Originality is rare these days. Just look at this week’s new releases: My Sister’s Keeper is based on a novel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a sequel based on a children’s TV series, and Cheri is based on a novel and a play. (As We Are Movie Geeks notes, even monsters aren’t safe.)

IMDb’s top 100 titles (in the Top 250 list) echoes this: 42 (!) titles are based on books, 6 on short stories, 3 on plays, 2 on comics, TV series or true stories, and 1 on an article. That leaves only 42 movies with original scripts.

So we wondered: Which “based on” films are the best?  Is it best to go to a movie based on a book or based on a play? Should filmmakers read comics or watch TV for inspiration? Analyzing the “based on” category in our Movie Genome suggests some answers…

Based on a Book: Fantasy, classics and girls in period dresses

Typing “based on a book” in Jinni’s search box brings two main results: classics and bestsellers.

This group is full of adaptations of literary classics – from Lord of the Rings to Pride and Prejudice – alongside adaptations of recent bestsellers like Slumdog Millionaire (Q & A) and No Country for Old Men.

It’s tempting to jump to the conclusion that movies based on books are best. But despite the many book-based movies on IMDb’s top 100, there are also plenty of terrible book-based movies, some of them defiling masterpiece classics.

Also, movies based on books always have the danger of changing the book too much - enraging fans - or following it too closely - alienating people who didn’t read the book. (We’ll have to wait and see where Tim Burton’s Alice falls, beyond the amazing visuals.)

Conclusion: Watching a movie based on a bestselling or classic book is no guarantee of quality. But I think it’s safe to say that it raises the odds, which is not bad at all.

Based on an Article: Politics, society and drama

It’s a rare creature, but movies based on articles do exist. Unlike a book or a play that tells a story, articles are often more abstract and issues-oriented. Article-based movies are usually serious dramas, dealing with issues like human trade, immigration and moral quandaries.

While these movies are mostly absent from top 100 lists, deeper research reveals that they tend to be highly acclaimed and win important prizes. For example, On The Waterfront (1954) won 8 Academy Awards including best picture, and Dog Day Afternoon (1975) is considered a masterpiece by many.

Conclusion: Don’t expect hilarious comedy or light fantasy. But when you try an article-based movie, you have a good chance of striking an acclaimed drama.

Based on Comics: Superheroes, superheroes and… superheroes?

Although movies based on comics are wildly popular, they don’t have much presence in top 100 lists (except for the phenomenon called The Dark Knight).  But don’t cry for them: Financially, they get their fair share.

The successful franchises of Spider-Man, X-Men and Batman all had huge blockbusters lately. Combined with newcomers like Iron Man and Wanted, it seems like most of the money from the movie industry comes from comics adaptations these days.

As for quality – that’s another question. Alongside highly acclaimed comics features like The Dark Knight are some adaptations that shame the original comics and the movie industry. Think Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004): both received humiliating 10% fresh ratings on RottenTomatoes. Unreality put Watchmen on the list of most polarizing movies of the decade.

Conclusion: It’s hard to know when it comes to comics-based movies. They can be great or terrible. One caveat: The last decade or so has seen more comics-based movies that don’t deal with superheroes or special powers, but with other, more original, issues. This trend has produced some gems, like Sin City (2005), Ghost World (2001) and American Splendor (2003). That type of comics-based movie is - in my eyes - worth watching.

Based on a Play: Shakespeare meets Broadway

Search for “based on a play” on Jinni and you’ll see two main groups: serious dramatic plays including works by Shakespeare, David Mamet and Tennessee Williams, and light Broadway-style musicals like Grease, Hair and the new versions of The Producers and Hairspray.

There’s this idea that plays are more sophisticated and of higher quality than movies. The catch: Some say that really acclaimed plays, like Shakespeare’s, are so perfect in themselves that adapting them for cinema can only result in disaster. Maybe that’s true - I can think of several bad or mediocre Shakespearean adaptations, but not any masterpieces.

Perhaps that’s the reason the only 3 play-based movies on IMDb’s list are not by the greatest playwrights of all time, but by lesser-known writers. The film directors could create a world of their own, not just stay true to a classic.

Conclusion: Worth a try, especially if the original is not by a master playwright.

