In a world where there seems to be a superhero movie coming out every other month, it is nice to look at all the films that were inspired by literature. Some critics might harshly critique Hollywood for “having no new ideas,” but book lovers can rejoice. Even though studios don’t always get things right when taking things from page to screen, there are often some amazing book-to-film adaptations.
In 2018, we will get our fill of books being turned into movies and some of our favorite actors will be the leading ladies and men of each film. If you love a good YA franchise, The Maze Runner franchise will wrap up in 2018 with The Death Cure. If you’re into Disney-esque films, Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon will star in 2018’s A Wrinkle In Time. Keep reading to see which of your favorite books are being turned into movies in 2018!
20. Horse Soldiers
Release Date: January 19, 2018
Who’s In It: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Peña, Navid Negahban, Trevante Rhodes, Elsa Pataky, William Fichtner, Rob Riggle
Doug Stanton‘s non-fiction book, Horse Soldiers. about the CIA paramilitary officers and U.S. Special Forces sent to Afghanistan right after the September 11 attacks is being transformed into the 2018 film 12 Strong. The 12-member team, Task Force Dagger, are sent to Afghanistan after the World Trade Center attacks. They have to join forces with General Abdul Rashid Dostum of the Northern Alliance to help conduct unconventional warfare against Taliban forces.
19. The Death Cure
Release Date: January 26, 2018
Who’s In It: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Will Poulter, Aiden Gillen
The final film in The Maze Runner series is set for release in 2018. The film had previously been planned for 2017, but when star Dylan O’Brien was in a gruesome accident on set, production was halted and then pushed back. The Death Cure follows Thomas as he leads a group of escaped Gladers on their final mission. They are going to break into the WCKD’s Labyrinth, The Last City, to get the answers they’ve all been asking ever since they first showed up in the Maze. But Thomas might not like what he finds out.
18. Ophelia
Release Date: January 2018 (at the Sundance Film Festival)
Who’s In It: Daisy Ridley, Naomi Watts, Clive Owen, Tom Felton, George MacKay, Dominic Mafham
The story is a re-imagining of Hamlet, told from Ophelia’s perspective. Ophelia is the most-trusted lady in waiting for the Queen. But she soon captures the attention of Prince Hamlet and the pair fall in love, though it is forbidden. A war is brewing in Elsinore Castle and it will ruin everything. Unlike in Hamlet, there will be more women in Ophelia, as it is a female-centric plot. Girl power!
17. Fifty Shades Freed
Release Date: February 8, 2018
Who’s In It: Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson, Kim Basinger, Brant Daughtrey, Luke Grimes, Arielle Kebbel
Fifty Shades Freed is the final film in the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. After Ana and Christian’s tumultuous relationship in the first film and their subsequent reunion and romance in the second film, they are now married. But things aren’t going to stay happy forever for the newly minted Grey family. Ana’s old boss, Jack Hyde, returns to seek his revenge for being fired. Meanwhile, Elena has returned to haunt Christian and mess with the married couple. Drama.
16. Peter Rabbit
Release Date: February 9, 2018
Who’s In It: Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, James Corden, Daisy Ridley, Margot Robbie, Sia
The beloved character at the center of many Beatrix Potter novels is getting the movie treatment! In Peter Rabbit, the rabbits are CGI animated and interacting with the human actors. The film will follow a teenage Peter and his siblings as they fight with Mr. McGregor in his garden. Bea, the rabbits favorite human and adoptive mom is dating Thomas (Mr. McGregor). What she doesn’t realize is that Thomas is trying to find a way to get rid of the rabbits from his garden.
15. Annihilation
Release Date: February 23, 2018
Who’s In It: Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Issac, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Annihilation is a science-fantasy film/action-horror film and it is the first part of the Southern Reach Trilogy. When Lena’s husband goes missing, she puts herself forward as one of the people to go on an expedition to an environmental disaster zone in search of him. Lena is one of four out of a team (a biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor) of women to go on the voyage. But while she’s there, Lena does not find at all what she was expecting… at all
14. Red Sparrow
Release Date: March 2, 2018
Who’s In It: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoernaerts, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons
J.Law reunites with director Francis Lawrence for this film based on a spy thriller. Jennifer is the star of the film, Dominika, a woman who was forced by her uncle to go to the Sparrow School, where men and women are trained to seduce their enemy to eliminate them. Dominika is the Red Sparrow, but then she falls in love with a CIA operative, Nathaniel Nash, causing her to consider becoming a double agent for love.
