44 Movies Being Adapted For TV

Editor's note: This article was originally published as a short list in June 2014. Since then, Hollywood's reboot train has gone off the rails. We'll continue to update this article to reflect new information on movie adapations that hit the air, were cancelled, or are stuck in development hell.

Making a TV pilot is undoubtedly frustrating.

Pumping tons of time and energy to create a compelling premise, crafting characters that are interesting right from the get go, and leaving enough room open to explore a complex story over the course of a season, just to have a network pass?

That sounds like hell.

Maybe that’s why it seems much easier to adapt other works for TV. Why start from scratch when you can adapt another property, with all of the heavy lifting done already and a fan base already built in?

That seems to be the million dollar question these days as TV executives keep reaching into their respective studios' vaults, using beloved movies as source material for the moving pictures on the small screen in your living room. Movie to TV adaptations have been around forever, but lately announcements for new movie-inspired pilots pop up Hollywood trade publications as reguarly as announcements for the lastest crop of superhero films.

Many of these cinema-inspired shows are already on the air, but we’ve compiled a list of all the other movies bound for TV that are in development, to put a microscope on TV’s latest trend...

These are shows currently in development. Westworld, Frequency, Shooter, Uncle Buck, Limitless, 12 Monkeys, Damien, Ash vs. Evil Dead, Minority Report, Shadowhunters, Rush Hour, School of Rock, Van Helsing and A Series of Unfortunate Events have already aired, thus we've removed them from the list. We'll continue to update the list with new information as it becomes available. 

White Men Can't Jump

I mean, how do you top the original? Black-ish creator Kenya Barris is going to bring the 1992 sports comedy starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson to the small screen. Very little is known about this project, but it's one of only a few sports films on this long and unruly list. 

More info on the White Men Can't Jump project here.

Metropolis

Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail explores class warfare through the lens of cyber security on the breakout USA hit. For his next project, he’ll take on a the plight of the industrialized elite in a television adaptation of the 1927 classic, Metropolis. The original film was set in 2026, a decade from now, so it should be interesting to see how far in the future they set the remake. We have more details on the project here.

The Departed 

Do you smell a rat? Cause The Departed is coming to TV. Martin Scorsese’s 2006 cops and robbers undercover opus was itself an adaptation of the 2002 Hong Kong film, Internal Affairs. The TV version of The Departed is being developed for Amazon and will see the setting of the story change from Boston and Chicago, with the Irish mob being swapped out for Latino drug runners. Jason Richman (Bangkok Dangerous) will write and executive produce with Amazon Studios and Brad Pitt’s Plan B banner producing the project as well. A timetable for release is unknown. 

Divergent

The young adult novels by Veronica Roth turned film series starring Shailene Woodley failed to connect in the same way that other YA-adapted series like Harry Potter and the Hunger Games caught fire. Instead of limping its way to the finish line with a reduced budget and a fourth film, Lionsgate has considered moving the series to TV. Of course, the film’s cast is less than thrilled by the prospect and many have said that they would not return to conclude the series if Divergent heads to the small screen, so I guess the ball is in Liongate’s court.

From Hell

Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s Jack the Ripper graphic novel became a film by the Hughes Brothers starring Johnny Depp back in 2001. Now FX is in talks to adapt the graphic novel turned movie once more for TV. Don Murphy, who produced the film, has tapped David Arata (Children of Men) to write the script, but that’s all we know for now.

In the Line of Fire

Wolfgang Petersen’s Oscar-winning 1993 action film saw Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich square off as a secret service agent and a rogue CIA agent turned assassin with designs on the president, respectively. The cat and mouse style thriller is perfect for a 24-style drama series and Carol Mendelsohn and Josh Berman - who worked together on CSI - are writing scripts for NBC. Gail Katz, who served as one of the film’s producers, will produce. 

