Shows- -The Walking Dead -The Boys -Watchmen (see explanation below) -Hannibal Movies- -"Batman Begins" is better than "Batman: Year One" even though it's not a direct adaptation. -"The Dark Knight" is better than "The Killing Joke" even though it's not a direct adaptation. -"Joker" is WAY better than "The Killing Joke" even though it's not a direct adaptation. -"The Dark Knight Rises" is a massive compression of "Knightfall" and all the better for it. -"Man Of Steel" mashes up "Man Of Steel" "Miracleman" and "Gladiator" and makes something better than its ingredients. -"Batman v Superman" mashes up the Superman chapters of "The Dark Knight Returns" and "Injustice" and makes something better. -"Zack Snyder's Justice League" mashes up New 52 Justice League, and "Injustice" and is better. -"The Batman" mashes up "The Long Halloween" with the Zodiac killer, and RL online militias/cults, and comes out better than "Long Halloween". -"Watchmen" the movie is tied with the book, but the HBO sequel series is philosophically superior to the original. IMHO. -"Infinity War" and "Endgame" are better than "Infinity Gauntlet" by leaps and bounds. -Hannibal (and the show is even better)
It's not really unusual. The following seem very clear-cut to me for example, being cases where a book that was merely "good" became something really special when adapted into a movie. 2001: A Space Odyssey The Godfather Goodfellas Barry Lyndon The Shawshank Redemption
The Mist. Better than the short story because of the ending. Even Stephen King thought the ending of the movie was better.
Kubrick's The Shining is infinitely better than Stephen King's book. @RickDeckard ... the novelization of 2001: A Space Odyssey was written concurrently with the film and released afterward, so not really applicable in this case.
I'd add "Bladerunner" and "Stand By Me" to that list. Oh, and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". The author admits the movie is better, and he even made the sequel novel a sequel to the movie.
Nope. TLH was a detective thing, not Bane conquering Gotham. Unless you're thinking DK, which only used the Two-Face origin stuff from TLH.
Stand By Me (and The Mist) is a short story, not a novel. The difference is that many books really should be a mini series rather than a movie. They leave so much of the book out of the movie which is why the book is usually better. Movies, in and of itself, is more like a short story than a book. So, I don't think they should be counted. Didn't see Apt Pupil. But, of the 4 stories in Four Seasons, two of the three that were made into movies are really good movies. Morgan Freeman, I think, is the sole reason Shawshank Redemption was such a success. Tim Robbins did a good job too, but, he just played the guy from the story. Freeman really brought new depth to Red that wasn't there in the story.
The Magicians. The books were a cynical take on Harry Potter and similar "main character has shitty life and doesn't fit in, discovers hidden world where everyone loves them, they're the Almighty Chosen One, and they're much happier even though they have exponentially more problems" stories. Instead of that, in The Magicians, after the main characters discover the magical world, they still don't fit in, and they end up less happy than they were before. The TV show was cynical and nihilistic as hell just like the books, but they added a lot of humor and silliness that nicely complimented the cynicism. The show also depicted some of the most nuanced sexuality I've seen on TV. The books had a gay character, but on the show he was homoflexible and in an open relationship with a woman. Everyone's going to disagree with me for the next two: Game of Thrones. I got bored with the TV show after Geoffry was killed, but the books, I got a few paragraphs into the first one before I was like "all right, this is going to be overly-long nerd shit I won't care about without enough awesome stuff to counteract it, so I'm just gonna stop." The show was watchable at least. The Lord of the Rings. Pretty similar to the above, reading the books felt like an English class assignment rather than enjoyment. I didn't even finish Return of the King. The movies were fun. This does not apply to The Hobbit. I didn't particularly care for the book, but I didn't care for the movies either. I don't even remember if I watched the third one or not.
Maybe I was thinking that. I know I've seen Nolan saying he was inspired by The Long Halloween, but I agree, The Batman is a more satisfying story even though both are pretty good.
I hear people say all of the time that it's not often movies are better than the books they are based on so I was curious as to what people here thought.
I dunno about Knightfall, D. I think Bane's strategy of releasing all the Arkham villains, knowing Batman would be compelled to run himself ragged recapturing them and thus in no shape to face him is a FAR better demonstration than Bane is Bat's intellectual foe as well as just a physical one, than the rather basic "well I'm bigger and tougher (and on a performance-enhancing drug) and you've got a bum knee, plus you don't scare me" deal we got in TDKR.
Slightly off topic, but I am shocked that no one has yet attempted a real adaptation of Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain Chronicles. No, Disney’s ‘The Black Cauldron’ does not count. I mean an actual adaptation of the entire series either as a movie series or a TV miniseries. Could be live action or animated. We know studios and streaming services are desperate for content and they’ve made attempts with almost every other prominent fantasy series except for The Prydain Chronicles. Maybe Disney still holds the rights and they forgot about the property. Or maybe they are still shell shocked from the failure of ‘The Black Cauldron’ which nearly tanked the whole company.
