It is no surprise when a book a couple of years down the line develops into a screen adaptation. It seems, though, that in recent years, book-to-screen adaptations are dominating and coming in hot. Yet, we all know there's a huge difference when what's on paper gets translated onto the big screen.

Sometimes the characters we had envisioned do not match the cast or certain events get changed. It doesn’t always live up to fans' expectations. We have seen this with the recent uproar over adaptations.

The Colleen Hoover Era

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The woman of the hour, Colleen Hoover. With the majority of her books going onto the big screen, there haven’t been many positive comments surrounding these adaptations. It all started with It Ends With Us. Fans were excited to hear that this New York Times Bestseller was getting a movie, but when pictures were taken at the movie shoot, fans became skeptical.

At first, it was the conversation with the casting for Ryle and Atlas; people were not too stoked to have Brandon Skyler or Justin Baldoni. Instead, they wanted Theo James or Dylan O'Brien, and I don't blame them, but it seems that the actors played the role well enough to satisfy the audience. However, when it came to Lily Bloom, people were not expecting Blake Lively… and I wasn’t either. Abigail Cowen would have been the perfect Lily Bloom, and she's a real redhead!

Aside from the cast, people were definitely not into the outfits chosen for Lily; instead of light feminine clothing, it was big and baggy clothing that didn't fit the character at all. This adaptation took an interesting turn because what got people really upset and realize something was not right was when the press tours were happening.

Not to get too much into that drama, Colleen had another movie come out in October of this year, Regretting You. The cast looked promising with McKenna Grace and Mason Thames playing the main characters, yet the movie lacked depth in both characters and plotline. The pacing of events as off and nothing was able to develop.

That seems to be the case with It Ends With Us as well. However, that won’t stop Verity or Reminders of Him from coming out either. All we can do is hope for the best.

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The Summer I Turned Pretty

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This has to be one of the adaptations that has people wrapped around its finger. The casting left people satisfied because of their ability to not only look good and be close enough to the characters they had envisioned but to bring the story to life.

The Summer I Turned Pretty’s viewership of 70 million worldwide took the title as number one globally on Prime Video during its third season. If you read the books, you most likely noticed certain characters playing a more prominent role in the show than in the books. For instance, Steven and Taylor had the chance to develop their romance in this show, while in the books, they were more of background characters, and their relationship was kept to a minimum.

Readers are prone to such changes, but the storyline was not completely lost. The show did a good job at balancing arcs from the books and creating new scenes. Their audience these past summers was thriving on this love triangle, even if there were moments they wished they could step in and knock some sense into some of the characters.

Wattpad Franchise

There’s no way we can talk about movie adaptations without mentioning Wattpad. As notorious as it is, Wattpad authors have been showing off on the big screen. From the well-known After series by Anna Todd, Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles, and Sideline: The QB and Me by Tay Marley. Recently, it seems like a love-hate relationship between Wattpad adaptations for being cringe and unwatchable, but it’s not stopping them from producing more.

From BookTok To Hollywood

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There are plenty of other books in the works of getting adapted from the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, and The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. But do you know what all these books have in common aside from being a New York Times Bestseller? It got attention on BookTok–a lot of attention!

These BookTok videos not only increase sales but also create an active community. And one thing about communities on TikTok is if you disagree on anything, you are basically not a part of it. So, there’s this huge power BookTok holds on what gets published, of course, but also what gets adapted because that's where the sales and audience are.

Summary

Based on these mixed reviews the public often has, it leaves me wondering if production companies listen to their audiences. Book to movie adaptations aren't what they used to be but there is a lot of potential out there. Whether the companies decide to choose quantity over quality, it will still have people streaming on their devices or at least watching clips on TikTok.