Jack Ryan

Novelist Tom Clancy’s signature character, Jack Ryan, has seen film adaptations starring Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and most recently, Chris Pine. A whip smart CIA operative who can also kick a little ass, Jack Ryan is like an American Bond. With so many interpretations of the character, it was only a matter of time before the character appeared on TV. Lost and The Strain alumni Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland are set to bring their version of Jack Ryan to Amazon Instant Video, with John Krasinski (The Office) stepping into the iconic role. Paramount, Skydance and Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes banner will produce. The show is expected sometime in 2017. 

Single White Female

If we needed an update on anything, it’s the plight of single white females. NBC seems to agree as they’re working on a reboot of the 1992 film starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh. According to a THR exclusive, the series will be a modern-day spin on the thriller, shifting the setting from New York to San Francisco. There’s even a synopsis for it: “When erstwhile con-artist Hedra (played in the movie by Leigh) uses her professional connections to target Allie (portrayed by Fonda), a seemingly moneyed colleague in search of a roommate, Hedra slowly begins to realize that her mark may not be quite as innocuous as she first seems. Soon, viewers will come to understand that Hedra may have met her match in Allie, making viewers question who is really being "single white female’d."

The Last Starfighter

A TV version of the 1984 sci-fi film The Last Starfighter, titled The Starfighter Chronicles, is in the works from original Starfighter screenwriter Jonathan R. Betuel. The original film saw arcade whiz Alex Rogan, played by Lance Guest, recruited by aliens to battle in an intergalactic war. The new series will not be a continuation of the story, but a serialized narrative about “alien law enforcement.” Betuel is teaming with Surreal.tv co-founders Rick Rey and Andy Vick, with the intention of inserting virtual reality elements into the series. 

The Lost Boys

Joel Schumacher’s 1987 teen vampire flick is a cult classic, so it was only a matter of time before someone wanted to bring back from the dead. Luckily, that someone is Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) who is adapting the film as an anthology series for The CW. The plan is for the series to take place over the course of 70 years, with each season focusing on a different decade. The first season is set to center on the “summer of love” in San Francisco in 1967. Each season the setting, humans, and plot will change, but our vampire Lost Boys will remain. Thomas will executive produce via his Spondoolie Productions, along with frequent collaborators Danielle Stokdyk and Dan Etheridge in association with Gulfstream principals Mike Karz and Bill Bindley. Expect it in 2017.

She’s Gotta Have It

Spike Lee’s first film She’s Got to Have It, was an early demonstration of the director’s talents that saw a Brooklyn woman in her late 20s try to juggle her career, her friends, and her three lovers; erudite model Greer Childs, stuffy investment banker Jamie Overstreet, and sneakerhead, b-boy Mars Blackmon (played by Lee, who went on to star in Air Jordan ads with Michael Jordan). Lee is going to revisit the film with a 10-episode seri…uh, I mean “joint” with Netflix, after Showtime passed. Lee will direct all 10 half-hour episodes. 

Snatch

The British gangster film that launched the careers of Guy Ritchie and Jason Statham in the States is now being conceived as a TV series for streaming service Crackle. The ensemble heist film’s TV adaptation will star Rupert Grint (Harry Potter series) as Charlie Cavendish, a new character invented for the series. Snatch will also star Dougray Scott (Fear the Walking Dead), Ed Westwick (Wicked City), and will be directed by Nick Renton (The Musketeers). The first season will be ten episodes and filming has recently begun in Manchester, aiming for a 2017 release. 

The Warriors

No, not the team that blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the iconic 1979 Walter Hill film The Warriors will be getting the TV treatment. Captain America: Civil War masterminds Joe and Anthony Russo are developing the series as a one-hour drama for Hulu with the help of writer Frank Baldwin. The Russos will direct the pilot and plan to “honor the original film while adding its own unique brand of grit, pulp, sex and violence,” according to Deadline. Sounds good to us! 

Tremors

Kevin Bacon vs. goo-filled giant worms known as “Tremors,” round 2. It can’t be any worse than The Following, so the second TV adaptation for Tremors gets the Den of Geek stamp of approval. Bacon will reprise his role as Valentine McKee and the series will be set in the fictional town of Perfection, Nevada, just like the original 1990 film. After four straight-to-video sequels, Syfy brought Tremors to TV for a 13-episode run in 2003. 

