Upcoming Book-To-Screen Adaptations: What To Read Before The Movie Or TV Show

The simple joy of reading a book can inspire so much. While we’re turning their pages, we use our imaginations to live inside entire worlds with its characters. There are so many great books being made into movies or TV shows across what’s left of this year, the 2025 movie schedule and beyond. And, since there’s nothing quite like comparing a production’s vision to your own personal experience reading a story, we’re preparing you for everything you should read before the Hollywood adaptation hits theaters and our TV screens.

Time to pop open your TBR list, because a lot of upcoming book-to-screen adaptations are on the way across loads of genres, from the new Bridget Jones movie this Valentine’s Day to the next Hunger Games prequel. Across numerous genres, pick up these titles so you can say ‘I read that book’ before they become major movie and TV releases.

Nightbitch (Rachel Yoder)

Rachel Yoder’s 2021 horror novel Nightbitch is set to be adapted into a movie by Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood’s director, Marielle Heller. The movie will star and be produced by Amy Adams. The book itself is about a stay-at-home mother with a two-year-old who starts to believe that she is turning into a dog at night. You can check our first reaction to Nightbitch following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

One Hundred Years Of Solitude is a novel that has often been cited as one of the most important works in the Spanish language. The magical realist story that follows seven generations of the Buendía Family (set in Colombia) has been adapted to a Netflix series that is set to cover the novel across two seasons. It should be noted that before the author’s death, he refused to sell the rights because he didn’t think the material lent itself to a film due to time constraints. Hopefully, two seasons of the show will do it justice.

The Count Of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)

Alexandre Dumas is the French author best known for The Three Musketeers, which has been adapted countless times. His other popular novel, The Count Of Monte Cristo has also been turned into a movie a few times, but not since 2002. This new movie is a French film, and is apparently the most expensive production from France to come out this year, and earned a huge box office over there. The story itself is a period piece set in 1815, and is about a young sailor who becomes unjustly imprisoned on the eve of his wedding. While in jail, he learns of a secret treasure, escapes, finds it and uses his wealth to avenge those who wronged him.

Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties (Elijah Wald)

Timothée Chalamet’s Bob Dylan biopic was of course inspired by the musician’s life, but aided and inspired specifically by Elijah Wald’s book about the star. Like the movie, Dylan Goes Electric! talks about the folk singer’s turn to rock starting in 1965, which is cited to have ended the folk revival and helped make rock music so popular. The movie is helmed by Walk The Line’s James Mangold and also stars Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro and Boyd Holbrook.

Dog Man (Dav Pilkey)

Dav Pilkey is well known for his Captain Underpants books, but he also made a children’s comic book called Dog Man, which is a spinoff of the Underpants series. DreamWorks Animation is making a feature film based on the Dog Man comic book series. The upcoming kids movie is about a superhero who is part dog and part man.

The Witcher: Sword of Destiny (Andrzej Sapkowski)

While The Witcher fans wait for Liam Hemsworth to replace Henry Cavill in the Netflix show’s Season 4, they can also look forward to a new anime based on one of the stories by Andrzej Sapkowski coming to the 2025 Netflix movies and TV release calendar. It’s the second of its kind after The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf came out back in 2021. This movie is based on the story “A Little Sacrifice” from the short story collection Sword of Destiny. The movie will feature Doug Cockle, who voiced the Witcher in the video game series, back in the voice role.

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (Helen Fielding)

Renée Zellweger is set to return to her iconic role of Bridget Jones (which is absolutely quotable) for a third time in the Valentine’s Day release, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy. The title is pulled right from Helen Fielding’s 2013 third Bridget Jones book. In the novel, Bridget finds herself being unexpectedly a single parent who is trying her hand at online dating. You can check out the Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy trailer ahead of its Valentine’s Day release.

Not Without Hope (Nick Schuyler and Jeré Longman)

The true story about how three NFL football players got into a boating accident in 2009 was told through the non-fiction novel Not Without Hope, as told by its sole survivor. Zachary Levi, Josh Duhamel, Quentin Plair and Marshall Cook star in the drama based on the 2010 book. The Grey director Joe Carnahan is directing the film.

The Unbreakable Boy (Scott Michael LeRette)

The Unbreakable Boy is a novel written by the father of a teen boy named Austin who has a rare brittle-bone disease and is autistic. The book has been commended for being “honest” and “touching” as Austin’s father talks about how his experience with his son actually lent a hand in his own maturity as a person. It has been made into a movie with Zachary Levi playing the book’s author, Scott LeRette and Meghann Fahy and Peter Facinelli among the cast. The movie was filmed back in 2020, and was previously going to be released in 2022 before that was pulled and it has since been moved to early 2025.

The Electric State (Simon Stalenhag)

Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox and Jenny Slate all star in Netflix’s The Electric State movie from the Russo brothers. It’s about a teen girl and her small yellow robot, who travel through an intriguing sci-fi American landscape. The book, which is full of incredible full-color illustrations, has been compared to Fallout and Black Mirror. Check out The Electric State trailer.

