3 Fantasy Books That Failed As Movies, but Worked Much Better As TV Shows (& 1 That’s Upcoming)

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Turning fantasy novels into movies or TV shows is always challenging. Dedicated fans closely scrutinize any adaptations, and even staying very faithful to the original story doesn’t guarantee success. While most fantasy books can be adapted for the screen, it requires a lot of effort. Factors like budget and creative choices can make some stories difficult to pull off well. For every big hit like The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, there are many less successful attempts at adapting popular book series.

Adapting stories into the wrong format often leads to failure, a common problem during the fantasy surge of the 2000s. While movies might seem like a good fit due to their potential for spectacle, television is generally better suited for complex fantasy narratives because it allows more time to fully develop long books and series. These adaptations demonstrate that point – they didn’t succeed as films but thrived as TV shows. Based on this pattern, an upcoming series looks poised to surpass its previous movie version.

4) The Mortal Instruments

While Cassandra Clare’s Shadowhunter books haven’t translated well to screen adaptations, the TV show was a better attempt than the movie – though a truly great adaptation is still missing. The 2013 film, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, didn’t perform well at the box office, earning only $95 million (according to Box Office Mojo), and it was generally considered a weaker adaptation. While the film captured the right mood, it sped through the plot of Clary and Jace’s story and didn’t develop the supporting characters or the villain effectively.

While Freeform’s Shadowhunters wasn’t perfect, it improved upon some of the issues with the earlier movie adaptation. The TV series format allowed for more development of the complex storylines and character arcs from The Mortal Instruments books. Although the show’s production quality and how closely it followed the source material could have been stronger, its world-building and focus on characters were better than what was seen in the film.

3) His Dark Materials

In 2008, a movie called The Golden Compass tried to adapt Philip Pullman’s popular His Dark Materials books, but it wasn’t successful. Despite having well-known actors like Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman, the film only earned $372 million at the box office, while costing around $180 million to make (according to Box Office Mojo). Viewers also didn’t love it, criticizing changes to the story’s important ideas and the movie feeling too fast-paced. As a result, a sequel was never made.

While a 2008 movie didn’t quite capture the magic, the story His Dark Materials found success as a TV series. Featuring strong performances from Dafne Keen and James McAvoy, the show was able to fully explore the intricate world, complex religious ideas, and Lyra’s personal growth that made the books so beloved. It finally delivered the complete adaptation of this classic fantasy story fans had been waiting for.

2) Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Following the success of the Harry Potter films, Percy Jackson and the Olympians seemed like another great book series to bring to the big screen. The 2010 movie, The Lightning Thief, had some good moments, despite making changes that disappointed fans. Unfortunately, The Sea of Monsters film amplified those issues, effectively ending hopes for a complete adaptation of Rick Riordan’s books. Like many fantasy movies, it rushed details from later in the series into the story too soon and altered important plot points.

Disney+’s new show, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, is proving to be a much stronger adaptation than previous attempts – and it’s only been running for two seasons! The production values are significantly higher than those of the earlier movies, which may be due to advances in technology. But beyond that, the series is successfully capturing the characters, storyline, and humor that fans loved in the books, something the films struggled with. Having Rick Riordan, the author of the Percy Jackson novels, involved as a producer seems to be making all the difference. Even when the show does change things from the book, those changes feel organic, unlike some of the confusing choices made in the movies.

1) Upcoming: Eragon

It’s become common for unsuccessful fantasy movies to get a second life as TV series, and now that’s happening with Eragon. A reboot of the story is coming to Disney+, although not many details have been released yet. The original 2006 movie was widely criticized and didn’t perform well at the box office – it only earned $249 million despite costing $100 million to make. Back then, the technology wasn’t quite ready to bring a dragon story to life convincingly, and the film felt rushed with some odd storytelling decisions. Hopefully, the new TV show will address these issues. Given the success of other similar remakes, this could be Hollywood’s opportunity to finally do Eragon justice.

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2026-06-14 05:43