Curious about the books becoming movies in 2025? Here are the most likely books to movies of 2025, including upcoming tv adaptations.
Every year, I compile a list of books becoming movies and tv shows, and every year it is a royal pain. Researching titles to see which movies based on books are coming soon and coping with ever-shifting release dates drives me nuts every year. Add in the prevalence of book adaptations on streaming services, and it’s not an easy task.
That’s not even factoring in a writers’ strike.
Even though theaters have made a comeback since the pandemic, movie release dates are still shifting constantly. I’d love to say that this is the definitive list of books being made into movies in 2025, but let’s face it. No one can foresee what the future will hold.
For your benefit, I’ve split my list of books to movies 2025 into three sections. First, I’ve got all the books becoming movies in 2025 with an actual release date. After that, I’ve got my most likely 2025 book adaptations, and then a list of books turning into movies under development. If we are lucky, we’ll see some of those this year.
If it seems like this list has changed since you last looked at it, it has! Release dates are changing all the time, so I will update periodically to reflect the newest information available.
If you love seeing your favorite books come to life on screen or want to discover some new books to read before they hit theaters (or Netflix), here is my list of the books to movies in 2025.
Books to Movies 2025
Missing You
Harlan Coben
January 1, 2025 – Scrolling through an online dating site, NYPD detective Kat Donovan is shocked to discover her ex-fiancé who disappeared 18 years ago. When she sends him a message, Kat suddenly finds herself in an unspeakable conspiracy that leads her to question everything she knew. Now Kat has even more questions about her father’s decades-old murder. If you like mystery books becoming movies in 2025, you’ll want to check out the Netflix series adaptation of Missing You.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Watson, January 26, 2025 – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle shines in his first collection of stories about the infamous detective. Using deductive reasoning and impeccable logic, Detective Sherlock Holmes solves twelve impossible mysteries as narrated by his sidekick Dr. Watson. In the new CBS adaptation, Dr. Watson opens a clinic to treat a mysterious illness a year after Sherlock Holmes’s death.
Dog Man
Dav Pilkey
January 31, 2025 – Of the children’s books to movies in 2025, school children are sure to be excited for the adaptation of the popular graphic novel series Dog Man. After an explosion, a police officer and his K-9 are combined into Dog Man – with the head of a dog and the body of a human. Now he must save the city from the evil machinations of Petey the Cat.
Sword of Destiny
Andrzej Sapkowski
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, February 11, 2025 – In a series of six short stories, Sapkowski returns you to the world of the Witcher as Geralt faces the question of his own destiny while fighting monsters, demons, and prejudices. The short story “A Little Sacrifice” from the book is used as the basis of a new animated series coming to Netflix in 2025.
Mad About the Boy
Helen Fielding
February 14, 2025 – In the third Bridget Jones book, Bridget must tackle the dating scene again but this time in her 50s. After the death of her husband, Bridget finds herself a middle-aged mother of two trying to hold it all together. When she reenters the dating world, she finds herself in plenty of perils and absurdities. Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and Emma Thompson will all be reprising their roles in the latest film.
The Unbreakable Boy
Scott LeRette and Susy Flory
February 21, 2025 – Born with a rare brittle bone disease, Austin LeRette, who is also autistic, has never let anything stop him, not even a broken back. Although he spent time in a locked mental ward as a child, Austin developed into an optimistic teenager who’s faith inspired everyone around him. Written by his father, The Unbreakable Boy shows Austin’s inspiring journey that reminds you to enjoy the small moments in life.
Mickey7
Edward Ashton
Mickey 17, March 7, 2025 – In one of the most-anticipated science fiction books to movies in 2024, Mickey7 is an Expendable, a disposable human sent to perform jobs too dangerous for normal humans. On the ice planet Niflheim, Mickey7 is prematurely replaced by his clone and must hide his existence. As the native creatures grow curious about human settlers, Mickey7 is the only one who can bridge the gap between cultures, if he can just stay alive.
