel, Claudius the God, were the source for the beloved BBC series of the same name. It’s been several decades since this disturbing but deliciously melodramatic story about the squabbles and foibles of the Julio-Claudian dynasty was brought to the screen, so it’s very past time for an updated version. Moreover, both the movies and TV seem to be searching for stories set in antiquity, and Claudius remains a fascinating and sympathetic narrator. There’s no time like the present to see ancient Rome brought to life.

The works of Edith Wharton have been adapted to the screen on a number of occasions, but her novella Ethan Frome has only been turned into one movie, and that was in the 1990s. The story itself is a remarkably heartbreaking one filled with heartache, tragedy, and dreadful irony, and at the heart of it all is the title character. A big (or small) screen adaptation would give a new generation the chance to experience Wharton’s remarkable literary talent.

Even though Jane Eyre has been adapted many times to the screen, the same cannot be said of Wide Sargasso Sea, which tells the haunting story of Antoinette Cossway, the woman who would marry Mr. Rochester and be renamed Bertha. It has been adapted twice to the screen, once for film and once for TV, but it could be argued that neither really does justice to the source material. Given the extent to which the novel is intersectional in its storytelling — drawing attention to Antoinette’s Creole identity and her exploitation at Rochester’s hands — a new film version would certainly speak to the politics of the present. 

Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment is, of course, one of the most notable works of Russian literature. Its story of a troubled former student, Rodion Raskolnikov, is one that continues to have a great deal of resonance, particularly for the present, as Gen Z faces growing pains. It has been a couple of decades since it saw its last major English-language adaptation. It would thus make an ideal vehicle for today’s generation of young actors and directors to make their mark on the Hollywood landscape.

Oscar Wilde was one of the 19th century’s most scandalous figures, and one of his most bitingly funny plays was The Importance of Being Earnest.  It has been adapted many times to the screen, but it’s now been nearly twenty years since the last one (which starred such big names as Colin Firth and Judi Dench). The play remains as farcical and hilarious as it’s always been, however, and there is certainly no shortage of skilled directors and comedic actors who would be well-suited to a new version of the story.

The Garden of Eden is one of Ernest Hemingway’s lesser-known works, and in fact, it wasn’t published until after his death. Nevertheless, it’s a fascinating story, focusing on a couple, David and Catherine Bourne, the latter of whom soon begins exploring her gender (and her sexuality, once the young woman Marita comes into their lives), much to her husband’s chagrin. Though the novel has been made into a film, it was widely panned by critics, and given the remarkable nature of the book, it’s high time that it got the more fully-realized film treatment it deserves. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald, like the other Modernists, was very much interested in war and its aftermath. His novel This Side of Paradise focuses on the young man Amory Blaine, who begins the novel spoiled but is gradually disenchanted, particularly by his experiences in the First World War. This is one of those early 20th-century American novels that has only become more relevant in the century since and, given the massive disillusionment that many feel today — particularly younger generations — this is a book that would no doubt resonate with many.

Though many of Mary Renault’s most famous novels were set in ancient Greece, her novel The Charioteer is set during World War II. It focuses on Laurie (Laurence) "Spud" Odell as he comes to terms with his sexuality. It was a remarkable novel at the time of its publication, largely thanks to its positive depiction of homosexuality. It remains one of the author’s most beloved works and is a landmark of queer literature. As a result, it’s past time that it finally gets the screen treatment that it has so long deserved. 

Madeline Miller burst onto the literary scene in 2011 with the publication of her novel The Song of Achilles, which tells the story of Patroclus, the lover and best friend of the Greek hero Achilles during the Trojan War. Told in exquisite prose and heartbreaking detail, the novel remains a remarkable piece of queer literature. Despite its enduring popularity, it has yet to be adapted to the screen, but given the extent to which antiquity seems to be hot again, it seems more likely than ever that this poignant gay love story may yet come to either the cinema or to TV. 

Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet remains a true classic of LGBTQ+ literature, focusing on Nan Astley, a young woman who leaves her small seaside English town for a life on the stage and, in the process, learns a great deal about her sexual and gendered desires. The existing TV adaptation certainly doesn’t do justice to the complexity and richness of Waters’ novel, so it would be exciting to see what a braver and brasher director could do with the material. One can but hope that someone sees the potential in this book for a new set of audiences.

To Kill a Mockingbird remains one of the best-loved novels in the history of American literature, and the 1962 film certainly casts a long shadow. However, its story about racial prejudice in America remains as relevant now as ever, if not more so, and it would be fascinating to see what Hollywood could do with the material. In the right hands and with the right stars, it could very well be made into a powerful piece of anti-racist filmmaking (and, if its predecessor is any indication, a very good costume drama).

John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces is one of those novels that shows how swiftly a cult classic can eventually attain mainstream success. Its center is Ignatius J. Reilly, and it revolves around his various adventures in 1930s New Orleans. Despite its popularity, however, A Confederacy has never been adapted for the screen, though there have been several aborted efforts to do so. Given its enduring popularity and warm critical reception, though, it’s surely only a matter of time before someone gives it the big-screen treatment it deserves.

T.H. White’s The Once and Future King remains one of the most notable works of Arthurian fiction of the 20th century. In addition to being a highly chivalric retelling of the stories of King Arthur and Camelot, it’s also a rumination on human nature, on war, and on whether peace can ever be attained and maintained in a fallen and often violent world. Though parts of it have been adapted — most notably in Disney’s The Sword in the Stone — it has yet to get the big-budget treatment it so richly deserves.

Virginia Woolf was, without a doubt, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, and she was a defining voice of Modernism. Though Mrs. Dalloway has been made into a film before (in 1997), and though it inspired The Hours (both the novel and the film), it is long overdue for a new treatment. Given the extent to which the present age is, like the novel’s setting, a troubled one in which knowledge is under threat, this is the type of story that would feel even more urgent and relevant than ever.