13. Death Wish
Release Date: March 2, 2018
Who’s In It: Bruce Willis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Dean Norris, Kimberly Elise
2018’s Death Wish is a remake of the 1974 movie starring Charles Bronson of the same name, which was based on the 1972 novel. Dr. Kersey is a mild-mannered father who works in Chicago as a doctor. But his life is torn apart when his wife is murdered and his daughter is brutally attacked. The incident turns Paul into a killing machine, who uses this newly-founded anger and channels it into becoming a vigilante. He protects the streets of Chicago as the vigilante, where he’s being praised by the media and citizens of the neighborhood.
12. A Wrinkle In Time
Release Date: March 9, 2018
Who’s In It: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peña, Storm Reid, Zach Galifianakis, Chris Pine
A Wrinkle in Time has already gotten the film treatment, but in 2018, it will be grander than ever. The film follows the plot of the 1962 novel written by Madeleine L’Engle. Meg Murry has to work with her highly intelligent younger brother Charles Wallace and her classmate Calvin O’Keefe after she learns that her astrophysicist father Dr. Alex Murry is being held captive on a distant planet deep in the grip of a universe-spanning evil. Three astral travelers, Mrs. Which, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Whatsit come to Meg to help her on her journey to save her father in time.
11. Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Release Date: March 16, 2018
Who’s In It: Nick Robinson, Katherine Langford, Alexandra Shipp, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Miles Heizer, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Garner, Colton Haynes
Like some books, Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda had its named shortened for the film version, it is simply Love, Simon for the 2018 film. Simon Spier is a 17-year-old high school student who is currently in the closet. He is trying to balance his friends, family, and pen pal Blue. But things change when his emails to his pen pal Blue wind up in the wrong hands and suddenly, Simon has to play wingman for the person blackmailing him, or else his secret will be revealed to everyone he’s been trying to hide it from.
10. Ready Player One
Release Date: March 30, 2018
Who’s In It: Olivia Cooke, Hannah John-Kamen, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Tye Sheridan, Mark Rylance
Ernest Cline‘s debut novel is this fantasy science fiction story set in a dystopian world in 2044, where the world was wrecked by an energy crisis. According to IMDB, “When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune.” The story’s protagonist Wade Watts enters the world and finds the first clue, thus starting a race for the Egg and the chance to become rich.
9. Where’d You Go, Bernadette
Release Date: May 11, 2018
Who’s In It: Cate Blanchett, Billy Crudup, Kristen Wiig, Judy Greer, Laurence Fishburne, Troian Bellisario, James Urbaniak
This 2018 film is based on the 2012 novel of the same name, which revolves around an agoraphobic architect and mother named Bernadette Fox, who goes missing prior to a family trip to Antarctica. It is narrated by her 15-year-old daughter, Bee Branch. Knowing her mother’s anxiety issues, Bee does everything she can to track down her mother. But in the process, she learns her mother has a dark past that she never knew of. Bee also discovers that her mom was once a famous architect, who won a MacArthur “Genius” Grant because of her creation of the 20 Mile House. With an all-star cast like this one, Where’d You Go, Bernadette is obviously a must-see!
8. Crazy Rich Asians
Release Date: August 17, 2018
Who’s In It: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Michelle Yeoh
Based on the Kevin Kwan book of the same name, the Crazy Rich Asians film centers on American-born Chinese economics professor Rachel Chu. She accompanies her boyfriend to Singapore to attend his best friend’s wedding. When Rachel gets there, she is thrust into the lives of Asia’s rich and famous. It is only then that she discovers that her boyfriend comes from a very, very wealthy family. But her boyfriend’s family has a dark past and Rachel realizes that every woman seems to want her boyfriend.
