Whenever a book captures the imaginations of readers and gains popularity, it inevitably makes the leap to the big or silver screen. Here are four book adaptations that made waves with both audiences and critics in 2024.

It Ends With Us

A worldwide bestseller, Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel It Ends With Us gained popularity in part through ‘BookTok’, the book-centric corner of TikTok. The story’s themes of domestic violence and emotional abuse resonated with readers, and it was only a matter of time before It Ends With Us became a movie.

Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) moves from Plethora, Maine, to Boston, Massachusetts, trying to get past her traumatic childhood, during which her father abused her mother. She has long dreamt of owning her own business and opens a flower shop in Boston. After a chance rooftop encounter with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), the two fall deeply in love with each other.

As the relationship progresses, Ryle’s darker side surfaces, reminding Lily of her parents’ tumultuous relationship. When he takes her to a restaurant to meet his mother, Lily discovers that the head chef is Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), her high school sweetheart. Atlas and Lily begin to reconnect as the latter is faced with the choice of staying with an increasingly violent Ryle or leaving him.

Like its source material, the movie is controversial because some feel it romanticises domestic violence. Yet others feel it sheds light on an issue that isn’t often discussed in public. The promotional tour has also attracted controversy, firstly for a rumoured feud between Lively and Baldoni and secondly for the tone of Lively’s interviews, which was perceived as inappropriately frothy given the movie’s heavy themes. Regardless, It Ends With Us became a box office success and sparked discussions about abuse and domestic violence online.

The Idea of You

Real person fiction (RPF) is a sometimes controversial genre of fanfiction written about real people, usually celebrities. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Shakespeare in Love are examples of RPF. Harry Styles, formerly of the boyband One Direction, is something of an RPF magnet. The After series of novels, which was adapted into five movies with more on the way, was inspired by Styles. And now, Robinne Lee’s The Idea of You, another story that began life as a Harry Styles RPF, is adapted into a movie.

Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway) is a gallery owner in Los Angeles’ upscale Silver Lake neighbourhood. Solène’s ex-husband Daniel (Reid Scott) buys their teenage daughter Izzy (Ella Rubin) VIP tickets to a Coachella performance by boyband August Moon. When Daniel bails on Izzy because of a business trip, Solène ends up accompanying her to the festival. She meets August Moon frontman Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine), and an unlikely romance ignites. As things between the pair grow more serious, they must keep their relationship low-key as the press hounds Hayes.

Sure, The Idea of You contains outlandish and cheesy romance fantasy elements, but it still feels grounded and believable, and its actors give their characters emotional dimensions. If the movie is what people call fanfic, then it’s proof that fanfic can be smart and engaging.

Dune: Part Two

Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune, looms large over the sci-fi fantasy genre. In 2021, director Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the first half of the first Dune novel was released to critical acclaim. The acclaimed filmmaker continues the story in this sequel, which ramps up the already-expansive spectacle and scale of the preceding film.

Following the destruction of House Atreides depicted in the first part, young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) further assimilates into the desert-dwelling Fremen tribe on the planet Arrakis. As he falls in love with Chani (Zendaya), the Fremen are split on whether Paul is or isn’t the prophesied messiah, whom they call the ‘Lisan al Gaib’. Paul’s mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), a Bene Gesserit acolyte who is pregnant with a daughter, gains favour with the Fremen and engineers Paul’s ascent in status.

Paul must face various obstacles, including the sadistic Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler), nephew of the tyrannical Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), who murdered Paul’s father, Leto. Feyd-Rautha is a rival to his older brother, Glossu Rabban (Dave Bautista), who is vying for the House Harkonnen heirship. The stage is set for a massive battle that will see Paul claim his destiny.

Dune: Part Two received an even better reception from critics and audiences than its already-lauded direct predecessor. Villeneuve said that he envisioned a trilogy, and the Dune franchise is set to continue with Dune: Messiah, though it may be some time before that comes to fruition. Meanwhile, the prequel TV series Dune: Prophecy, set 10,000 years before the movies, recently premiered on HBO.

The Bikeriders

Writer-director Jeff Nichols revives the biker movie genre with this drama based on The Bikeriders, a 1968 photobook by photojournalist Danny Lyon. From 1963 to 1967, he documented the Outlaws Motorcycle Club via photographs and audio interviews.

Mike Faist plays Lyon, and the movie is framed by interviews that he conducts with Kathy (Jodie Comer). She is married to Benny (Austin Butler), a member of the Chicago-based Vandals Motorcycle Club, who is impulsive and prone to violent outbursts. Kathy recounts how the Vandals evolved from 1965 to 1975, beginning as a small club started by Johnny (Tom Hardy), who was inspired by watching the Marlon Brando-starring biker movie The Wild One on TV. She finds herself caught up in the Vandals’ conflicts, especially between newer and older members. What was once an innocent special-interest group morphs into a criminal organisation; Kathy reckons with what the Vandals have become, and Benny must choose between his devotion to his wife and his allegiance to the club.

Elevated by engaging performances from some of Hollywood’s most promising rising stars, The Bikeriders is an intimate and authentic portrait of a time gone by. It is also an examination of what it means to seek belonging within a community and how that can manifest in positive and negative ways.

Text: Jedd Jong
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