The project is in development over at Amazon Video, with Universal Cable Productions and Blumhouse Productions are developing the series reboot. Andrew Miller (The Secret Circle) to write the adaptation and Bacon to produce.

Speaking with Collider, Bacon teased the project as a true follow-up to the original film:

It’s a super cool idea. They went and made a bunch of sequels to the movie. I want to put those aside because, first of all, I wasn’t in them. But what I was really interested in was taking this guy and, 25 years later, seeing what happened to him, to his dreams, and to his life. Andrew Miller, who’s writing the script, came up with this really, really interesting take on it, and I think it could be a lot of fun.

Snowpiercer 

Snowpiercer was an odd success story from the start. The South Korean film, based on a French comic, and starring Marvel’s Captain America Chris Evans, managed to pull in more than $86 million at the global box office (only $4 million in the US), while earning critical acclaim after its release. If you’re paying close attention to this list, box office success isn’t the only measuring stick to earning a television adaptation.

Josh Friedman, who produced Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, NBC’s Crossbones and the upcoming loosely-based Wizard of Oz adaptation Emerald City, is bringing the story of a globe-spanning train that hold that last survivors of an ice age to television. 

Rambo

Sylvester Stallone drew first blood when he signed on to play Green Beret John Rambo in 1982’s First Blood. Proving anything Stallone touches turns to decades worth of franchise gold, the hulking leading man is set to executive produce a Rambo TV series for Fox.

Tentatively called Rambo:New Blood, the series will indeed find a new red-blooded American military veteran whose lineage reportedly connects back to the original franchise. In December 2015, it was reported that Stallone opted to pass on being involved with the project.

We have more info on the Rambo series here.

First Wives Club

Yet another trifecta entry on this list (from book to movie to television adaptation), First Wives Club could be coming back to give hell to ungrateful ex-husbands. Based on an Olivia Goldsmith novel and adapted into a 1996 film that starred Diane Keaton, Bette Midler and Goldie Hawn, TV Land picked up a pilot that will be set in modern-day San Francisco.

Alyson Hannigan, in her first regular role since How I Met Your Mother, and Megan Hilty (Smashed) are set to play two of the three leads. New Girl’s Rebecca Addelman will pen the script and Jenny Bicks (Sex and the City) will executive produce the pilot. 

All of Me

Carl Reiner's body-swap comedy could be swapping mediums. All of Me, the 1984 comedy starring Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin, is reportedly in development as a half-hour comedy at NBC. In the film, Martin plays Roger Cobb, a lawyer hired by dying millionairess to rework her will, one that says her soul should enter a younger woman’s body after death. Through a series of blunders, the soul ultimately enters Cobb’s body instead, creating the greatest buddy-lawyer comedy ever captured on film.

The concept doesn’t particularly lend itself to a TV series format, though Deadline is reporting that it could be an anthology series with a soul jumping into a different body each week. It sounds like a complete departure from the source material, but we’ll have to keep watch. Universal Television is backing the project, with My Boys creator Betsy Thomas to serve as showrunner.

Taken

When Taken hit theaters in 2009, few would have dared to guess that it would ultimately turn into a franchise that grossed nearly $1 billion at the box office. Yet here we are, with French filmmaker Luc Besson’s Taken franchise responsible for earning Liam Neeson millions of dollars and what will go down as an iconic role for the Irish actor.

Taken may take another unlikely step (though as this list continues to grow, we can’t say that anymore), crossing over to the television world. NBC picked up the story of former CIA operative Bryan Mills. The story is a prequel, which follows Mills before he was married and had a child that would eventually be kidnapped and rescued. As of now, Liam Neeson is not involved in the project. Brooklyn Sudano and Clive Standen are set to star in the straight-to-series adaptation. The series is written and executive produced by Homeland's Alex Cary. 