The Electric State
Simon Ståhlenhag
March 14, 2025 – In a dystopian graphic novel, Ståhlenhag paints a vivid alternate reality of 1997 as a runaway teenager and her yellow toy robot travel west through the United States. The ruins of massive battle droids are strewn across the countryside in a nation ravaged by technological consumerism. The closer she gets to the coast, the more the world seems to completely unravel, harkening the complete end of civilization.
Grimm’s Fairy Tales
The Brothers Grimm
Snow White, March 21, 2025 – In the 1800s, German linguists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected together a collection of tales from old books and friends and family. These legendary folktales have become common bedtime stories: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin, and Snow White. Greta Gerwig is set to adapt a new fantasy musical version whose release date was recently pushed to 2025.
The Amateur
Robert Littell
April 11, 2025 – Working as a cryptographer for the CIA, Charlie Heller is a quiet man in a quiet desk job. When terrorists kill his fiancée and the agency doesn’t retaliate, Heller embarks on a journey to take justice into his own hands. Starring Rami Malek as Charlie, The Amateur is an action-packed espionage book to movie adaptation hitting screens in April.
We’ll Always Have Summer
Jenny Han
The Summer I Turned Pretty: Season Three, Summer 2025 – In the conclusion of The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy, Belly must finally decide between the Fisher brothers. Belly and Jeremiah have been dating for two years and she is almost certain he’s her soulmate. When Jeremiah proposes, Conrad realizes that this might be his last chance to tell Belly he loves her before she marries his brother.
How to Train Your Dragon
Cressida Cowell
June 13, 2025 – Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III finds himself an oddball as a quiet thoughtful boy among a clan of rowdy Vikings. As the son of the chief, he desperately wants to make his dad proud. Yet passing the initiation of catching and training a dragon won’t be easy, and may just lead Hiccup to become an unexpected hero. Of the books to movies 2025, this is the one I’m most excited to see. Disney is doing a live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon and the trailers look gorgeous.
Animal Farm
George Orwell
July 11, 2025 – On the surface, Animal Farm is just a simple tale of animals revolting against the cruel farmer to set up their own government. In reality, Animal Farm is the perfect parable for the danger of giving up our freedoms for the sake of security. If you’ve ever wondered how a dictatorship comes to be, this classic short novel will show you. To get the most of this short classic, you’ll want to pair it with my favorite book of all time, George Orwell’s 1984.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Lois Duncan
July 18, 2025 – After a party, four teens find themselves involved in a hit-and-run accident where a young boy is killed. Afraid to go to prison, they flee the scene and leave an anonymous tip with the police. They swear each other to secrecy until one girl receives a note saying “I know what you did last summer.” The latest installment of the movie series hits theaters in the summer with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr., reprising their roles.
The Bad Guys
Aaron Blabey
Bad Guys 2, August 1, 2025 – Of the children’s books to movies coming soon, keep your eye out for the second adaptation of Aaron Blabey’s hit series, The Bad Guys. Yes, they sound and look like bad guys. But Mr. Wolf, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Snake, and Mr. Shark are determined to prove they are the good guys. Struggling to be “Good Guys” the group is forced into one last job by an all-female group of criminals.
Cold Storage
David Koepp
September 18, 2025 – While investigating a suspected biochemical attack, Pentagon bioterror expert Roberto Diaz found a terrifying organism capable of mutating and destroying the world. Diaz buried it in cold storage for decades, but the forgotten organism has finally escaped. With the help of two unwitting security guards, Diaz must find a way to contain it again in this thriller penned by the screenwriter of Jurassic Park.
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
The Bride!, September 26, 2025 – You probably already know the story. Grieving his mother, young ambitious scientist Victor Frankenstein conducts a series of unorthodox experiments to create life and ends up creating a creature 8 feet tall. Horrified by his creation, Frankenstein spends the rest of his life haunted and trying to destroy the thing he has made. A new sci-fi musical adaptation, more based on The Bride of Frankenstein than the original book, hits theaters this fall.