The Amateur (Robert Littell)

Slow Horses filmmaker James Hawes has lined up a star-studded cast for The Amateur that includes Rami Malek, Rachel Brosnahan, Laurence Fishburne and Outlander’s Caitríona Balfe. The book it's based on by Robert Littell was previously adapted into a movie in 1981 (the year it was published). It’s considered a spy thriller classic that follows a cryptographer for the CIA who takes matters into his own hands when his fiancée is murdered by terrorists and his agency decides not to pursue the case.

Mickey7 (Edward Ashton)

Bong Joon-ho’s next movie since winning Best Picture for Parasite is a movie called Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattinson, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo and Naomi Ackie. It’s based on a 2022 science fiction novel by Edward Ashton about a disposable employee on an expedition to colonize an ice world called Niflheim. After one iteration of Mickey dies, a new body is regenerated, with many of the previous versions intact. You can check out the first Mickey7 trailer as we wait.

How To Train Your Dragon (Cressida Cowell)

As more upcoming live-action Disney remakes remain on the way, the beloved Dreamworks title, How To Train Your Dragon is following suit with a live-action remake. A teaser of the new movie (which was written and directed by the animated trilogy’s Dean DeBlois) was released in November ahead of it hitting theaters this summer. The story is based on a series of books from Cressida Cowell that follows a young viking named Hiccup and his unlikely friendship with a dragon named Toothless.

The Twits (Roald Dahl)

​​There’s been so many great Roald Dahl adaptations over the years, from numerous Wonka movies, to Fantastic Mr. Fox or Matilda. Netflix is now adapting an animated version of The Twits, which has yet to be imagined into a movie prior. The Twits is a children’s novel from 1980 about a couple who play a series of practical jokes on others for their own amusement.

Cold Storage (David Koepp)

Liam Neeson, Stranger Things’ Joe Keery and Smile’s Sosie Bacon are set to star in a thriller called Cold Storage based on the novel of the same title. David Koepp, who is also behind blockbuster movies like Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, 2002’s Spider-Man, published the novel back in 2019. It’s about a group of strangers who must come together to contain a very contagious and deadly organism.

The Running Man (Stephen King)

Stephen King’s 1982 dystopian novel, The Running Man, is set to get a remake with Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim filmmaker Edgar Wright behind the camera. After the story of a a guy who goes on a violent popular reality TV show to provide for his family was written by the King of Horror, it was initially adapted into an Arnold Schwarzenegger film. In the new adaptation, which will chillingly take place in the same year King set the novel in, Glen Powell, Josh Brolin, William H. Macy, Katy O’Brian, Michael Cera, Lee Pace and Emilia Jones in the cast.

The Cat In The Hat (Dr. Seuss)

Dr. Suess’ beloved 1957 children’s book, The Cat In The Hat, is about a tall cat who pays a girl and her brother a visit on a rainy day when her mother is away to entertain them as his friends Thing One and Thing Two wreck the house. It was previously adapted for live action in 2003, but this time it will be an animated movie starring Bill Hader as the cat along with Quinta Brunson, Bowen Yang and Xochitl Gomez also among the voice cast. But, we’ll have to wait given The Cat in the Hat release date isn’t until 2026.

Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)

One popular science fiction bestseller in recent years has been Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary, which is now getting a movie adaptation. The book comes from the same author who previously wrote The Martian, which was adapted into a blockbuster by Ridley Scott and starred Matt Damon. Project Hail Mary follows the journey of a school teacher that became an astronaut as he comes out of a coma while in space. The movie version will star Ryan Gosling as the protagonist with Phil Lord and Chris Miller of the Spider-Verse movies signed on to direct.

Sunrise On The Reaping (Suzanne Collins)

After the success of the first Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, both as a novel in 2020 and movie in 2023, Suzanne Collins and Lionsgate are diving back into Panem to tell another story from the dystopia. As announced over the summer, a novel called Sunrise on the Reaping will tell the backstory of Haymitch Abernathy’s Hunger Games. The book is coming on March 18, 2025, about a year and half before the movie’s planned release date.

Upcoming Book Adaptations Without A Release Date

• Book Lovers movie (by Emily Henry)
• A Court Of Thorns And Roses TV show (by Sarah J. Mass)
• Dark Matter Season 2 (by Blake Crouch)
• Fairy Tale TV show (by Stephen King)
• Fourth Wing TV show (by Rebecca Yarros)
• Funny Story movie (by Emily Henry)
• Hamnet movie (by Maggie O'Farrell)
• Harry Potter TV show (by J.K. Rowling)
• The Housemaid movie (by Freida McFadden)
• The Institute TV show (Stephen King)
• The Life Of Chuck movie (by Stephen King)
• The Long Walk movie (by Stephen King)
• Margo’s Got Money Troubles TV Show (by Rufi Thorpe)
• The Thursday Murder Club movie (by Richard Osman)
• Recursion movie and TV series (by Blake Crouch)
• Whalefall movie (by Daniel Kraus)
• Wuthering Heights movie (by Emily Brontë)

Anyone else ready to head to the library and the bookstore to get caught up on these? There are so many upcoming book-to-screen adaptations on the way, and following along with what's next via your reading list is a great way to enjoy these movies and TV shows even more!