Based on a Folktale: Myths, fairytales and animation

Type this in Jinni’s search box, and I believe most of us will encounter some of the best-loved and remembered films of our childhoods - from all-time Disney favorites like Cinderella (1950), The Little Mermaid (1989) and Aladdin (1992) to adaptations of great folk stories like Robin Hood and the Knights of the Round Table.

Conclusion: You might not find the greatest masterpieces of our time, but you’ll get nostalgia and excellent kid-friendly suggestions.

Based on a TV series: The cash cow never gets tired?

So, there’s a TV series. It’s successful. Successful enough that producers feel compelled to try and squeeze a little more out of the lemon, by creating a movie with the same beloved characters and themes. Sometimes it happens during the series run, sometimes afterwards, but the conclusion in most cases is the same – movies based on TV series are bad.

Star Trek could be considered an exception to the rule. Otherwise, looking at this group on Jinni confirms that, other than hardcore fans of the specific TV series, most people believe the movies suck. That was the case with Sex and the City, both of The X-Files movies, Twin Peaks, Miami Vice, and many others. (And now we’ve got M. Night Shyamalan’s first trailer for The Last Airbender…)

Conclusion: If you are not a huge fan of the TV series, try another based-on category. I hope the producers of the A-Team are reading this post, and will not be too proud to cut their losses now and end the 10-year effort to make the movie…

Based on a Video Game: Shut up and shoot

If there’s one category where no one expects to find quality, it’s this. No Shakespearean monologues, original scripts or innovative directing here. What you will find is shooting, fighting and all sorts of other gritty action.

I find it hard to believe any of these movies is critically acclaimed. But like it or not, it seems these movies make enough money to justify sequels and new adaptations. The Resident Evil series, for example, already includes 4 feature films (and the 5th is releasing next year) and several straight-to-video sequels. And the release schedule for the next couple of years includes several game–based movies: Alice, Splinter Cell, Halo and the much-anticipated Prince of Persia.

So perhaps there’s something to this format after all.

Conclusion: Like the title says - if you like shooting more than talking.

Based on a Biography: The good, the bad and the funny

Biography is an interesting study case. Generally the basic material to work with is quite good: be it Jesus or Hitler, William Wallace or Ed Wood, nobody makes a movie about some ordinary, nobody guy.

But good material does not ensure a good movie, or else all biography-based movies would be masterpieces. The truth is, as usual, somewhere in the middle. This category includes highly acclaimed films like The Diving Bell and Butterfly (2007) and The Pianist (2002) alongside mediocre or just plain bad ones like Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006) and De Sade (1969).

Conclusion: Every good movie needs a good story as its base. And since there are so many good stories here, I think that, despite what I wrote above, these movies tend to be at least watchable…

Based on a True Story: Why so serious?

Reality gets short shrift on IMDb’s Top 100 titles. Only 2 are based on true stories, and 5 more are based on books based on true stories. (Confused? Read it again slowly). Maybe truth isn’t stranger than fiction after all.

Almost all the movies in this category deal with serious issues: War, the Holocaust, terrorism… As with biographies, there’s no point depicting history unless something big is happening. And big things tend to be bad things. Nothing to do about it: Movies based on ordinary, daily life, even if it’s true, are just not that interesting.

Conclusion: If you want to sink your teeth into a serious film about the horrors of war or the nature of man under pressure, this one is for you.

Based on a Short Story: Variety is the spice

This category is probably the most elusive of all. In the first results pages for “Based on a short story” on Jinni, no specific styles, genres or topics jump out. There’s a little of almost everything – fantasy (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), sci-fi (2001: A Space Odyssey), drama (Away From Her) and comedy (Smoke); masterpiece (The Shawshank Redemption) and drivel (Creepshow 2).

When you think about it, this makes sense. The flexible format of the short story allows writers to experiment with a variety of styles and subjects. And the limited material allows filmmakers to stretch the story as they wish.

Conclusion: Like the variety in style, there’s a variety of quality here. It’s hard to say whether these are overall better or worse than other “based on” categories.

So what do you think about the sources of movies these days? Do you prefer a light based-on-a-game flick or a heavier based-on-an-article film? Or do you like your movies fresh and completely original? What are your favorite based-on movies? Comment and let us know!

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