Galaxy Quest

A movie about a sci-fi TV show is becoming a sci-fi TV show for Amazon. Partnering with Paramount Television, Amazon Studios is bringing the 1999 cult comedy hit Galaxy Quest to its Amazon Prime Instant Video. 

The film centered on the cast of a Star Trek-esque TV show that is abducted by an alien race that mistakes the actors as a real starship crew. The film's co-writer Robert Gordon will write and executive produce the pilot, with director Dean Parisot returning behind the camera. No word on if any of the original cast members will return, but we'll be sure to follow this one closely. Read more about it here.

Training Day

The Antoine Fuqua directed/David Ayer written 2001 police thriller Training Dayis remembered fondly as an explosive cop drama and possibly the best work of Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke's careers. Now, because the television landscape doesn't have enough shows about cops, Fuqua is teaming up with producer Jerry Bruckhiemer and writer Will Beall (Gangster Squad) to bring Training Day to TV.

Beall will write and Danny Cannon will direct this neo-noir thriller that will take place 15 years after the events of the film and center on Hawke and Washington's characters and the LAPD. The story will see a reversal of the original premise, with the younger rookie cop being played by a black actor and the older corrupt detective being played by a white actor. CBS has ordered a pilot with Bill Paxton signed on to star. Read more about it here. 

Friday the 13th

Jason can't stay dead. The character always returns to stalk teenagers whether in sequels, reboots, or TV series. Yes, Friday the 13th looks to have another TV series in the works, the 13th project of the Friday the 13th franchise (Spooky!). CW Network President Mark Pedowitz confirmed at the Television Critics Association Press Tour that the network is going to be taking a more grounded approach to the Jason Vorhees/Camp Crystal Lake saga.

Steve Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle (The Pretenders) will write the project, which will center on a detective searching for his missing brother when Jason Vorhees, believed to be dead, comes back to terrorize the camp. MTV had success with its Scream adaptation, with horror series in vouge among teens, so expect to see more horror adaptations appear on this list.

The Flamingo Kid

For a while it was rumored Disney was looking to remake Gary Marshall's The Flamingo Kid for the big screen. Brett Ratner was reportedly on board to direct with Nzingha Stewart (For Colored Girls) writing the script. Now it seems that The Flamingo Kid may be heading to TV after all. TV Line says that ABC Studios is supposedly on the hunt for a showrunner that can create a half-hour comedy out of the 1984 film, which saw Matt Dillion play blue collar kid working at an upscale beach resort in order to be near his crush. 

The Notebook

This romantic tear-jearker based on Nicholas Sparks' best-selling novel of the same name became a sleeper sensation for New Line in the 2004 Ryan Gossling/Rachel McAdams adaptation. The CW is hoping to mine the film's decade spanning love story for a period piece romantic drama based on the early days of Noah and Allie's relationship in post-World War II 1940s North Carolina. Sparks will executive produce the show under is Nicholas Sparks Productions banner in association with Warner Bros. Television. Todd Graf will handle scripting duties. 

The Mist  

For a long time, Frank Darabont’s dream project was bringing Stephen King’s The Mist to the big screen. It wasn’t nearly as successful as Darabont’s other King adaptations (The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption) but the film had its place as a chilling horror mystery with moderate box office success. In 2013, there was talk of The Weinstein Company making a jump into TV production, and one of the main projects was a Darabont-led mini-series based on The Mist.

Dimension Television picked up the project and now Spike has ordered 10 episodes of The Mist. We have more details on the project here. 

The Devil’s Advocate

One TV trend that is more widespread and has a longer history in television than the movie adaptation is the legal drama. So creating a legal drama based on a movie seems like a no-brainer, but add in a supernatural twist?! I bet it’s ordered right to series!

The Keanu Reeves, 1997 legal drama, The Devil’s Advocate, where a lawyer begins working for Satan (Al Pacino standing in for the devil), is currently being developed for NBC by Warner Bros. TV. A procedural where the lead character’s boss is actually evil incarnate sounds like it could be a hit. Last we heard, it was still in development at NBC, however that was almost a year and half ago at this point. 