The Running Man
Stephen King
November 7, 2025 – In a near dystopian future, Ben Richards is desperate for money to help his sick daughter. His only hope, to win a deadly reality game with a billion dollar prize. All he has to do is stay alive for 30 days as public enemy number 1 while being hunted by an elite strike force. No one has lasted more than 8 days but desperation will make people do things you wouldn’t normally expect. Glen Powell stars in the latest Stephen King book adaptation.
Wicked
Gregory Maguire
Wicked: For Good, November 21, 2025 – Gregory Maguire imagines the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, a misunderstood little green-skinned girl named Elphaba who was not as wicked as our preconceived notions tell us. Maguire’s book, which garners mixed reviews, inspired the hit Broadway musical which is the basis for the film. Wicked: Part One was the best film I saw last year, so I’m highly anticipating the sequel.
The Housemaid
Freida McFadden
December 25, 2025 – After ten years in prison, Millie can’t be picky about the jobs she takes so she feels extremely grateful to land a position as a housemaid to the Winchesters. At first, Nina Winchester seems grateful to have Millie clean up her disastrously messy house. Quickly, Nina’s erratic mood changes have Millie on edge. Worse is watching Nina’s perfect (and sexy) husband forced to live with such a wife, which has Millie imagining what it would be like to be in Nina’s place.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
George R. R. Martin
2025 – In yet another HBO spinoff series of A Game of Thrones, return back 100 years when the Targaryens sat on the Iron Throne. Young naive hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall towers over his rivals but lacks experience. Along with his small squire Egg, whose true name is hidden from all, Dunk travels Westeros looking for great destinies and find powerful foes, royal intrigue and outrageous exploits.
Hamnet
Maggie O’Farrell
2025 – In an award-winning piece of literary fiction, Maggie O’Farrell imagines the life of William Shakespeare’s wife. Since almost everything about her is forgotten to history, O’Farrell has free reign in imagining Agnes as a fierce and misunderstood woman, who marries a poor Latin tutor, the son of a disgraced businessman. While flashing back to Agnes and William’s past, the crux of the story focuses on the death of their son Hamnet, showing the endless depths of grief of a mother who loses a child and imagining how Hamnet’s death influenced Shakespeare’s famous play, Hamlet, written just four years later.
The Hunting Wives
May Cobb
2025 – After Sophie O’Neill leaves her big Chicago career to settle down in a small Texas town with her husband and son, she quickly becomes restless. Then she meets Margot Banks, a socialite with a penchant for late-night target practice and heavy partying. As Sophie gets drawn into Margot’s group of Hunting Wives, she soon finds herself tangled in the middle of a murder investigation.
It
Stephen King
It: Welcome to Derry, 2025 – Among Stephen King’s best horror books is this intense tale of a murderous clown. In a wholesome Maine town, an evil is lurking in the shadows just waiting to kill. Although they thought they had defeated it as kids, seven adults return to their hometown to finally free themselves from the nightmare. It: Welcome to Derry is a new television series set as a prequel to It.
Klara and the Sun
Kazuo Ishiguro
2025 – In his first novel since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, Kazuo Ishiguro ponders the meaning of love through an unusual narrator. Klara is a robot, an Artificial Friend waiting to be bought and taken home to be a companion to a lonely child. Ishiguro’s brilliant writing brings Klara to life, with her keen observations about the world around her, forcing you to piece together complex situations as perceived through the lens of innocence.
Wildwood
Colin Meloy
2025 – One day in Portland, Oregon, twelve-year-old Prue looks away for a minute and her toddler brother is captured by a group of crows and taken into Impenetrable Wilderness. With her friend Curtis, Prue travels into a magical world full of warring creatures to save her brother and find themselves caught up in a fight to save the very essence of Wildwood.
The Twits
Roald Dahl
2025 – Mr. and Mrs. Twist are the ugliest and meanest people in the world. They spend their days playing mean jokes, putting innocent birds into pies, and making their caged monkeys, The Muggle-Wumps, stand on their heads all day. The Muggle-Wumps have finally had enough and are out for revenge. But how do you outwit a Twit? The latest of the Roald Dahl books becoming movies is coming to Netflix in 2025.
