Many of the best (and indeed the worst) films in cinematic history are based on original screenplays – screenplays designed specifically for the screen – but they’ve always been taken from other genres as well, either directly or by inspiration. . Plays, comics, graphic novels, magazine stories, songs, and video games have all spawned movies. But no other source has delivered as many films as books.

The first known adaptation of literature written in celluloid was a 45-second scene titled “Trilby and Little Billee”, based on George du Maurier’s best-selling novel “Trilby”, shot in 1896. Short films based on works by Charles Dickens Jonathan Swift, Arthur Conan Doyle and the Brothers Grimm, among others, followed. The first feature film adaptation (actually four shorts combined into one feature film) was a 1909 rendition of Victor Hugo’s “Miserables”.

After that, it was the open house season on literary properties as far as filmmakers are concerned. James Bond was born between the covers of books. The same goes for Hannibal Lecter, Frodo Baggins and Katniss Everdeen. Film classics such as “Gone with the Wind”, “The Wizard of Oz”, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “The Godfather”, “Schindler’s List” and of course the Harry Potter series (among many others) all came out of the books. (See every Harry Potter movie ranked.)

Click here to see 35 books becoming films in 2022

To determine which books will become films in 2022, 24/7 Tempo examined a list of feature films based on books that are at least tentatively scheduled for release next year according to. IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon. Information on the books themselves came from Good reading and other online review sources. Graphic novels were not taken into account. (For a look at some possible future film adaptations, check out discover the most anticipated books released this fall.)