Shutter Island

Author Dennis Lehane’s books -- from Mystic River to Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island -- have fared well on the big screen. The latest one, the Martin Scorsese directed Shutter Island, is getting a prequel series at HBO. The 2010 film follows U.S. Marshals investigating the strange happenings at a mental hospital on a creepy offshore island.

The HBO series, tentatively titled “Ashecliffe,” will document the early days of the hospital and its founders. Lehane is penning the pilot episode and Scorsese will direct the series.  

Ghost

In November 2014, Paramount announced that they had hired Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner to start scripting a television series based on the 1990, Oscar-winning film, Ghost. The original film starred Patrick Swayze as a murdered man who tried to avenge his death from beyond the grave as a ghost, while also romancing his widow. There's been little talk about this one, so it could be stuck in between dimensions in development hell. 

The Truman Show

The idea for a series based on The Truman Show, the Oscar-nominated 1998 film that explored America’s reality TV craze, came out of Paramount’s desire to mine their film canon for the next big TV hit. Still in it’s very easy stages, a television version of The Truman Show may be just hot air, but it would certainly be intriguing to see the story of a man whose entire life has been manufactured for a worldwide audience fleshed out over several seasons.

To Live and Die In L.A.

William Friedkin, of the Excorist and French Connection fame, directed this action thriller based on the Gerald Petievich novel of the same name. In June 2015, it was reported that WGN America is planning to bring the property back to life with Friedkin on board and Oscar-winner Robert Moresco (Crash) handling the scripts. 

Real Genius

Based on the 1985 comedy starring Val Kilmer, NBC is developing a single-camera comedy out of Real Genius. Kilmer played an incredibly smart and suave super genius in the original picture, and NBC has hired Workaholics co-executive producer Craig DiGregorio to develop the premise as a workplace comedy, where a genius must work together with a sheltered, square co-worker. The show has received a script commitment from NBC, so you may be seeing it sooner than later. Read more about it here.

Fatal Attraction

$300 million and six Oscar nominations can't lie. Audiences were enamored with Fatal Attraction, the Michael Douglas/Glenn Close thriller about a man being stalked by lover from his past, so it's no wonder that Mad Men alums Andre Jacquemetton and Maria Jacquemetton are working on the scripts for a potential event series at Fox. 

Monster-In-Law

Fox recently announced their plans to develop a multi-camera sitcom about, ““a happy couple about to learn the joys and horrors of parenthood while managing the most challenging relationship of all—the one between a wife and her husband’s mother.” Sounds like a lot of sitcoms, right? Well, inexplicably, the project is being touted as “loosely inspired” by the 2005 Jennifer Lopez vehicle Monster-In-Law.

The show is coming from 30 Rock’s John Riggi and the Carrie Dairies’ Amy B. Harris. We’re not entirely sure why this sitcom with such a basic TV premise needs to be connected to a lackluster, modestly received romantic comedy, but so be it.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

Canada’s top children programming producer DHX Media, responsible for kiddie hits such as Yo Gabba Gabba!, Teletubbies, and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, has recently required the rights to adapt Sony Pictures Amination’s Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. DHX will produce and develop the upcoming show, but Sony retains the rights of U.S. distribution. As of the moment, the film’s directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, are not involved with the series.

BIG  

Plug in the Zoltar machine and dust off your giant piano, Fox is planning something Big. The 1988 classic starring Tom Hanks is coming to television as a half-hour comedy. Loosely based on the film, the project comes from executive producers Kevin Biegel (Cougar Town) and Mike Royce (Men of a Certain Age). Continuing with Fox’s new programming strategy, the untitled project will be an event series, which is code for mini-series or regular series with less episodes.

Resident Evil

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is hit theaters in 2015, but don’t be fooled by that name, Resident Evil may have many more chapters if German production house Constantin Film has their way. There’s no word yet if a network has interest or whether the series will continue the events of the film, but Constantin is readying a TV adaptation, with more film-to-TV adaptations on their minds, like Perfume and The Mortal Instruments.

