The Book Boom: Hollywood’s Safety Net?
Sinclair Dubreuil & Stephan Dubreuil
How much of a book can you truly squeeze into a two-hour runtime? That question defines modern cinema, but we’re likely asking the wrong thing. It’s a strange irony: while 87% of the global population is literate, recreational reading is in a freefall. In the U.S. alone, daily reading for pleasure plummeted by 40% between 2003 and 2023—a steady, 3% annual decay.
So, Emily Brontë who? Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie kissing passionately? Yes, please. Hollywood has realized that books are an infinite source of material, but more importantly, they come with a “built-in audience”—a recurrent phrase in the industry today. Is it playing it safe or playing it smart? Whatever your answer, this isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. Think back to the recent frenzy of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, or even further back to classics like Lawrence of Arabia and 2001: A Space Odyssey. These were targeted at people who’d read the books, sure, but they appealed to everyone else too.
There is a specific art form in taking an imagined world and realizing it as a visual spectacle. Most people walking into the theater or streaming at home might not even know the movie was sourced from a book; to them, it’s just a new, exciting movie worth seeing for its artistic content. While some may go for new emerging voices à la Kane Parsons, the big studio slates seem to suggest that time-tested IPs is the “Safety Net” that makes the gamble worth taking. It’s an insurance policy written in ink.
Take the recent Wuthering Heights—a perfect example of an entertaining modern picture that somehow missed the mark of the book entirely. Brontë described Heathcliff as being of Lascar origin (modern-day Southeast Asia), yet we get trending heartthrob Jacob Elordi as the lead.
Wrong or right, it wasn’t the first time we’d seen a production’s reliance on casting whatever actor was currently ‘trending’ or part of the cultural zeitgeist, regardless of the character’s actual description. Nuances of race or even the current social landscape aside, for those who actually read the English gothic classic, the movie felt more “raunchy” than moving. The reality is that for many, Wuthering Heights will now be Emerald Fennell’s movie, her version, raunchiness and all, rather than Brontë’s book. Going down the Internet rabbit hole will have you read things like the movie is the worst thing to happen to Emily since she died of TB at 30. Ultimately, an adaptation—whatever its quality—is a testament to the original work’s aura and mystic power. That is never negligible. A classic stays alive precisely because it is breathing; it is kept vital by the very reinvention that is criticized.
We can level criticism at everything. But let’s ask: is Hollywood just banking on these adaptations to earn millions from pre-sold fans? Most of the time, yes. On an Excel sheet, it’s just sound business. But we at Woolf+Lapin know that it’s still up to the audience to decide if a movie actually works. Whether it’s an adaptation or not, the criteria remain the same: subject matter, cinematography, and even the soundtrack spell the difference between success and failure.
Look at Quebec’s hero, Denis Villeneuve. From our very own backyard, he adapted the critically acclaimed Incendies from the Wajdi Mouawad play, got an Oscar nod, and eventually launched an international career that led him to Frank Herbert’s Dune (wait a minute that’s another book yes?). Now it’s a massive franchise starring Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet.
So, where is this boom taking us next? In TV, it gave us Canada’s Heated Rivalry and just now Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. In movies, it’s Project Hail Mary and The Housemaids. Interestingly, while producers want “safer bets,” the Academy just awarded Ryan Coogler “Best Screenplay” for his original script (Sinners), proving that originality will always win. Meanwhile, A24 is mining the online pipeline for inspiration (see trailer for Backrooms)—taking us into unknown places reminiscent of dreams.
And we’re walking the walk. Our own Meredith Hambrock is currently adapting her 2025 novel, She’s a Lamb (ECW Press), with the team at 4am Film Studios. We’ve also just welcomed the brilliant Emily Roberson to the pack, who brought her hit Lifestyles of Gods and Monsters (Macmillan) along for the ride.
For writers, the opportunity is hiding in plain sight. Write a short story, a memoir, a graphic novel, a blog (wait, can we turn this sentence into an immersive dome experience?)—the format doesn’t matter and the IP doesn’t have to be famous yet. It just has to be the right story at the right moment.
