Fantasy stories made into movies

Here are fantasy novels and short stories that have been made into movies or TV shows.

I’ll mention the name of the story/novel if it’s different than the movie.

Hans Christian Anderson

  • Frozen
    • inspired by “The Snow Queen”
    • 2013 -> 4.5/5
  • Frozen 2
    • inspired by characters from “The Snow Queen”
    • 2019 -> 4/5

L. Frank Baum

  • The Wizard of Oz
    • 1939 -> I haven’t seen this since I was a kid, but it’s obviously a brilliant musical

Max Brooks

Lewis Carroll

I read the book — it’s worth reading.

Cressida Cowell

Roald Dahl

  • James and the Giant Peach
    • 1996 -> 4/5
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
    • 2005 -> 4/5
  • Fantastic Mr. Fox
    • 2009 -> 5/5

Dahl cowrote the screenplays for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and You Only Live Twice.

Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont

  • Beauty and the Beast
    • 1991 -> 4.5/5

Charles Dickens

Michael Ende

  • The NeverEnding Story
    • 1984 -> 2/5

I read the book — it’s worth reading.

Ian Fleming

  • Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
    • 1968 -> 3/5

Fleming wrote the novels that the James Bond movies are based on — the movies, at least, have some fantastic elements.

Neil Gaiman

  • Stardust
    • 2007 -> 5/5
  • Coraline
    • 2009 -> 2.5/5
  • Good Omens
    • 2019 -> 5/5
      • Gaiman wrote the book with Terry Pratchett

I read Good Omens — it’s a masterpiece.

Gaiman wrote 1 episode of Babylon 5. He wrote the screenplay for MirrorMask, and worked on the English version of Princess Mononoke.

William Goldman

  • The Princess Bride
    • 1987 -> 5/5

I read the book — it’s similarly brilliant.

Goldman wrote the screenplays for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, A Bridge Too Far, Chaplin, Maverick, and Hearts in Atlantis.

Brothers Grimm

There’s the movie The Brothers Grimm but it’s not based on fact and not particularly good.

James Hilton

  • Lost Horizon
    • 1937 -> 2/5

Washington Irving

  • Sleepy Hollow
    • based on “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”
    • 1999 -> 2/5

Diana Wynne Jones

  • Howl’s Moving Castle
    • 2004 -> 4/5

Robert C. O’Brien

  • The Secret of NIMH
    • based on Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
    • 1982 -> I loved this movie as a kid but haven’t seen it in decades

Stephen King

King wrote the stories that were the basis for the science fiction movie The Running Man and miniseries 11.22.63 and the realistic movies Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption, and Hearts in Atlantis. He also wrote an episode of The X-Files.

Ursula K. Le Guin

  • Earthsea
    • based on A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan
    • 2004 -> 3.5/5

I’ve read the books — they’re worth reading, better than the miniseries.

Richard Matheson

  • I Am Legend
    • 2007 -> 4.5/5

Matheson wrote an episode of Star Trek.

Katherine Paterson

Mervyn Peake

  • Gormenghast
    • based on Titus Groan and Gormenghast
    • 2000 -> 3.5/5

I read the first book — it’s worth reading.

Terry Pratchett

  • Good Omens
    • 2019 -> 5/5
      • Pratchett wrote the book with Neil Gaiman

I read this book — it’s a masterpiece.

Anne Rice

  • Interview With the Vampire
    • 1994 -> 5/5

I read the book — it’s similarly brilliant.

J. K. Rowling

I read one of the books, The Prisoner of Azkaban — that one is worth reading if you want to see what it’s all about.

Alice Sebold

  • The Lovely Bones
    • 2009 -> 3.5/5

Maurice Sendak

  • Where the Wild Things Are
    • 2009 -> 3.5/5

Dr. Seuss

Lemony Snicket

  • Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
    • 2004 -> 2.5/5

Jonathan Swift

  • Gulliver’s Travels
    • 1996 -> 4/5

J. R. R. Tolkien

I read these books a long time ago — they are likely all brilliant.

P. L. Travers

Virginia Woolf

  • Orlando
    • 1992 -> 2.5/5

Special mention

  • Once Upon a Time
    • based on a bunch of fairy tales, folklore, and novels like
      • The Adventures of Pinocchio
      • “Beauty and the Beast”
      • “Little Red Riding Hood”
      • Peter Pan
      • Robin Hood
      • “Rumpelstiltskin”
      • “Snow White”
      • The Wizard of Oz 
    • 2011-18 -> 4 to 5/5

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 at 1:05 pm and is filed under My thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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