Bambi
Felix Salten
Bambi: The Reckoning, 2025 – In the beginning, Bambi lives an enchanted life in the woods with friend Hare and his cousins. Until winter hits and food is hard to find. After his father leaves, Bambi and his mother are all alone when Men arrive wanting to kill all the forest creatures. Among the books becoming movies in 2025 is a British horror adaptation of Bambi, where a grief-stricken Bambi goes on a deadly rampage after his mother is hit by a car.
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë
February 13, 2026 – On the edge of an English moor, Catherine Earnshaw must decide between her passionate gypsy neighbor Heathcliff and her well-to-do English suitor. When she chooses the latter, a brooding Heathcliff takes out his anger on the next generation. Love it or hate it, Wuthering Heights is still one of those classic books you need to read in your lifetime. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are set to star in this classic book becoming a movie in 2026.
Books Becoming Movies in 2025 (Hopefully)
A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. Maas
In her popular adult fantasy series, Sarah J Maas introduces you to Feyre, a teenage girl turned huntress doing all she can to provide for her poor yet ungrateful family. After she kills a faerie disguised as a wolf, Feyre is taken to an enchanted land run by her captor, a powerful man who can turn into a beast. Maas starts the story as a typical Beauty and the Beast retelling but transforms it into her own original work.
Anansi Boys
Neil Gaiman
In the sequel to American Gods, Fat Charlie Nancy’s life is changed forever when his father drops dead. Returning to America for the funeral, Fat Charlie is shocked to discover his father was a god .. and he has a brother. Now Fat Charlie must navigate the world of the gods in this novel set in the same world as American Gods, but not directly connected to the first novel.
Book Lovers
Emily Henry
Cutthroat literary agent Nora Stephens lives her whole life in books. On a sisters’ trip to North Carolina, Nora dreams of becoming a heroine worthy of the books she reads. Instead, she keeps running into a brooding editor from back in the city. As their accidental meetings keep coming, Nora and Charlie begin to see each other differently in this enemies-to-lovers summer read.
Fairy Tale
Stephen King
Seventeen-year-old Charlie is used to being on his own until he befriends Howard, an old recluse, and his beloved dog Radar, who live in a large house on the hill. After Howard dies, he leaves Charlie a note about a magical portal to a parallel world where good and evil are at war. Now, it’s up to Charlie and Radar to save both worlds.
Funny Story
Emily Henry
Daphne and her fiancé Peter have the perfect cute story of how they met, up until Peter leaves her for his childhood best friend Petra. Stranded in Peter’s lakeside Michigan hometown with a job as a children’s librarian she loves, Daphne needs a roommate to help pay the bills. Who better than Petra’s ex, Miles, who is completely Daphne’s opposite? And no big deal if they happen to post misleading photos to make their exes jealous, because there’s no way they would ever actually fall in love.
The Harry Potter Series
J. K. Rowling
Living with his aunt and uncle, Harry Potter is a neglected orphan relegated to the small cupboard under the stars. Until one day he finds out he is a wizard and has been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. To his surprise, Harry Potter is already famous in the magical world. His parents weren’t killed in a car crash but by a powerful Dark Wizard whose powers were broken when he tried to kill Harry Potter, leaving him with a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt. HBO is adapting this beloved children’s books to a tv series, likely coming out in 2026.
The Institute
Stephen King
From Stephen King, the king of horror, comes another masterful story. After his parents’ murder, Luke Ellis awakens in The Institute. Here live children with the special abilities of telekinesis and telepathy tested and used at the hands of the ruthless director Mrs. Sigsby. Children who cooperate receive tokens for the vending machines. Those that don’t receive brutal punishment. As other children disappear never to return, Luke realizes his only hope is to escape. Reviews are coming in strong for Stephen King’s latest, and many say it appeals both to avid Stephen King fans and new Stephen King readers. I expect this will spend quite some time on the bestseller lists.
