What books will be movies in 2023?

Sometimes they hit it right on the mark, and sometimes they miss entirely. It seems like, these days, there's a new adaptation of a book always coming out or being announced, sometimes to a point that you may not even realize a movie or show you enjoyed is based on a book. Just this year, we've seen multiple major adaptations be released on the big screen or on streaming platforms: The Black Phone, Where the Crawdads Sing, Persuasion, Conversations with Friends, and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, with many more on the way. Even video game adaptations are becoming more prevalent. Regardless of how you feel about adaptations (and there has been a fair share of bad ones), it's hard to deny how exciting it is when a new adaptation is coming to a screen near you. It's no wonder that some people wait years to hear any small update on an adaptation coming out for their favorite books that need to be adapted.

So, for the fans of these upcoming adaptations, avid readers looking for books to read before they become movies or shows, or even just film fans looking for updates on new releases, here are upcoming book-to-screen adaptations coming soon(ish) that we're excited to see.

10/10 Blackout

Quill Tree Books

A collection of Black and queer love stories that take place during a New York City, Blackout was announced to have been picked up by Netflix back in July 2021, per The Hollywood Reporter, to turn into a series and a film alongside Barrack and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground, and Temple Hill Productions, best known for their adaptations of Twilight and The Fault in Our Stars. Since then, there haven't been any updates on where the adaptation is in terms of development or production, but we're hoping to hear more about it soon, along with an expected release date.

9/10 My Best Friend's Exorcism

Amazon

Two best friends, Abby and Gretchen, have been inseparable for years, but after a sleepover mixed with drugs, Gretchen goes missing. When she's finally found, Abby is the only one that notices that Gretchen is acting differently. Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) is set to play Abby and Amiah Miller as Gretchen in the horror-comedy My Best Friend's Exorcism, set in the 80s and coming out September 30, 2022, on Amazon with director Damon Thomas.

8/10 The Midnight Club

Netflix

The Midnight Clubfollows a group of terminally-ill teenagers who get together every midnight to tell scary stories, and who make a pact that, when the first of them dies, they'll come back to reach them from the other side. The series is being created and partially directed by Mike Flanagan who, while talking to , mentioned that he tried to turn the book into a movie back in the 90s as his first feature film, but received a cease and desist from author Christopher Pike's publisher. Now, more than 20 years later, he's finally adapting the book with Netflix, following his work on other horror series with the streaming platform (Hill House, Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass). Needless to say, Flanagan knows his way around horror, which makes us all the more excited about the adaptation. The series is set to release on October 7, 2022, right on time for Halloween.

7/10 Blonde

Netflix

We've received other films about iconic celebrities (Freddie Mercury, Elton John, Elvis Presley) and now a fictionalization of Marilyn Monroe's life, titled Blonde, written and directed by Andrew Dominik, is set to release on September 23, 2022. While it's based on a fictional book of Monroe's life by Joyce Carol Oates, it humanizes the Hollywood myth and legend that is Monroe. The iconic role will be played by Ana de Armas, along with Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, and Julianne Nicholson.

6/10 My Policeman

Amazon

Fans of the ex-One Direction member, Harry Styles, are going to be thrilled to know that he has a set of films coming out ,and one of them is based on the 2012 gay romance novel by Bethan Roberts, My Policeman, directed by Michael Grandage. Styles will be playing Tom Burgess, a closeted policeman, opposite David Dawson, set in 1950s Britain, where homosexuality is still illegal. Emma Corrin (The Crown) will be starring as Marion Taylor, Tom's wife. The movie will premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, then a limited release on October 21, 2022, before finally streaming on Amazon Prime Video on November 4, 2022.

5/10 The Fall of the House of Usher

Vintage Classics

Another horror series coming to Netflix by Flanagan is an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's frightening haunted house short story, The Fall of The House of Usher. While there is no release date confirmed yet, the production wrapped on July 9, 2022, after it ran longer than expected. Originally meant to be completed in May, it then changed to June 1 until finally wrapping in July. Many actors who worked with Flanagan on other Netflix shows will star in the miniseries, along with Mary McDonnell and Mark Hamill.

4/10 Salem's Lot

Warner Bros. Television Distribution

Stephen King has become a movie and series veteran, with over 60 film adaptations of his books. Now his 1975 novel, Salem's Lot, is being re-adapted as a movie with Warner Bros and with director Gary Dauberman. The movie was originally supposed to release in September 2022, but was pushed back due to COVID-related issues in post-production and now has a release date of April 21, 2023. This won't be the first time this King novel will be adapted. It was adapted as a miniseries in 1979, a film in 1987, and another miniseries in 2004. We've recently seen many of his works either get re-adapted, such as It and Pet Sematary, or get a sequel like Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining.

3/10 Percy Jackson and The Olympians

Disney

Percy Jackson is being re-adapted as a series with Disney+, this time with the book's author, Rick Riordan, being put in charge of writing the pilot and being allowed more creative control than its original movie adaptation. Fans of the YA book series were very unhappy with Fox's adaptation, in fact, and even Riordan himself was unhappy with it, calling the original adaptation "a mess." However, since Disney's purchase of Fox, they've gained the rights to the books and have a chance to give it the adaptation it deserves. The titular character will be played by Walker Scobell, with the roles of Grover and Annabeth will be played by Aryan Simhadri and Leah Sava Jeffries, respectfully. We might have to wait a while, though, as production only recently began in June 2022 and probably won't be done for a few more months. As of now, it's expected to be released sometime in early 2024, and we will eagerly wait for any more news.

2/10 The Rings of Power

Prime Video

We're returning to Middle-earth with the TV show prequel to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series, The Ring of Power. It'll use Tolkien's mythology as source material for the series that takes place thousands of years before the events of the books and is set in the Second Age of Middle-earth. The show has a huge cast list and premiered its first 2 episodes back-to-back on September 2, 2022, with each episode being released weekly thereafter. The show was meant to be released in December 2021, but was delayed because of COVID and then further delayed because of the showrunners, J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, halting production for almost five months following the filming of the first two episodes to see what was working and what wasn't. The delay might be worth it if we get an amazing new installment to the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit franchise.

1/10 The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Vanity Fair/Lionsgate

The long-awaited prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, is hitting the big screen with director Francis Lawrence and writer Michael Arndt. When the book was released on May 19, 2020, there was a lot of hype around it, considering there hadn't been a new book in the series in almost a whole decade. The prequel takes place 64 years before the events of The Hunger Games and follows Coriolanus Snow in his final year at the academy as he is set to mentor a tribute from District 12, Lucy Gray, in the 10th Hunger Games. The movie will be released with Lionsgate, the same company that brought us the Hunger Games movies, on November 17, 2023, and will star Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler, along with Hunter Schafer, Jason Schwartzman, Viola Davis, and Peter Dinklage.