New and Upcoming Movies Based on Books 2025

Releasing on Netflix on Dec. 25.

Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried are teaming with Paul Feig for an adaptation of author Freida McFadden’s best-selling novel. Feig directed the film from Rebecca Sonnenshine’s script. Lionsgate is behind the project. The story centers on Millie (Sweeney), who lands a job as a housemaid to wealthy couple Nina (Seyfried) and Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) before learning that the pair hide dangerous secrets. Michele Morrone also stars.

Released in theaters on Jan. 31.

Based on the bestselling book series by Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey, Pete Davidson stars in the animated film centered on a crime-fighting protagonist who’s part dog, part man. The film, directed by Peter Hastings, features a voice cast consisting of Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Poppy Liu, Stephen Root, Billy Boyd and Ricky Gervais.

Releasing on Netflix this fall.

What’s meant to be a relaxing cruise turns deadly in Netflix’s adaptation of The Woman in Cabin 10, starring Keira Knightley. In the film, based on Ruth Ware’s bestseller, a journalist (Knightley) witnesses a passenger tossed overboard late one night, only to be told that she must have imagined it, because all passengers are accounted for. Despite not being believed by anyone onboard, she sets out to prove what she saw was real, even if that means putting herself in danger. The film is directed by Simon Stone, who also co-wrote the script with Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse. Guy Pearce, Hannah Waddingham and Gugu Mbatha-Raw also star.

Another one of Judy Blume’s beloved stories is getting the adaptation treatment. After Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret was adapted for a feature film, Netflix is now set to reimagine Blume’s 1975 novel, Forever, but for a series. The series will follow the love story of two Black teens Keisha (Lovie Simone) and Justin (Michael Cooper Jr.), young athletes who become each other’s first love, which ultimately impacts them for the rest of their lives. Forever will be set in 2018 Los Angeles. Regina King exec produces and will direct the first episode. 

Streaming on Peacock since Feb. 13.

In 2013, Helen Fielding’s latest Bridget Jones book was published. The story, which was adapted into a film with Renée Zellweger reprising her role as Jones for the fourth time, finds Jones dealing with loss as she navigates life as a single mother. The film, streaming on Peacock since Feb. 13, is the fourth in the franchise and follows Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016). Mad About the Boy also stars Hugh Grant, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leo Woodall.

Available to stream on Prime Video on March 13.

The fantasy series’ third season premieres March 13 on Prime Video. Based on Robert Jordan’s best-selling epic fantasy book series of the same name, The Wheel of Time follows a farm boy, Rand al’Thor, who learns he is The Dragon Reborn — a dangerous figure from history destined to save the world. After defeating the most powerful of the Forsaken at the end of last season, the third season finds Rand reuniting with his friends in the city of Falme and being declared the Dragon Reborn. However, danger lurks amid threats against the Light. The Wheel of Time, co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios, stars Rosamund as Moiraine Damodred, Daniel Henney as al’Lan Mandragoran, Josha Stradowski as Rand al’Thor and more.

Available to stream on Netflix on March 20.

Former Scandal writer and executive producer Paul William Davies is the showrunner for a new murder mystery centered around a deadly state dinner, starring Uzo Aduba as detective Cordelia Cupp. In the synopsis the Netflix series is described as “a screwball whodunit set in the upstairs, downstairs and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.” Aduba’s Cordelia Cupp partners with FBI special agent Edwin Park (Randall Park) to untangle the murder mystery. The series is loosely based on former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower’s The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, using the nonfiction book about life inside the White House from staff, as a jumping-off point to the show’s premise.

Release date TBA.

Tom Blyth and Emily Bader are set to star in the feature adaptation of one of Emily Henry’s bestsellers People We Meet on Vacation. My Lady Jane star Bader will portray Poppy while The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes‘ Blyth will star as Alex. The story will follow the longtime best friends who took one week of every summer vacation together. However, things changed when they stopped speaking for two years. When Poppy reaches out and convinces Alex to take one more vacation together, she sees it as her time to fix their broken relationship. But there’s one unspoken truth they have yet to confront: Are they really just friends or is there more to their relationship? Brett Haley is set to direct, with Yulin Kuang adapting the screenplay. Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey and Isaac Klausner will produce. Temple Hill’s Laura Quicksilver and Erin Siminoff are overseeing the project for 3000 Pictures.

Release date TBA.

Starz will have an eight-episode series adaptation of May Cobb’s The Hunting Wives. Rebecca Cutter wrote the adaptation and will serve as showrunner. The book, published in 2021, centers on Sophie O’Neill, who settles down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. Things change when she meets socialite Margot Banks, who is part of an elite clique secretly known as the Hunting Wives. Tensions escalate and danger lurks after the body of a teenage girl is discovered in the woods where the Hunting Wives meet, which results in Sophie being in the middle of a murder investigation. Malin Akerman, Brittany Snow, Dermot Mulroney and Evan Jonigkeit star in the series with Chrissy Metz, Jaime Ray Newman, Katie Lowes and George Ferrier also in the ensemble.

Available to stream on Peacock on March 13.

Amanda Seyfried stars in the series adaptation of Liz Moore’s bestseller, as a Philadelphia cop who patrols a neighborhood hit by the opioid crisis. When a series of murders takes place in the area, Seyfried’s Mickey begins to suspect her personal history may tie her to the case. Nikki Toscano is the showrunner while Cobb and Toscano wrote the series. In addition to starring, Seyfried also executive produces. Neal H. Moritz, Pavun Shetty and Amanda Lewis also exec produce via Original Film, while Amy Pascal will executive produce via Pascal Pictures. Sony Pictures Television and UCP produce the series.

Release date TBA.

After the adaptation of her bestseller It Ends With Us — and lingering drama that has followed in real life — another one of Colleen Hoover’s bestsellers is also getting the adaptation treatment. Her 2019 novel Regretting You will get an indie adaptation from Constantin Film, with The Fault in Our Stars filmmaker Josh Boone directing. The story follows the complex relationship between a mother and daughter, Morgan and Clara, with “warring personalities and conflicting goals.” However, they are forced to navigate the consequences after Morgan’s husband and Clara’s father dies in a questionable accident. Allison Williams, McKenna Grace and Dave Franco star in the film, the screenplay for which was written by Susan McMartin.

Release date TBA.

Glen Powell, William H. Macy, Josh Brolin, Katy O’Brian, Lee Pace, Michael Cera and Emilia Jones star in Paramount’s adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 story with Edgar Wright directing. The novel, which was written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman at the time, is coincidentally set in 2025 but in an America that’s under a totalitarian regime where violent game shows are used to placate the disenfranchised masses. The story centers on Ben Richards (to be played by Powell) who joins the most popular show, The Running Man, in which teams of killers hunt down contestants. The longer a contestant survives, the more money that person makes. But as the game show’s producers and killers will find out, Richards will break all the rules and expose the show’s dark secrets.

Releasing in theaters on March 7.

Following his Oscar-winning film Parasite, director Bong Joon Ho has adapted Mickey 17, based on Edward Ashton’s novel of the same. The film follows Mickey 7, a space colonist known as an expendable — those who do the colony’s most dangerous work and often die in the process, only to be brought back to life through human printing technology. Bong debuted the first trailer for the film at CinemaCon, describing the story as being about “a simple man who ultimately ends up saving the world.” The film will star Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes. The actor plays two characters…