Nowadays, we see a lot of books turning from a story on the page to a story on the screen. Adaptations of books into movies or shows is always a journey, and I find it interesting that a lot of what we see being turned from book to screen is in the YA genre. It’s intriguing to see the age-range of what they find and consider successful to continue making adaptations out of. However, there are multiple standards each screen adaption has that can deem it successful, specifically loyalty to the book and revenue it brings in. As simple as they sound, these are two very different success standards.

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When it comes to making an adaptation, it can either be a hit or miss. Sometimes they can become so successful they can actually take over our world for a little bit. For example, when the Twilight movies came out, all I remember hearing and seeing is Team Jacob or Team Edward. The same thing happened when The Hunger Games movies came out, it was either Team Gale or Team Peeta. There was even merchandise created to make a profit off of the commotion these movies created. Both of these movies were huge successes for the theaters and brought in a lot of revenue. That can also be said for the Harry Potter franchise that is still marketing merchandise to this day. Other times, they could do so poorly that a second movie isn’t even made, even though there are more books to follow the first, for example, I Am Number Four.

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When it came to The Hunger Games, the first two movies stayed somewhat true to the book. Yes, some scenes were cut, and others were added but not to the point where it changed the story or added/took away characters. However, the second two movies were very different from the book. This was a call made by the producers to not only bring in more revenue by splitting the movie into two parts, but to make both of them interesting to watch. The third book in The Hunger Games series, Mockingjay, is mostly known for being the least interesting in the series. A lot of readers that I know stuck with the book to finish the story, however, they were not a fan of getting through the novel. One thing I did appreciate from the screenwriters though, is that the last line of the book and the last line said in the movie are near identical. I really appreciated the loyalty they still tried to hold to the story, while keeping in mind that they do have a different audience to amuse.

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Personally, I feel it is more important to stay true to the book than it is to make money. That is how I deem success when I watch an adaptation, especially if I read the book prior to seeing the movie. To start, the movie is only being made because of how popular the book is. If the book is doing so well, why change the story when making it more widely known? Those who read the book are the majority of the audience that the movie will attract. I feel that the story the author puts out is the only story that should be told, rather than having different versions floating around. An example would be the book series After by Anna Todd. This was a Wattpad series that got brought to publication as well as to film. However, the producers took a lot out of the story to try and appeal to a younger audience. Todd was very upset by this and completely changed film staff until she found one that stayed true to the story she wanted to tell. The films went from PG-13 to R, but they got renewed for a third movie in the five-book collection. This series is still going strong and it’s all because of the actions taken by Todd to make her story the way she wanted it to be and the way it was supposed to be. I feel this is really important because it just shows that films can be successful by staying loyal to the book, as well as pleasing the big audience of book readers the film brings in.

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Not every adaptation has the ability to become profitable or likeable, however. Let’s look at the book series Divergent, by Veronica Roth. The Divergent books were a huge hit and later got turned into films. However, Divergent, the first movie, made $150 million, while Insurgent, the second movie, made $130 million, and Allegiant, the third movie, made $66 million. The fans were disappointed with how the second movie was made, and that the producers were trying to split the third book into two movies. According to Fatima and Sims, Since the third movie did so poorly, the producers decided to pull the second part of Allegiant and turn it into a television series instead. However, actors and directors decided to quit when the quality and the loyalty to the source material dwindled. The later films looked cheesier and less realistic than the first movie that did so well, and the plots kept diverging from Veronica Roth’s original vision. For these reasons, the Divergent show would’ve made an embarrassingly low amount and never was put into production. Deciding to split the last movie into two parts as well as cutting back on the things that made the stories so great, was the producers’ biggest mistake and it only hurt them in the end.

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Today, streaming services like Netflix, are something that have become very popular. Movies are skipping theaters and going straight to streaming services, and streaming services have even started to produce their own original shows and movies, some with big-name actors, to try and draw more customers in. Even though these movies didn’t go to the theaters, they have become so popular that one Netflix Original, Don’t Look Up, was actually nominated for four Oscars in 2022 (Todisco).

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Some of these original series and movies have been adaptations from books as well. To name a few: You, To All The Boy’s I’ve Loved Before, Bird Box, and so many more still to come. However, just like the theaters, some of these adaptations are a real hit or miss. They still are held to the same standards of success, only now the revenue is looked at more by watch counts than box office profits.

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To start, one of the more popular movies on Netflix was Bird Box. In December of 2018, Netflix released this movie, and it became one of the most successful Netflix Originals that was released. After the first seven days of the release, Bird Box was watched by over 45 million accounts, making it the biggest first week of release for a Netflix Original movie.

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Another Netflix Original was the To All The Boy’s I’ve Loved Before trilogy and spinoff soon to come. According to the success rate on Rotten Tomatoes, the first movie had a 96% rating with an audience score of 85%, then the second movie went down to a 76% and an audience score of 40%, and finally the third movie ended at a 79% with an audience score of 59%. As someone who has read the series, I can confirm that these are reasonable ratings. I thought the first movie was very well done. However, I couldn’t even get through the second movie. To me this was a big letdown because I really did love the books, and was excited to see this adaptation.

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Netflix also has its own original series based on books. One of the most popular and most successful is You. What’s interesting about this is that it didn’t start on Netflix. It was actually a series on a cable network called Lifetime. However, it did so poorly that Lifetime decided to cancel the renewal, even though the producer told them to be patient and to hold out for a second season. The producer was right when he asked for patience, Lifetime was just the wrong audience for it. Netflix started streaming You and the show went from having only 650,000 viewers to 40 million within the first weeks of being added to Netflix (Yahr). In an article written for The Washington Post, TV critic Emily Yahr stated, “’You’ failing on Lifetime and being treated by the viewing public as a Netflix original is going to be remembered as a major turning point in what will shortly be a contraction of the TV industry.” You got renewed for a second season within only a few weeks of being on the Netflix platform.

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Netflix has some new things coming in 2022 including two new book adaptation movies, The Selection and Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between. The release of these two movies is something I am looking forward to, having read these books already. I have high hopes for The Selection, as it is a popular five-book series with short novellas that make up the sixth book. However, I would hate to see such a beautiful series be ruined by trying to change things to make money. I hope they follow the more traditional path, to keep the loyalty to the story on the screen from what was written on the pages.