Skip to main content
  • TotalFilm
  • Edge
  • Newsarama
  • Retrogamer
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+
US EditionUS CA EditionCanada UK EditionUK AU EditionAustralia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Best Netflix Shows
Don't miss these
The first Resident Evil movie
Horror Movies Resident Evil director Paul W. S. Anderson says adapting games without playing them is "outrageous"
Dune
Movies Movie release dates 2026: Every major film coming to cinemas and streaming
Dune 2
Movies Upcoming movies: The most exciting new movies coming in 2026 and beyond
Cillian Murphy as Tommy in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man.
Movies The 25 best movies on Netflix to watch right now
(L to R) Steven Yeun as Detective Mike Ro, Matt Damon as Lieutenant Dane Dumars, Ben Affleck as Detective Sergeant J.D. Byrne, and Kyle Chandler as DEA Agent Mateo 'Matty' Nix in The Rip.
Action Movies The 25 best Netflix action movies to watch right now
Best Batman games: Batman getting ready to punch someone with Gotham in the background.
Action Games Ranking the best Batman games
The Lion King is undoubtedly one of the best movies on Disney Plus
Movies The 30 best movies on Disney Plus to watch right now
Best Lord of the Rings games: a screenshot of Talion on a dragon in Middle-Earth Shadow of War.
Games The best Lord of the Rings games to help you have a Middle-earth adventure
Return to Silent Hill protagonist James Sunderland
Horror Movies Return to Silent Hill review: "Neither an impressive adaptation nor coherent enough to act as a standalone film"
Jessie Buckley as Ida/Penny in The Bride
Horror Movies The Bride bombs at the box office with $13.6 million opening against a $90 million budget
Shadow (Keanu Reeves) in Sonic 3
Movies Every upcoming video game movie you need to know about in 2026 and beyond
Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather.
Streaming Services The 20 best movies on Paramount Plus to watch right now
Walton Goggins as the Ghoul in Fallout season 2
TV The 25 best shows on Amazon Prime Video to watch right now
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in Sonic 3
Amazon Prime Video The 25 best movies on Prime Video to watch right now
Jacob Elordi as the Creature in Frankenstein
Horror Movies The 25 best Netflix horror movies to watch right now
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

50 Worst Movie Adaptations

Features
By Joshua Winning published 5 October 2011

Why did they even bother?

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  • Facebook
  • X
  • Pinterest
  • Flipboard
  • Email
Share this article
Join the conversation
Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Get the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox


By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful


An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter

The Time Travelers Wife (2009)

The Adaptation: Audrey Niffenegger's high concept romcom gets turned into an equally soppy vehicle for Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana.

What They Got Most Wrong:
Robert Schwentke attempts to cram Niffenegger’s book into a movie that’s less than two hours long, meaning all the secondary characters are nothing more than cyphers.

Doom (2005)

The Adaptation: Takes first-shooter video games to a cinematic extreme, as Dwayne Johnson blows up slobbering baddies - with a little help from Karl Urban.

What They Got Most Wrong: Near impossible-to-watch action sequences – how are we expected to follow all that?

Wing Commander (1999)

The Adaptation: Dodgy sci-fi based on the same-named video game series. Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard are gripped in interstellar war.

What They Got Most Wrong: Letting the creator of the game create the movie.

You may like
  • Best games of 2025 list featuring The last of us part 2's Joel From Minecraft to The Last of Us Season 2, the best gaming adaptations of 2025 weren't lacking in variety
  • Pyramid head peering through bent bars in Return to Silent Hill Return to Silent Hill is a disaster, and proof that Hollywood still hasn't figured out how to adapt horror video games
  • Pyramid Head crashing through iron bars in Return to Silent Hill Return to Silent Hill is an early contender for 2026's worst movie – with a 6% Rotten Tomatoes score

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

The Adaptation: Paul Bettany pulls off a great psycho albino in Ron Howard’s adaptation of Dan Brown’s pulp fiction, but everybody else looks bored or confused. A lot like the audience.

What They Got Most Wrong: Not giving audiences a chance to work out the clues for themselves.

Howard The Duck (1986)

The Adaptation: George Lucas produces this frankly bizarre adaptation, which has the alien quacker landing on Earth and befriending a struggling singer.

What They Got Most Wrong: It attempts to be both a bit of family fun and a raunchy spoof – just wrong.

Superman 4: The Quest For Peace (1987)

The Adaptation: Sadly, the last Superman film to star Christopher Reeve – though at this point, it was more of a relief that he stopped making them.

What They Got Most Wrong: Having Nuclear Man as the villain was probably the biggest clanger - the political undertones were about as subtle as his golden mullet and leggings combo.

The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

The Adaptation: A long and drawn-out adaptation of C.S Lewis’ tome, with floppy-haired Ben Barnes in the titular role.

What They Got Most Wrong: Not thinking about that all-important subtext – the kids essentially go around killing people, while the good guys are all British and the baddies are Mediterranean-looking.

