One simply can’t understate just how effective the prospects of preexisting material are when it comes to creating a film. Having a built-in audience for a specific story or character makes creating a film about them that much easier. It’s easy to explain the massive explosion of adaptations that have been seen in film, with many being highly successful critically, at the box office, or both. Even some of the greatest and most acclaimed films of all time are adapted from previous material, including The Godfather, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Shawshank Redemption.
However, the concept of a film adaptation also acts as a double-edged sword, as all the potential benefits are balanced out by the built-in point of comparison with the original property and other adaptations. While many film adaptations simply don’t live up to the original material, it takes a truly egregious and terrible execution to not only disappoint but also come across as an insult to the property being adapted. Many of these films quickly garnered infamous reputations as some of the worst films of their era due to just how poorly they adapted originally great material.
10
‘Eragon’ (2006)
Based on ‘Eragon’ by Christopher Paolini
Following the massive success of fantasy novel adaptations into major film franchises like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, just about every young adult fantasy novel found itself being adapted to film. Of these blatant attempts to cash in on YA fantasy fever, Eragon was not only the most lackluster and painfully unoriginal attempt, but it also actively disregarded its source material in attempts to feel more like The Lord of the Rings.
While the original Eragon novel was never anything to write home about, it had its distinct niche thanks to the compelling dynamic between Eragon and the dragon Saphira. The film adaptation massively downplays this pivotal partnership and friendship between dragon and human, instead focusing more on its lackluster visual effects and setting the stage for later installments. Fans of the novels were quick to point out the array of differences and poor attempts at adapting these beloved characters to film, killing the chances of this franchise before it even began.
9
‘Death Note’ (2017)
Based on ‘Death Note’ by Tsugumi Ohba
There’s always an uphill battle when it comes to adapting traditionally animated or cartoonish characters and worlds into live-action because there’s usually a stark disconnect through the shift in visual mediums. Adaptations of Japanese manga and anime to live-action especially face lots of scrutiny, with one of the most infamous examples being the American live-action adaptation of the psychological mystery series Death Note.
While there isn’t much inherently cartoonish about the story and characters of Death Note, this live-action adaptation still falters when it comes to recreating the distinct energy and tone of the series. It leans much more into being a traditional horror film than a thriller dealing with the moral implications of its premise, feeling more reliant on cheap scares instead of compelling ethical conundrums. Even with a highly talented cast including the likes of Margaret Qualley, Lakeith Stanfield, and Willem Dafoe, Death Note‘s writing and execution quickly made it a laughingstock failure.
8
‘Fant4stic’ (2015)
Based on the ‘Fantastic Four’ Marvel Comics
When it comes to the most successful adaptations in terms of raw box office earnings, the superhero genre saw a massive explosion in popularity during the 21st century through its array of cinematic universes and adaptations of largely beloved characters. However, there was also a wide array of notoriously terrible superhero films released amid the hype, with one of the most infamous adaptations being Fant4stic. While Marvel’s original superhero team has seen many low-quality adaptations over the years, this overly serious snooze fest is easily the worst of the bunch.
For a team of characters largely defined by their chemistry with one another and the colorful and zany adventures they go on, Fant4stic is too self-serious about its storytelling to the point of complete boredom. It’s incredibly generic with its telling of the origin story, adhering to all the tiring clichés that plagued the superhero genre at the time and having nothing exciting or original to offer in return. Fans especially hated the adaptation of famed villain Doctor Doom, removing his iconic and bombastic personality and making him a husk devoid of charm or screen presence.
7
‘Pinocchio: A True Story’ (2021)
Based on ‘The Adventures of Pinocchio’ by Carlo Collodi
The story of Pinocchio has been adapted to film time and time again, cementing its status as an all-time classic of family films and fairy tale fantasy. However, not every adaptation is as widely revered as something like Disney’s animated classic, with Pinocchio: A True Story being an especially bad animated adaptation from Russia. The film completely cuts out major parts of the original story and focuses entirely on Pinocchio’s time with the traveling circus while adding confusing new characters like a talking horse companion.
While the original film was bad enough as is with its lackluster animation and destruction of beloved characters, its true infamous status as a terrible adaptation comes from its hilariously bad English dub, including the likes of Pauly Shore and Jon Heder. These voices only amplify the disconnect between the film and any other version of Pinocchio, sullying the name of the all-time classic. It certainly didn’t help matters that it was released in the same year as one of the best Pinocchio adaptations in recent memory, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.
6
‘Holmes & Watson’ (2018)
Based on the character Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The acclaimed detective mystery stories of Sherlock Holmes have been some of the most influential and recognizable of all time, having been adapted a wide variety of times to great success. However, one of the most infamous interpretations of the character attempted to act as a loose parody of Holmes stories, with Holmes & Watson feeling more like a goofy slapstick comedy than a traditional Holmes mystery. It isn’t even that the film goes against traditional Holmes conventions, but that it is such an egregiously terrible comedy that it’s embarrassing to be attached to the all-time classic.
