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 adapted this year on the 2025 movie schedule and among 2025 TV premiere dates. 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.

Wish You Were Here (Renée Carlino)

If you’re a fan of second-chance romance, Wish You Were Here might be the book and upcoming adaptation for you. The Renée Carlino novel is about a pair of twenty-somethings, Charlotte and Adam, who have a one-night stand. The twist? Charlotte learns Adam has terminal cancer and grows attached to spending time with him in his last days. The movie is Julia Stiles’ directorial debut and stars Isabelle Fuhrman, Mena Massoud, Jennifer Grey and Kelsey Grammer.

Rule: A Marked Men Novel (Jay Crownover)

Jay Crownover’s bestselling Marked Men series is getting a movie adaptation with Outer Banks’ Chase Stokes as Rule Archer, a fiery tattoo artist who Shaw Landon (played by American Born Chinese’s Sydney Taylor) is drawn by despite her opposite background as a pre-med student. he first book in the series (there are six novels!) sets up their romance. The movie has been directed by Nick Cassavettes, who also helmed The Notebook.

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 has made 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 and features the voice talents of Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher and Ricky Gervais.

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.

Persuader: A Jack Reacher Novel (Lee Child)

Reacher Season 3 is on the way, and yes, once again it will be an adaptation of one of Lee Child’s novels from his Jack Reacher book series. This time the inspiration will come from the seventh novel called Persuader, which has Reacher coming across Xavier Quinn, a man who he thought was dead as he was responsible for the murder of two of his colleagues a decade earlier. Season 3’s adaptation comes following the first movie being based on the first in the series, Killing Floor and Season 2 being based on the 11th book, Bad Luck and Trouble.

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 Monkey (Stephen King)

There are quite a few upcoming Stephen King movies and TV shows based on the author’s beloved writings, with the next one being based on the short story “The Monkey,” which he wrote in 1980. After writer/director Osgood Perkins made a major name for himself in horror with last year’s Longlegs, this movie starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany and Elijah Wood is about an evil toy monkey. The short story has a boy discovering the vintage toy in his father’s childhood attic before it brings up horrifying memories for the father, and casualties along the way.

Mickey7 (Edward Ashton)

Bong Joon-ho’s next movie since winning Best Picture for Parasite is Mickey 17, which stars 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.

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.

Four Letters Of Love (Niall Williams)

Irish writer Niall Williams’ bestselling romance novel Four Letters Of Love has been adapted into a movie starring Pierce Brosnan and Helena Bonham Carter. The actors will play the Irish parents to the movie’s fated lovers Nicholas and Isabel, played by Fionn O’Shea and Ann Skelly. In the case of this adaptation, the original writer wrote the screenplay.

The Life Of Chuck (Stephen King)

Another Stephen King adaptation on the way is The Life of Chuck adaptation starring Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, Karen Gillan and Jacob Tremblay. The movie is based on a novella King published in 2020 comprising three acts that each play out in reverse chronological order. While many of King’s stories fall in the horror genre, this one is more of a science fiction drama.

The Murderbot Diaries (Martha Wells)

Martha Wells’ science fiction series The Murderbot Diaries is set to become one of the upcoming AppleTV+ shows on the way. The books are told from the perspective of a cyborg owned by a futuristic megacorporation who frees itself from enslavement, but rather than going on a killing spree, it moves into security work and makes friends with other artificial intelligences and humans. The series will star Alexander Skarsgård as Murderbot.

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.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (Lois Duncan-Arquette)

Back in 1998, an adaptation of the 1978 YA suspense novel was made starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Philippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. Nearly 30 years later, a new sequel for I Know What You Did Last Summer is coming out with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr among the cast. While we don’t expect the original book to be as pertinent here, it’s a good time to read the source material that began the franchise.

Wicked: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West (Gregory Maguire)

Following the first Wicked movie becoming a phenomenon in 2024, audiences are anticipating the Wicked: For Good release date, which will finish the story of the Wicked Witch. While the movies starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are primarily based on the hit Broadway musical, it is also based on Gregory Maguire’s book, which has the Wicked Witch telling her origin story before Dorothy kills her with a bucket of water.

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 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 Housemaid (Freida McFadden)

Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried have teamed up to star in an adaptation of The Housemaid from the director of Bridesmaids, Paul Feig. The mystery novel is an emotional rollercoaster of a read that follows a young woman with a criminal record who takes a job as a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy couple, and soon learns there’s something off with her new boss.

Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë)

Emily Brontë’s classic gothic novel, Wuthering Heights, is being turned into another movie after the source material has been adapted over a dozen times in the past. But this time Saltburn’s Emerald Fennell is making it with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. The book itself is a love story between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff that turns destructive.

The Cat In The Hat (Dr. Seuss)

Dr. Seuss’ 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.

The Odyssey (Homer)

After Christopher Nolan’s last film, Oppenheimer, became a box office success and the 2024 Best Picture winner, his next movie is reportedly adapting Homer’s The Odyssey next with Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson and Charlize Theron. The source material is one of two Ancient Greek epic poems from Homer (the other is The Iliad) that follows the king of Ithaca and Greek hero Odysseus and his journey home after the Trojan war.

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

• All Her Fault TV show (by Andrea Mara)
• Book Lovers movie (by Emily Henry)
• A Court Of Thorns And Roses TV show (by Sarah J. Mass)
• Cold Storage movie (by David Koepp)
• 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 Institute TV show (Stephen King)
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight TV show (by George R. R. Martin)
• The Long Walk movie (by Stephen King)
• Margo’s Got Money Troubles TV Show (by Rufi Thorpe)
• Percy Jackson And The Olympians Season 2 (by Rick Riordan)
• The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo movie (by Taylor Jenkins Reid)
• The Thursday Murder Club movie (by Richard Osman)
• Recursion movie and TV series (by Blake Crouch)
• Welcome To Derry TV show (by Stephen King)
• Whalefall movie (by Daniel Kraus)

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!