Better Than The Book
by Josh_The_Jawa | created - 11 Feb 2020 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicMovies & shows that I think are better than (or as good as) their source material.
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1. Doctor Sleep (2019)
R | 152 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Years following the events of The Shining (1980), a now-adult Dan Torrance must protect a young girl with similar powers from a cult known as The True Knot, who prey on children with powers to remain immortal.
Director: Mike Flanagan | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Cliff Curtis
Votes: 218,694 | Gross: $31.58M
2. Jaws (1975)
PG | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller
When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary
Votes: 659,990 | Gross: $260.00M
3. Fight Club (1999)
R | 139 min | Drama
An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Meat Loaf, Zach Grenier
Votes: 2,326,179 | Gross: $37.03M
4. Children of Men (2006)
R | 109 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Caine
Votes: 529,694 | Gross: $35.55M
5. Under the Skin (I) (2013)
R | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.
Director: Jonathan Glazer | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Lynsey Taylor Mackay, Dougie McConnell
Votes: 158,344 | Gross: $2.61M
6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
PG | 115 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
When strange seeds drift to earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 69,923 | Gross: $24.95M
7. The Thing (1982)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur
Votes: 467,090 | Gross: $13.78M
8. War of the Worlds (2005)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto
Votes: 475,518 | Gross: $234.28M
9. The Innocents (1961)
Not Rated | 100 min | Horror
A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave
Votes: 33,079 | Gross: $2.62M
10. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 193,620 | Gross: $33.40M
11. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
G | 100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory.
Director: Mel Stuart | Stars: Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear
Votes: 227,537 | Gross: $4.00M
12. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,107,636 | Gross: $44.02M
13. The Howling (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
After a bizarre and near deadly encounter with a serial killer, a television newswoman is sent to a remote mountain resort whose residents may not be what they seem.
Director: Joe Dante | Stars: Dee Wallace, Patrick Macnee, Dennis Dugan, Christopher Stone
Votes: 40,234 | Gross: $17.99M
14. Vampires (1998)
R | 108 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
Recovering from an ambush that killed his entire team, a vengeful vampire slayer must retrieve an ancient Catholic relic that, should it be acquired by vampires, will allow them to walk in sunlight.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: James Woods, Daniel Baldwin, Sheryl Lee, Thomas Ian Griffith
Votes: 63,788 | Gross: $20.24M
15. The Dead Zone (1983)
R | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic ability to foresee future events.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom
Votes: 77,378 | Gross: $20.77M
16. Christine (1983)
R | 110 min | Horror, Thriller
A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky
Votes: 92,513 | Gross: $21.20M
17. Total Recall (1990)
R | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
When a man goes in to have virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars implanted in his mind, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real - or is he?
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Rachel Ticotin
Votes: 354,834 | Gross: $119.39M
18. Starship Troopers (1997)
R | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Humans, in a fascist militaristic future, wage war with giant alien bugs.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, Jake Busey
Votes: 321,462 | Gross: $54.81M
19. Misery (1990)
R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller
After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth, Frances Sternhagen
Votes: 235,795 | Gross: $61.28M
20. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
R | 128 min | Fantasy, Horror, Romance
The centuries old vampire Count Dracula comes to England to seduce his barrister Jonathan Harker's fiancée Mina Murray and inflict havoc in the foreign land.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves
Votes: 238,606 | Gross: $82.52M
21. Jurassic Park (1993)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Votes: 1,068,024 | Gross: $402.45M
22. Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994)
R | 123 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A vampire tells his epic life story: love, betrayal, loneliness, and hunger.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas, Kirsten Dunst
Votes: 347,723 | Gross: $105.26M
23. American Psycho (2000)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage
Votes: 716,489 | Gross: $15.07M
24. The Martian (2015)
PG-13 | 144 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara
Votes: 926,320 | Gross: $228.43M
25. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
Votes: 1,549,484 | Gross: $130.74M
26. Shrek (2001)
PG | 90 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A mean lord exiles fairytale creatures to the swamp of a grumpy ogre, who must go on a quest and rescue a princess for the lord in order to get his land back.
Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson | Stars: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow
Votes: 734,784 | Gross: $267.67M
27. Candyman (1992)
R | 99 min | Horror, Thriller
The Candyman, a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student researching the monster's myth.
