5 Best Book-To-Movie Adaptations Of The 21st Century, Ranked

Adapting a book for the big screen is probably really, really difficult. Not only are you bound to disappoint fans of the source material if you get anything wrong or make any major changes in the process, but it's just intimidating, especially if the book is good. (That's actually not the case in every pick here, but put a pin in that.) Still, every single year, buzzy novels get the big-screen treatment and fans of said novels — and newcomers too — flock to the movie theater to see how these adaptations turned out. So which ones are the best?

There's an important caveat as we rank the five best book to movie adaptations of the 21st century, which is that this list focused, first and foremost, on the process and how it shakes out on screen. What we mean by that is that there are plenty of good movies based on or adapted from books, like Christopher Nolan's 2023 Oscar winner "Oppenheimer" — just as one example. These five, though, are the best translations of the literary work from the page to the big screen. Some manage to improve upon their source material, some find the perfect way to represent the novels that they're adapting, and some are, truthfully, very, very good movies that are also based on books, but they're also capturing the spirit of their source materials truthfully and perfectly. Without further ado, here are five of the best book to film adaptations of the 21st century.

Written by Lauren Weisberger and published in 2003, "The Devil Wears Prada" is a snappy, stressful, and compulsively readable novel based not-so-loosely on Weisberger's time at Vogue Magazine working under the famous editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. (As of this writing, Wintour is no longer the magazine's leader; she ceded control to Chloe Malle in September 2025.) Weisberger's novel is fun and dishy, but it's not a literary classic by any standards. That's what makes its 2006 film adaptation of the same name that much more delightful.

Directed by David Frankel and adapted by screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, the movie version of "The Devil Wears Prada" stars Anne Hathaway as Andrea "Andy" Sachs, an aspiring journalist who deigns to take a second assistant job at Runway (the fictionalized take on Vogue) working alongside first assistant Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt, in her breakthrough role) and underneath the demanding, abrasive, and difficult editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (an icy, restrained, and perfect Meryl Streep). With living legend Streep as Miranda, the movie truly sings, whether she's barely whispering instructions to show just how powerful she is (in that everyone quiets to listen) or telling Andy exactly how her dowdy "cerulean" sweater is a product of the fashion industry she claims to hate. As Andy tries to survive at Runway, she's supported, albeit reluctantly, by the magazine's art director Nigel Kipling (a perfect deployed Stanley Tucci), who shows her the ropes.

"The Devil Wears Prada" is truly a rare literary adaptation that surpasses its source material, with a phenomenal soundtrack, incredible styling by Patricia Field, and a cast that sells every single beat perfectly. Unfortunately, the 2026 sequel didn't manage to achieve that same feat, but the original is always there for us, and it's a top-notch book to movie adaptation.

It's rare, as we said, for literary adaptations to be as good as the source material. It's even rarer for a sequel to be better than the first book or film in a series. Astonishingly, both versions of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" — the 2009 novel written by Suzanne Collins and its 2013 adaptation directed by Francis Lawrence — manage to accomplish this elusive goal.

In the first book and film in the respective "Hunger Games" franchises, we're introduced to Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence on screen), a young woman living in the 12th district of the reworked dystopian form of North America known simply as Panem, which chooses two teenagers from each of the 12 districts every year to compete in the deadly titular Games and awards the winner a massive cash prize. After Katniss pulls a dangerous stunt involving poison berries and forces the all-powerful Capitol to capitulate and let her and her fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) win together, the all-powerful Panem president Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) wants revenge, and he decides that in the following Games, only previous victors will be chosen ... putting both Katniss and Peeta back into the arena.

This was a masterful move from Collins herself — to simply do the same thing twice but massively improve upon it in the sequel — and the movie reflects that. From the wildly different arena (which is designed as the world's most horrifying clock, where different terrors attack the tributes in a different area every hour) to the truly magical aspect ratio change as Katniss rises into the arena itself, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" is a genuine masterpiece, and the best of the Hunger Games books and movies.

