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20 Classic Literature Movie Adaptations That Turned Required Reading into Standout Cinema

After watching Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi bring Wuthering Heights to life, revisit these movie adaptations of your favorite literary classics.

by | February 13, 2026 | Comments

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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Keira Knightley, 2005, (c) Focus Features/courtesy Everett Collection
(Photo by Focus Features/courtesy Everett Collection)

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Some literary quotes just live in our memory years after we wrapped 3rd period English class. And for good reason.

Classics endure because they’re endlessly adaptable. From Shakespearean tragedies to Austenian social satire, these stories and their complex characters are ripe for a new lens, interpretation, and reimagination with every generation that comes across their pages.

Book-to-screen adaptations have spawned some of the biggest movie franchises (J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter) and pop culture faves (Lauren Weisberger’s 2003 novel The Devil Wears Prada). But there’s something about classic literature — the corsets, the existential dread, the slow-burn longing across a windswept moor — that never gets old.

So as we officially enter the world of Wuthering Heights (in theaters on February 13, 2026) through director Emerald Fennell’s eyes, it’s time to look back at faithful adaptations and modernized retellings of classic literary stories. Think of this list as Hollywood’s take on your high school syllabus.
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
87%
Based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
Starring: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland
Directed By: Joe Wright
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
93%
Adapted from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
Starring: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, John Megna
Directed By: Robert Mulligan
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
72%
Modernization of William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew
Starring: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik
Directed By: Gil Junger
Frankenstein (2025)
85%
Based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz
Directed By: Guillermo del Toro
Barry Lyndon (1975)
78%
Based on William M. Thackerey’s The Luck of Barry Lyndon
Starring: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Krüger
Directed By: Stanley Kubrick
Of Mice and Men (1992)
97%
Adapted from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men
Starring: John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Ray Walston, Casey Siemaszko
Directed By: Gary Sinise
The Count of Monte Cristo (2024)
97%
Based on Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo
Starring: Pierre Niney, Bastien Bouillon, Anaïs Demoustier, Anamaria Vartolomei
Directed By: Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte
William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet (1996)
74%
Modernized adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo
Directed By: Baz Luhrmann
Emma (1996)
84%
Based on Jane Austen’s Emma
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Northam, Toni Collette, Greta Scacchi
Directed By: Douglas McGrath
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
93%
Adapted from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities
Starring: Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Blanche Yurka
Directed By: Jack Conway
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
80%
Loosely based on Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Starring: Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, Kevin Kline
Directed By: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Anna Karenina (2012)
63%
Adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina
Starring: Keira Knightley, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jude Law, Domhnall Gleeson
Directed By: Joe Wright
The Three Musketeers (1993)
33%
Loosely based on Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, Oliver Platt
Directed By: Stephen Herek
Jane Eyre (2011)
85%
Based on Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench
Directed By: Cary Joji Fukunaga
The Great Gatsby (2013)
49%
Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton
Directed By: Baz Luhrmann
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
91%
Adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Starring: Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert
Directed By: Rouben Mamoulian
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
32%
Inspired by Alexandre Dumas’ The Vicomte de Bragelonne
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gérard Depardieu
Directed By: Randall Wallace
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
92%
Modern interpretation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment
Starring: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Alan Alda
Directed By: Woody Allen
The Green Knight (2021)
89%
Based on the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury
Directed By: David Lowery
War of the Worlds (2005)
76%
Based on H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin
Directed By: Steven Spielberg

WATCH: Stars Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Alison Oliver, Hong Chau,and Shazad Latif talk about the making of Wuthering Heights.

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