Director: Bernard Rose | Stars: Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkeley, Tony Todd, Kasi Lemmons
Votes: 100,218 | Gross: $25.79M
28. The Ritual (I) (2017)
TV-MA | 94 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A group of old college friends reunite for a trip to a most dangerous country in Europe - Sweden, encountering a menacing presence there stalking them.
Director: David Bruckner | Stars: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton
Votes: 119,924
29. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Katniss and a team of rebels from District 13 prepare for the final battle that will decide the fate of Panem.
Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson
Votes: 373,668 | Gross: $281.72M
30. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
PG-13 | 123 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Katniss Everdeen is in District 13 after she shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta and a nation moved by her courage.
Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson
Votes: 503,319 | Gross: $337.14M
31. The Hunger Games (2012)
PG-13 | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games: a televised competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death.
Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci
Votes: 1,004,330 | Gross: $408.01M
32. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
PG-13 | 146 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem.
Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Votes: 721,763 | Gross: $424.67M
33. The Sandman (2022– )
TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Upon escaping after decades of imprisonment by a mortal wizard, Dream, the personification of dreams, sets about to reclaim his lost equipment.
Stars: Tom Sturridge, Boyd Holbrook, Patton Oswalt, Vivienne Acheampong
Votes: 171,532
34. Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021)
TV-MA | 43 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Lisa Nova, an aspiring film director in the sun-drenched but seamy world of 1990 Los Angeles, embarks on a mind-altering journey of supernatural revenge that gets nightmarishly out of control.
Stars: Rosa Salazar, Catherine Keener, Eric Lange, Jeff Ward
Votes: 19,121
35. Die Hard (1988)
R | 132 min | Action, Thriller
A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson
Votes: 946,182 | Gross: $83.01M
36. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
PG | 152 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
An orphaned boy enrolls in a school of wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris
Votes: 856,646 | Gross: $317.58M
37. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
PG | 161 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Harry Potter lives his second year at Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione when a message on the wall announces that the legendary Chamber of Secrets has been opened. The trio soon realize that, to save the school, it will take a lot of courage.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris
Votes: 692,850 | Gross: $261.99M
38. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
PG | 142 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for their third year of study, where they delve into the mystery surrounding an escaped prisoner who poses a dangerous threat to the young wizard.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Richard Griffiths
Votes: 692,065 | Gross: $249.36M
39. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
PG-13 | 157 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Harry Potter finds himself competing in a hazardous tournament between rival schools of magic, but he is distracted by recurring nightmares.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Eric Sykes
Votes: 682,032 | Gross: $290.01M
40. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Adventure, Family
With their warning about Lord Voldemort's return scoffed at, Harry and Dumbledore are targeted by the Wizard authorities as an authoritarian bureaucrat slowly seizes power at Hogwarts.
Director: David Yates | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Brendan Gleeson
Votes: 633,749 | Gross: $292.00M
41. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
PG-13 | 146 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
As Harry, Ron and Hermione race against time and evil to destroy the Horcruxes, they uncover the existence of the three most powerful objects in the wizarding world: the Deathly Hallows.
Director: David Yates | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Bill Nighy
Votes: 599,581 | Gross: $295.98M
42. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
PG-13 | 130 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Harry, Ron, and Hermione search for Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes in their effort to destroy the Dark Lord as the final battle rages on at Hogwarts.
Director: David Yates | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon
Votes: 949,187 | Gross: $381.01M
43. Knock at the Cabin (2023)
R | 100 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
While vacationing, a girl and her parents are taken hostage by armed strangers who demand that the family make a choice to avert the apocalypse.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan | Stars: Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird
Votes: 115,666
44. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)
R | 118 min | Fantasy, Horror
A crew sailing from Varna (Bulgaria) by the Black Sea to England find that they are carrying very dangerous cargo.
Director: André Øvredal | Stars: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian
Votes: 49,468
45. Hellboy (2004)
PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A demon raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ron Perlman, Doug Jones, Selma Blair, John Hurt
Votes: 350,271 | Gross: $59.62M
46. Dune: Part Two (2024)
PG-13 | 166 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem
Votes: 387,300
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