One must never doubt Joel and Ethan Coen, the formidable directing duo known professionally as the Coen brothers ... and it's entirely that their best-ever movie is also a literary adaptation. Released in 2007, "No Country for Old Men" — adapted by the brothers themselves from a novel by legendary writer Cormac McCarthy — takes place in a desolate area of Texas in 1980 as Josh Brolin's Vietnam War veteran Llewelyn Moss accidentally finds a massive stash of cash while hunting pronghorns desert. After discovering a briefcase containing a whopping $2 million next to an obvious crime scene littered with bodies, Llewelyn makes a run for it with the money but warns his wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) to go stay with her mother so she's not in danger.

This is, all things considered, a wise move by Llewelyn ... because an extremely dangerous criminal by the name of Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem, who won an Oscar for his performance), who recently escaped a prison sentence by murdering the guards escorting him to the facility, is also on the hunt for the briefcase. As Llewelyn tries to evade Anton, a third man enters the picture — Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, played by Tommy Lee Jones — who's trying to bring Anton to justice.

Not only are the actors in "No Country for Old Men" genuinely astounding — Bardem is particularly perfect — but the Coens perfectly captured the energy, tension, and conflict of McCarthy's novel. "No Country for Old Men" won best picture at the Oscars, and it's also one of the best book to movie adaptations of the 21st century.

Whenever a book gets a particularly great big screen adaptation, the author is typically involved — and that's true of David Fincher's 2014 film "Gone Girl," which features original author Gillian Flynn as the screenwriter adapting her own 2012 novel. The novel in question was one of the biggest smash hits in literary history, spawning a legion of lesser knock-offs and leading to a boom in stories about unreliable, troubled women ... but the original is still the best, and Fincher's thoughtful, perfectly edited, brilliantly cast, and genuinely stunning adaptation of the same name makes it quite clear that "Gone Girl" is often mimicked but never truly matched.

"Gone Girl" begins when Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck) — a handsome idiot who brought his wealthy Manhattan wife Amy Elliott Dunne (Rosamund Pike) to live in suburban Missouri in the wake of the national financial crash and to help his sick mother — is called home on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary to find Amy missing. When police arrive, they point out signs of blood and a struggle ... and immediately, Nick becomes the prime suspect in his wife's murder, alarming his twin sister Margo (Carrie Coon in her debut film role).

The truth about what happened to Amy unfolds through flashbacks told through her diary entries, Nick's confusion about where his wife could be, and eventually, a massive twist that has to be seen to be believed (and still hits pretty hard even if you've read the book or seen the movie a million times). "Gone Girl" is a truly excellent book to move adaptation thanks in large part to the casting — Affleck and Pike are the perfect choices to play Nick and Amy, if you're familiar with the book — and it's a thrill ride from beginning to end.

Louisa May Alcott's novel "Little Women" has been adapted many times throughout the years, but if we're being honest, nothing surpasses Greta Gerwig's pitch-perfect adaptation that came out in 2019. Gerwig, working on her second full-length feature film as a solo director after 2017's "Lady Bird," brought the star of that movie, Saoirse Ronan, back as "Little Women" heroine Jo March, a headstrong aspiring writer whose first priority is her three sisters.

Told across two timelines with the same actors appearing in each, Gerwig's "Little Women" chronicles the adventures of Ronan's Jo, Florence Pugh's Amy, Emma Watson's Meg, and Eliza Scanlon's Beth — plus Laura Dern's own journey as the March matriarch Marmee, who does her best to care for her daughters as the Civil War rages on and their father (Bob Odenkirk) is fighting on the front lines. As the girls learn, live, and grow, they tangle with their ultra-wealthy and impulsive young neighbor Theodore "Laurie" Laurence (Timothée Chalamet), who falls in love with Jo before changing course.

With the utmost due respect to the other super-popular adaptation of "Little Women" — Gillian Armstrong's 1994 take with Winona Ryder as Jo and Christian Bale as Laurie — this is the best one. Part of the reason for this particular adaptation's success is the choice to maintain the actors across timelines, which allows them all to show off their considerable range ... but it's also the film's overall message, which prioritizes Jo's dreams of becoming a successful author. In the movie's final moments, Jo watches as her book, bearing the film's same title, is professionally printed and bound. Alcott, like Jo, was a determined "spinster" (unmarried woman) who put her writing first; this adaptation is perfect for many reasons, and one of those is that it properly honors the author.