Great adaptations that got it all wrong.

[amazingfantasy15]

Wizard of Oz

The Bourne Supremacy and Ultimatum - The plot of the books is completely different than films.

I'd add The Bourne Identity to the mix as well. The movies were good, but had next to nothing to do with the books.

Conan The Barbarian (Arnold version)
The Running Man

The Running Man is a good pick, while the Arnold movie is cheesy '80s fun, I would like to see this remade to resemble the book more. Could be a very good movie.

 

[redhawk23]

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World had plenty of things that were different or left out from the books, but that's what happens when you try to squeeze six books into nearly two hours. Still, I love that movie.

There were many changes, some things were rearranged and used elsewhere.

Ultimately though I think it got the spirit, the story and the point across, along with much of the imagery while not being slavish to it. In short did what an adaptation is supposed to do. I hardly see how it belongs in this thread at all.

Also they only had a very basic description of the ending to go off of when making the film. The last book came out, what 2, 3 weeks before the movie?

 

[mongoose-mania]

You're right; it didn't get it all wrong, it just did what it needed to do to translate to the screen better.

James and the Giant Peach, on the other hand, got everything wrong. I love the animation and Henry Selick's direction, but I feel like they took a little too much liberty with the story.

 

[mclay18]

The Harry Potter movies after Chamber of Secrets.

I have a feeling you haven't seen DH parts 1 & 2. Those are pretty close adaptations of the book after the first two movies.

As for movies 3-6, you have to omit and change some stuff around. To be fair, some of the key crucial elements were omitted and reinserted back into the final two movies once the filmmakers realized how important they were. I have to say Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix nicely condensed the books down to their essence.

 

[Victarion]

The Dark Knight.