Sign up for the Total Film Newsletter

Bringing all the latest movie news, features, and reviews to your inbox

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Lost In Space (1998)

The Adaptation: Danger! No, really, danger! Matt LeBlanc is in the house, putting on his best hero smirk as he drags this quaint ‘60s space opera into cinemas.

What They Got Most Wrong: It. Just. Doesn’t. Make. Any. Sense. Or, at least, by the time everything’s getting explained at the end, we’ve already guzzled 15 beers to dull the pain.

Alvin And The Chipmunks (2007)

The Adaptation: Jason Lee had obviously just hit his head when he signed up to this – a live-action reworking of the kiddie cartoon, about three sibling chipmunks.

What They Got Most Wrong: Allowing the little squeakers to ‘sing’. Our ears are still ringing. And then there’s the squeakquel…

Inspector Gadget (1999)

The Adaptation: Go-go gadget gobsmack! Everybody’s favourite bumbling, gizmo-dependent detective takes a trip to the big screen for a stinker of an adventure.

What They Got Most Wrong: Matthew Broderick as Gadget? Really? Whoever signed off this casting deserves a firing.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Current page: Page 2

Prev Page Page 1 Next Page Page 3
Joshua Winning
Social Links Navigation

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.  

Read more
Best games of 2025 list featuring The last of us part 2's Joel
From Minecraft to The Last of Us Season 2, the best gaming adaptations of 2025 weren't lacking in variety
 
 
Pyramid head peering through bent bars in Return to Silent Hill
Return to Silent Hill is a disaster, and proof that Hollywood still hasn't figured out how to adapt horror video games
 
 
Pyramid Head crashing through iron bars in Return to Silent Hill
Return to Silent Hill is an early contender for 2026's worst movie – with a 6% Rotten Tomatoes score
 
 
Ice Cube in War of the Worlds
War of the Worlds dominates nominations for anti-Oscars the Razzies, though we're not super surprised given its 4% Rotten Tomatoes score
 
 
Year in Review: The Best of 2025 main listing image for Best Movies of 2025 featuring images from Weapons, Superman, Sinners, and The Long Walk
The 25 Best Movies of 2025
 
 
Shadow (Keanu Reeves) in Sonic 3
Every upcoming video game movie you need to know about in 2026 and beyond
 
 
Latest in Movies
A Na'vi draws a bow in Avatar: Fire and Ash
James Cameron says Avatar 4 is still "very likely", despite Fire and Ash making $870 million less than The Way of Water
 
 
Mario riding Yoshi through space with Luigi and Peach flying along beside him
Super Mario Galaxy Movie reveals Donald Glover as the voice of Yoshi and more new casting in a star-spanning trailer
 
 
Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator
Arnold Schwarzenegger says he'll be in the next Predator movie and a Conan the Barbarian sequel
 
 
Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Elijah Wood says he "wouldn't want anybody else to play Frodo", and now we're thinking he's in The Hunt for Gollum
 
 
The new GamesRadar+ logo on a dark background adorned with crosses in orange and grey
The next generation of GamesRadar+ is here
 
 
Hayden Christensen in Revenge of  the Sith
Star Wars fans are debating an iconic Revenge of the Sith scene that's now one of the saga's biggest 'what if' moments
 
 
Latest in Features
Underside of Alienware 16 Area-51 gaming laptop with glass viewing window and RGB fans
We could get a shock when 2026 gaming laptop prices are unveiled, here's what you need to know about buying this year
 
 
In Hitman World of Assassination, Agent 47 sits at the departure gate in an airport during the loading screen
After weeks spent locked into Hitman's Freelancer mode, I realize there's one vital thing 007 First Light needs to learn
 
 
Mario gadgets, accessories, and games on a blue background
The ultimate Mario Day starter pack, kit up for the plumber's big day
 
 
Glen Powell as Becket in How to Make a Killing
How to Make a Killing is Glen Powell's latest mid-budget movie, and I hope he never stops making them
 
 
Jensen Huang next to AI robot on stage at GTC 2024
Nvidia's CEO says "we created the modern video game industry," but all its push into AI upscaling has done is destroy good game optimization
 
 
Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby walking in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man ending explained: does Tommy Shelby die and will there be a new season?
 
 
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. Battlefield 6
    1
    "The fundamentals of FPS should drive our decision": Battlefield 6 designers say developers have a "responsibility" to make games intuitive
  2. 2
    "The first track spoils the whole game": Clair Obscur Expedition 33 devs confirm they were filling your ears with spoilers the entire time
  3. 3
    The Super Mario Galaxy Movie reveals Donald Glover as the voice of Yoshi and more new casting in a star-spanning trailer that sends the entire Mushroom Kingdom to another planet
  4. 4
    Reacher star Alan Ritchson says season 4 is coming this year: "It's by far the best season we've had yet"
  5. 5
    Clair Obscur Expedition 33 took inspiration from a surprising anime - Soul Eater creator's Fire Force: "Because it was a JRPG, we tried to find a mix"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google
  • Terms and conditions
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility statement
  • Careers
  • About us
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...