For characters that are so largely defined by their intelligence and capabilities, watering them down to be little more than the latest moronic duo played by Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly does a major disservice to the detective and his assitant. Every other aspect of the film is largely pushed to the wayside to focus more on its ineffective comedy, making for a sad and embarrassing experience that has only grown worse in the years since its release.
5
‘House of the Dead’ (2003)
Based on the video game franchise ‘The House of the Dead’
While video game adaptations have had a surprisingly high-quality hot streak in recent years, between critically acclaimed shows like The Last of Us and box office juggernauts like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the concept was largely associated with cinematic disasters decades prior. One of the biggest sources of the worst that video game adaptations had to offer was infamous filmmaker Uwe Boll, who transformed beloved franchises like House of the Dead into hollow, painful-to-watch films that were unrecognizable from the source material.
House of the Dead especially lacks all the inherent charm and campiness that made the original video games so memorable, replacing it with the tone and style of a generic zombie action horror film. The only thing that the film has in common with the video game series that it adapts is having the same name and featuring the undead, as it mostly tells its own story of unlikable characters and generic action setpieces. The film is commonly recognized as a stain on the franchise’s legacy and easily the worst creation that the franchise has ever been a part of.
4
‘Artemis Fowl’ (2020)
Based on the novel ‘Artemis Fowl’
Of all the different young adult adaptations that have attempted to follow in the footsteps of films like Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl stands out as one of the biggest cases of missed potential out there. The original fantasy series is wildly beloved for its distinct worldbuilding, mature and layered characters, and an evolving story that grows more dynamic and mature with each entry. In contrast, this film adaptation completely botches its execution by making its characters unlikable, having terrible pacing, and only scratching the surface of the Artemis Fowl world.
It certainly doesn’t help that the film’s visuals range from strangely distracting and immersion-breaking to some of the worst put in a studio film in recent memory. Even outside of being compared to the source material, Artemis Fowl completely fails to justify its existence, hoping that it can simply find its way into a massive franchise off of name recognition alone without any effort. The film is easily among the worst films of the 2020s so far and will only grow more infamous in the years to come.
3
‘Alone in the Dark’ (2005)
Based on the video game franchise ‘Alone in the Dark’
Another infamous video game adaptation by Uwe Boll, Alone in the Dark transforms one of the most iconic and fundamental horror video games of all time into a loud, hard-to-look-at mess of a film. While the original game focused more on subtle atmosphere and creating a sense of unyielding dread with its calculated scares, this film equivalent instead decides to be more brash, in-your-face, and overall ineffective with its horror aesthetics. It’s about as far as an adaptation can get from its source material tonally, completely missing the appeal of the original games.
It follows the standard playbook that many of Boll’s other video game adaptations adhere to, but is the worst of the bunch due to just how high-quality and beloved the Alone in the Dark series is. It’s trying so hard to have a similar film experience to something like Resident Evil that it doesn’t take a step back to think about just how different Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil were at their core.
2
‘Dragonball Evolution’ (2009)
Based on ‘Dragon Ball’ by Akira Toriyama
Easily the most infamous live-action manga adaptation out there, Dragonball Evolution transforms one of the most beloved manga and anime properties of all time into an array of bad visuals, generic characters, and lackluster action sequences. The film is often in the conversation of the worst movies of the past thirty years for good reason, as its systematic failure at adapting one of the most beloved franchises of all time simply baffles the mind with its ineptitude.
All the inherent attributes that made characters like Goku, Bulma and King Piccolo so dynamic and entertaining in the original manga and anime are completely removed from this sorrowful adaptation. Its changes to make the film more relatable to American audiences, like making Goku a high school student, simply come across as forced and detract from the story at hand. The adaptation managed to be so bad that it inspired series creator Akira Toriyama to come out of retirement and continue the Dragon Ball manga so that Dragonball Evolution wouldn’t be the end of the series.
1
‘The Last Airbender’ (2010)
Based on the animated series ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’
Never has a live-action adaptation of an animated series so consistently and blatantly disregarded the merits and strengths of its source material quite like The Last Airbender. The botched attempt at cutting down an entire season’s worth of animated mastery into a single 103-minute film makes for one of the most sorrowful and insulting adaptations out there. It stings especially when compared to other adaptations due to the massive heights of quality that the animated series achieved, which is still considered one of the best animated series of all time.
By comparison, this shameful adaptation is often considered one of the worst movies of all time, with terrible visuals and even worse performances completely removing any good left within Aang’s story. While other adaptations are merely bad, few care so little for the source material that they often mispronounce the names of their main characters. It’s an embarrassing and shameful experience from beginning to end, a far cry from the masterpiece that was the original animated series.