Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
148 real movies that started as books, 1915 to 2025 — some you'd genuinely never guess.
It Happened One Night, Die Hard, Rear Window, Mrs. Doubtfire, Total Recall, Forrest Gump, Jaws, The Godfather — all of them started as books. This video scrolls chronologically through 148 real film adaptations that were among the biggest films of their release year, from 1915 all the way to 2025, one card per film, each showing the book's real author and title alongside the film's year and worldwide box office.
This is a timeline, not a ranking — the order is by release year, not by size. From 1988 onward, a film only made the list if it was both in that year's worldwide top 10 *and* adapted a specific published work, which is exactly why some well-known adaptations (Life of Pi, Gone Girl, Ready Player One) are missing — they just didn't clear their year's top 10. The buried finding: book adaptations reached the year's top 10 about 2.8 times a year through the 2000s, and roughly once a year in the 2020s — 2018 and 2022 had none at all.
Comment which one you had absolutely no idea was based on a book.
For other similar videos such as this, check out our "Cards - Book Infographics" playlist - bit.ly/GFECards
🔔 Other playlists
==============
🎥 Everything About Authors - goo.gl/H1oBlT
🎥 The Book World of Facts - goo.gl/1pwST2
🎥 Popular Book Cover Design Variations - goo.gl/kHuAFu
🎥 Reading / Writing Tips & Tricks - goo.gl/HmHur0
🎥 Book & Reading Recommendations - goo.gl/IEKDOq
🎥 Popular Book & Author Quotes - goo.gl/SZCBAX
🎥 Stephen King - The King of Horror - goo.gl/zxQ9pf
🎥 Free Ebooks - goo.gl/uYS95P
🎥 Book to Movie Adaptations - goo.gl/vEj7gn
🎥 Quizzes - goo.gl/UE4RSd
🎥 Movie Cast Then and Now - goo.gl/oL6gaj
🎥 Infographics & Statistics - bit.ly/GFEStatsPlaylist
🎥 Cards - Book Infographics - bit.ly/GFECards
Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and click on the bell for more amazing content in the future.
If you have any suggestions on what we should cover for our next videos, feel free to leave your comments below or visit our Patreon (patreon.com/getfreeebooks) page to discuss.
Also, visit our website and other channels
===================================
🌎 Our Website - getfreeebooks.com
👥 Facebook Page - facebook.com/getfreeebooks
👥 Facebook Group - facebook.com/groups/getfreebooks
🐦 X - https://x.com/getfreeebooks
💬 Instagram - instagram.com/getfreeebooks
💬 Pinterest - pinterest.com/getfreeebooks
💬 Reddit - reddit.com/r/getfreeebooks
💬 Telegram - https://t.me/getfree3books
💬 Threads - threads.com/@getfreeebooks
🚀 Support Us
============
Patreon - patreon.com/getfreeebooks
#booktomovie #bookadaptations #boxoffice #cardscroll
148 real movies that started as books, 1915 to 2025 — some you'd genuinely never guess.
It Happened One Night, Die Hard, Rear Window, Mrs. Doubtfire, Total Recall, Forrest Gump, Jaws, The Godfather — all of them started as books. This video scrolls chronologically through 148 real film adaptations that were among the biggest films of their release year, from 1915 all the way to 2025, one card per film, each showing the book's real author and title alongside the film's year and worldwide box office.
This is a timeline, not a ranking — the order is by release year, not by size. From 1988 onward, a film only made the list if it was both in that year's worldwide top 10 *and* adapted a specific published work, which is exactly why some well-known adaptations (Life of Pi, Gone Girl, Ready Player One) are missing — they just didn't clear their year's top 10. The buried finding: book adaptations reached the year's top 10 about 2.8 times a year through the 2000s, and roughly once a year in the 2020s — 2018 and 2022 had none at all.
Comment which one you had absolutely no idea was based on a book.
For other similar videos such as this, check out our "Cards - Book Infographics" playlist - bit.ly/GFECards
🔔 Other playlists
==============
🎥 Everything About Authors - goo.gl/H1oBlT
🎥 The Book World of Facts - goo.gl/1pwST2
🎥 Popular Book Cover Design Variations - goo.gl/kHuAFu
🎥 Reading / Writing Tips & Tricks - goo.gl/HmHur0
🎥 Book & Reading Recommendations - goo.gl/IEKDOq
🎥 Popular Book & Author Quotes - goo.gl/SZCBAX
🎥 Stephen King - The King of Horror - goo.gl/zxQ9pf
🎥 Free Ebooks - goo.gl/uYS95P
🎥 Book to Movie Adaptations - goo.gl/vEj7gn
🎥 Quizzes - goo.gl/UE4RSd
🎥 Movie Cast Then and Now - goo.gl/oL6gaj
🎥 Infographics & Statistics - bit.ly/GFEStatsPlaylist
🎥 Cards - Book Infographics - bit.ly/GFECards
Don't forget to subscribe to our channel and click on the bell for more amazing content in the future.
If you have any suggestions on what we should cover for our next videos, feel free to leave your comments below or visit our Patreon (patreon.com/getfreeebooks) page to discuss.
Also, visit our website and other channels
===================================
🌎 Our Website - getfreeebooks.com
👥 Facebook Page - facebook.com/getfreeebooks
👥 Facebook Group - facebook.com/groups/getfreebooks
🐦 X - https://x.com/getfreeebooks
💬 Instagram - instagram.com/getfreeebooks
💬 Pinterest - pinterest.com/getfreeebooks
💬 Reddit - reddit.com/r/getfreeebooks
💬 Telegram - https://t.me/getfree3books
💬 Threads - threads.com/@getfreeebooks
🚀 Support Us
============
Patreon - patreon.com/getfreeebooks
#booktomovie #bookadaptations #boxoffice #cardscroll