The Illusionist

The Illusionist was initially overshadowed by Christopher Nolan's magician movie, The Prestige, upon release in 2006, but the movie may have a second chance to connect with audiences. The CW is looking to bring the show to TV, taking a script from True Blood's Mark Hudis about a a 20th-century New York illusionist who, after a recent stint in jail, uses his special tricks to pull off robberies. That's not all -- the heists are all an elaborate plan to get back at the mob boss who framed him and married his wife. It's much different than Edward Norton's role in The Illusionist, but intriguing nonetheless.

In the Heat of the Night

This 1967 Oscar-winning Sidney Poitier vehicle already had a life on television, running for seven seasons and spawning four made-for-TV films in the '80s on NBC. But now In the Heat of the Night, based on the John Balls murder mystery novel, is may return to the small screen on Showtime. Tate Taylor (The Help) will be writting and directing the new adaptation. 

Bachelor Party

Not content to let Fox hog all the Tom Hanks inspired properties (BIG), ABC has ordered his 1984 comedy, Bachelor Party, to pilot.

Bachelor Party was a raunchy '80s comedy featuring drugs, sex, Tawny Kitaen, and very little else, but Fox has bigger ambitions with its television adaptation. Tapping New Girl writer-producers J.J. Philbin and Josh Malmuth, Fox plans on Bachelor Party being an anthology series, effectively hitting two TV trends with one stone, following a different wedding party, focusing on the drama that ensues from a co-ed bachelor/bachelorette party, each season. 

Marley & Me

Animal Practice didn’t work at NBC, but About a Boy did, so the network is going to bank on cinema-inspired sentimentality, animals be damned, with the announcement of a planned pilot for a show based on 2008’s tear-jerker, Marley & Me. The new series will reportedly serve as a sequel to the movie and take place back in Florida, where the film’s main couple, John and Jenny Gorgan, decide to adopt an underappreciated neighborhood pup despite crushingly loosing their last little guy.

Emmy-winning Sex and the City writer Jenny Bicks will pen the script, with the film’s director David Frankel committed to direct the pilot.

Problem Child

NBC will take all of your family-friendly big screen hits, thanks. Once again, the network has ordered a pilot based on an old, fun for the whole family movie, this time inspired by 1990’s John Ritter-led, Problem Child. The original saw Ritter and his wife adopting a redheaded menace who destroys the lives of everyone he touches. Ok, it’s not that dramatic, but still, the kid really is a nuisance.  

Awful kids usually work on TV, and NBC has tapped a guy familiar with writing awful man-children, The Hangover and Old Schools’ Scot Armstrong, to develop the single-camera comedy. Last we heard, NBC was still casting the project, though that was over a year ago.

In Good Company

In Good Company was a 2004 Dennis Quaid/Toper Grace/carlett Johansson rom-com, that was openly panned by Grace in his cameo in Ocean’s Eleven. The film actually isn’t as bad as Grace estimates, and CBS seems to think so too.

America’s number one network is developing the movie with original director John Weitz helping sitcom veterans Josh Bycel and Jon Fenner (Happy Endings) pen the script. CBS is planning for the series to be a hybrid of single and multi-camera sitcoms, whatever that means.

American Gigolo

Paramount, who have many properties on this list heading to TV, seem to be, excuse my language, whoring their older properties out to TV for more cash. It’s fitting then that the studio is also prepping a TV version of American Gigolo, the 1980 Richard Gere vehicle that saw the actor playing a male escort who gets mixed up with the authorities. “With its signature noir aesthetic, ‘American Gigolo’ has remained a deeply entertaining, psychological thriller,” said the film’s producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “I'm thrilled…on remaking it into a television series.”

Hitch

Fox can't keep its hands off these movie adaptations. Since October 2014, the network has a Hitchadaptation, based on the 2005 Will Smith romantic comedy, in development. Smith and his wife, Gotham's Jada Pinkett Smith, are executive producing. There's been little chatter about this project as of late, so it may be stuck in the development stage.