7. The Darkest Minds
Release Date: September 4, 2018
Who’s In It: Amandla Stenberg, Harris Dickinson, Mandy Moore, Patrick Gibson, Skylan Brooks, Miya Cech, Gwendoline Christie, Golden Brooks
Based on the young adult novel of the same name by Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds is a science fiction thriller. The story is about a disease kills 98% of America’s children, after which the surviving 2% develop superpowers and are then placed in internment camps. The Darkest Minds follows Ruby Daly, a 16-year-old girl who escaped her camp and joins a group of other teens on the run from the government. Mandy Moore! Amandla Stenberg! We’ll be there.
6. Boy Erased: A Memoir
Release Date: September 28, 2018
Who’s In It: Lucas Hedges, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Troye Sivan, Joel Edgerton
For the film version, the word memoir was dropped from the title to make it Boy Erased. The story is a memoir about a 19-year-old who is accidentally outed as gay to his parents. Garrard lives in a small town in America as the son of a pastor. After his parents learn he is gay, he’s given the option of being disowned by the family, or he can go to a gay conversion therapy camp. At the camp, Garrard comes into conflict with the camp’s head, therapist Victor Skyes. Bring your tissues!
5. The Girl In The Spider’s Web
Release Date: October 5, 2018
Who’s In It: Claire Foy, Cameron Britton, Sylvia Hoeks, Claes Bang
Seven years after the release of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, that film finally gets a sequel based on the second book in the series. However, Rooney Mara isn’t returning as Lisbeth Salander, nor will Daniel Craig be returning as Mikael Blomkvist. In The Girl In Thr Spider’s Web, Lisbeth, a freelance surveillance agent and researcher is spurred by a childhood memory, which leads her to attempt to track down someone from her past. In doing so, she gets mixed up with the Spider Society.
4. First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong
Release Date: October 12, 2018
Who’s In It: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Corey Stoll, Kyle Chandler, Jon Bernthal, Jason Clarke
The film will just be titled First Man. The novel centers on one of the most famous moments in the history of space travel. It is “the riveting true story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961–1969.” Ryan Gosling will be playing the famed astronaut during the moments of his life leading up to the Apollo 11 mission and the historic moment as the first man to walk on the moon.
3. The Black Hand
Release Date: Late 2018
Who’s In It: Leonardo DiCaprio
Not too much is known yet about Leo’s next movie other than he’s the star of it. The film is based on Stephan Talty‘s novel of the same name about a crime organization. The story centers around a police officer, Joe Petrosino, who is seeking justice against a ruthless Italian-American gang in New York. Leo is set to star was Joe Petrosino, while Stephan Talty will pen the film’s screenplay. Maybe this will be Leo’s next film to get nominated for an Oscar?
2. Bel Canto
Release Date: Late 2018
Who’s In It: Julianne Moore, Christopher Lambert, Ken Watanabe, Thorbjørn Harr, Sebastian Koch, Olek Krupa, Elsa Zylberstein
While a release date for the film is not yet available, the film is set for a 2018 release. The Ann Patchett novel is based on the Lima Crisis of 1996–1997 Peru. The book follows the relationships among a group of young terrorists and their hostages. In the book, many of the characters form unbreakable bonds of friendship, and some even fall in love. The movie will center on the world-renowned opera singer who is trapped in the hostage situation. She had been invited to perform for a wealthy industrialist in South America when the terrorists showed up.
1. All the Bright Places
Release Date: Late 2018
Who’s In It: Elle Fanning
There aren’t a ton of details on the film adaptation of All The Bright Places, other than it stars Elle Fanning and it will be released in 2018. The book of the same name is about two teenagers who wish to escape their small Indiana town. Violet is struggling after the death of her sister while Theodore is dealing with issues involving his mental health. Both teens meet on the school’s bell tower, where they went with suicidal intentions. The two pair up for a school project to explore Indiana and look for tourist attractions and quickly develop a friendship that turns into a poetic romance.