Long Bright River
Liz Moore
Estranged sisters, Mickey, a police officer, and Kacey, a drug addict, live completely different lives in Philadelphia. When Kacey goes missing and drug addicts begin dying, Mickey becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her among the opioid-riddled streets. More a family drama than a gritty detective thriller, Long Bright River‘s slower pace draws you into Mickey’s world of being a single mom and police officer while the flashbacks build a relationship between the sisters. Moore does an excellent job slowly revealing layers of her story, building connections that interlock in surprising ways. While the ending has some action, the story’s strength lies in the characters making this a thoroughly enjoyable read.
The Magic Faraway Tree
Enid Blyton
A classic children’s series, three children discover a enchanted forest near their home where a massive magical tree, the Faraway Tree, grows. Jo, Bessie, and Fanny (later revised to Joe, Beth, and Frannie) encounter fairies, gnomes, and a host of different creatures. A ladder in the Faraway Tree will take them to different magical lands – some cruel and some sweet.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles
Rufi Thorpe
The child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo has always known she’d be on her own in life. When an affair with her college professor leads to an unexpected pregnancy, Margo finds herself at 20 an unemployed single mother on the verge of eviction. Letting her father move in as long as he helps with childhood, Margo decides to start an OnlyFans account, using his wrestling marketing strategies to send her account viral. Is internet fame the answer to her money troubles or just the start of all her problems?
The Midnight Library
Matt Haig
In the Midnight Library, there are two books – one book for the life you’ve lived and one for the one you could have lived. After attempting suicide, Nora Seed finds herself there. Now she must decide which book to choose from. What if she had made different choices? Would her life have been any better? All of us have regrets, and by allowing Nora the possibility to redo her life, Haig does a brilliant job showing how we can never predict the outcomes of our choices. A thoroughly enjoyable read that intimately talks about the pain depression and second-guessing has on our life.
None of This is True
Lisa Jewell
On her forty-fifth birthday, Alix Summers runs into Josie Fair, who happens to also be celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. Soon Alix runs into Josie again, and the two become friends. Josie thinks her interesting life would be a great subject for Alix’s true crime podcast. Josie manipulates her way into Josie’s life and home before vanishing. Suddenly, Alix unexpectedly finds herself the subject of her own podcast and must uncover Josie’s dark secrets to protect her family. Jewell does an excellent job mixing after-the-fact documentary and podcast interviews into the plotline to keep you wondering how much of Josie’s story is true.
Not Without Hope
Nick Schuyler and Jeré Longman
In 2009, Nick Schuyler embarked on a Florida fishing trip with three of his best friends: Will Bleakley and NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith. After a day of fishing, they went to return home but the anchor was stuck. While attempting to free the anchor, the boat was accidentally capsized sending all four into the water. Days later, the Coast Guard discovered Schuyler barely alive clinging to the propellor in this tragic memoir about survival in the open water.
People We Meet on Vacation
Emily Henry
Emily Henry (author of Beach Read) returns with one of the best beach reads of 2021 for romance book lovers. Poppy and Alex have been best friends forever even though she’s a wild child full of wanderlust and he’s an introverted bookworm. Although she lives in New York City and he still lives in their hometown, every year they take a week-long vacation together. Until two years ago, when their trip ended in a falling out. Now Poppy convinces Alex to take one final vacation with her in an attempt to fix their relationship … and maybe even fall in love.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reid
At 87 years old, Hollywood bombshell Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to reveal her story – all the salacious details of her unapologetic life. Everyone is clamoring to know about her rise to stardom and, more importantly, about her seven husbands. Probably one of the most clever book titles I’ve ever seen, you’ll enjoy this story of a modern-day Scarlett O’Hara.
Recursion
Blake Crouch
America has fallen victim to False Memory Syndrome – a disease where victims are driven mad by memories of a life they never lived … or have they? It’s up to NYPD cop Barry Sutton and neuroscientist Helena Smith to figure out how to stop this epidemic, even as reality is shifting all around them. You’ll have a hard time putting this one down, so you’ll certainly want to pick up a copy before the film adaptation hits Netflix.
Books to Movies In Development
Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett
What Books to Movies in 2025 Are You Most Excited For?
Do you enjoy watching books becoming movies? Which books to movies in 2025 are you most likely to go see? As always, let me know in the comments!
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