It’s no secret that many of the most popular book series have been brought to life on the big screen. However, it would be a lie to say that all of these movie adaptations shared their paper counterparts’ popularity.

A prime example would be the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The books were largely successful, winning many awards and appearing on The New York Times Children’s Bestseller list. Its movies, unfortunately, were received with mixed to negative reviews. What is it that makes a die-hard reader run away screaming when their favorite book is made into a movie?  

“It’s the lack of detail,” said senior Keyonna Richards, “ as well as the way that movies scatter the order of events differently than the way they happened in the books.”

Hollywood has been known to stray from the stories’ original concepts in order to boost ratings or appeal to certain media, but sometimes the lack of significant components aren’t always intentional.

“You can’t blame them for not getting to fit every detail into only 2 hours,” said sophomore Chloe Pak. “At the same time, however, they do tend to add extra scenes and details.”

While many fans would be angered by the addition of details that weren’t originally written in the book or the complete omittance of details, it might not really matter to most of them.

“I believe it gives the reader a visual experience, that a book itself can’t provide,” said junior Lauren Escobedo.

However, it appears that the key factor that either makes or breaks a fan’s cinematic experience is how well it sticks to the story’s plot.

“I think if the movie isn’t accurate enough to the book, then it ruins it,” said sophomore Cas White, “but if it’s like ‘Lord of the Rings,’ then it’s fine.”

The majority of people interviewed agreed that a book-to-film franchise can still be enjoyable, as long as the ideas and concepts that made the books so interesting in the first place aren’t corrupted or completely butchered.

So whether the latest trailers make a person groan in agony or rush to pre-order tickets, Hollywood has definitely done some creative things to try to spread the hype of well-loved novels while trying to secure high ratings in the process. It just all comes down to whether the producers listen to the book’s loyal fans, or their wallets.

5 well known books turned into movies:                                                          

-All 7 Harry Potter books

-The Hunger Games series

-The Percy Jackson and the Olympian series

-Lord of the Rings series

-The Divergent series

Are books ruined by their movie adaptations? (26 interviewed)