Must-watch, must-read: Book adaptations on the big screen

.@BookNet_Canada shares insights into the performance of books adapted into movies.
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We discovered the impact that TV show book to screen adaptations had on book sales in our previous blog post, but what difference do feature films make for their books source material?

That’s what we’re here to find out in this new instalment of our blog mini-series on book to screen adaptations, and we’ll share even more in our upcoming study on the topic later this year (sign up for the research newsletter to be notified when it’s released).

So, onto the silver screen.

Using SalesData, our national sales tracking service for the Canadian English-language trade book market, and LibraryData, our national Canadian library collection and circulation analysis tool, we’ve gathered data on the sales and library circulation for titles related to 60 different film adaptations that were released in 2020 and 2021.

How did we decide which films to include? This list was determined from the average ratings and number of reviews on IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Metacritic for each movie. We then chose the top 30 films adapted from books each year. Check out the list below:

Film adaptations released in 2021

• Dune

• Cruella

• Nomadland

• The Last Duel

• Power of the Dog

• The Green Knight

• The Dig

• House of Gucci

• Fear Street

• The Woman in the Window

• The White Tiger

• Those Who Wish Me Dead

• Nightmare Alley

• Without Remorse

• The Mauritanian

• The Lost Daughter

• The King’s Man

• Chaos Walking

• Infinite

• Fatherhood

• Cherry

• Things Heard and Seen

• To All the Boys: Always and Forever

• The Tragedy of Macbeth

• A Boy Called Christmas

• The Last Letter From Your Lover

• Passing

• The United States vs. Billie Holliday

• There’s Someone Inside Your House

• Peter Rabbit 2

Film adaptations released in 2020

• Birds of Prey

• The Invisible Man

• Enola Holmes

• The Devil All the Time

• The Old Guard

• Greyhound

• News of the World

• I’m Thinking of Ending Things

• Bloodshot

• The Midnight Sky

• The New Mutants

• Dolittle

• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train

• The Call of the Wild

• Emma.

• Hillbilly Elegy

• To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You

• Rebecca

• The Witches

• Gretel & Hansel

• All The Bright Places

• After We Collided

• The Kissing Booth 2

• Artemis Fowl

• The Willoughbys

• The Rhythm Section

• The One and Only Ivan

• Chemical Hearts

• I Still Believe

• The Turning

About the data

SalesData and LibraryData store ISBNs differently. While SalesData gathers data for each individual ISBN, LibraryData uses ISBN clusters. These ISBN clusters may contain any number of ISBNs related to one title or to a series of books.

In order to compare Canadian book sales and Canadian library circulation, the ISBNs related to each film adaptation were taken first from LibraryData clusters. This same list of ISBNs was then used to gather data from SalesData.

All to say, if a film was related to a series of books, all titles in the series were considered together.

These 60 book to film adaptions numbered 933 ISBNs altogether:

• The smallest number of ISBNs related to a single film adaptation is 2 ISBNs.

• The largest number of ISBNs related to a single film adaptation is 100 ISBNs.

• While each film adaptation had 16 related ISBNs on average, the median number of ISBNs was 6.

What effect does this have on the results? We explore the differences between the sales and library circulation of titles related to films adapted from book series and individual books below.

Lights, camera, action!

On the big screen

Many film-loving bookworms have said it: “The book is better than the movie.” But will Canadian readers read a book if they’ve seen the movie first? For the titles adapted into our 60 films, the answer is a resounding yes.

The graph below shows the sales for these titles from 12 weeks pre-release to 12 weeks post-release of their respective films. Looking at the entire time period, sales only appear to increase by 20% overall. However, the graph reveals an exponential 307% increase in sales from 12 weeks pre-release to the first week post-release, with a significant 90% spike in sales between one week pre- and post-release. After this first week, sales steadily decrease by 70%.

Sales for titles adapted into films in 2020 and 2021

The library circulation for titles adapted into films looks slightly different. As you may already know, analyzing the circulation of titles by a library is fundamentally different from the sales of titles by a bookstore. A library’s ability to circulate titles is ultimately limited by the number of copies it holds in its collection. That’s why library holds, rather than library loans, can show a clearer picture of library book borrowers' interest in a particular title.

And in the graph below, we see just that. Over the 12 weeks before these 60 films were released and the 12 weeks after, library loans remained relatively steady and only increased 13% overall. On the other hand, the number of titles on hold increased 89% over this entire time period. Library holds had a significant increase of 35% between the fifth and sixth week after the films were released and reached their peak at the tenth week post-release.

Library circulation for titles adapted into films in 2020 and 2021

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 and 2021 not only saw closures and restrictions for in-store shopping and libraries, but also movie theatres. What impact did this have on the sales and library circulation of titles adapted into films?

There is a difference between the sales of titles adapted into films in 2020 and 2021, shown in the graph below. In 2020, sales reached their peak in the first week after the release of the film, with a 52% increase in sales between the first weeks pre- and post-release. The sales of titles in 2021 were much more dramatic. In 2021, sales also reached their peak during the first week after release — this time up 127% in the first week before and after the film’s release. After the first week, sales for both years steadily decreased. This difference in the volume in sales may be due to pandemic restrictions for bookstores in 2020.

Sales for titles adapted into films in 2020 vs. 2021

The library circulation for these titles in 2020 and 2021 shares a similar story, shown in the graph below. In 2020, the number of holds increased steadily over the entire 25 week period — up 53%. But in 2021, library holds increased dramatically between the fifth and sixth week post-release — up 110%. The number of holds reached their peak at the tenth week post-release and increased 133% overall during these 25 weeks.

Holds for titles adapted into films in 2020 vs. 2021

With many libraries having closed their doors for long stretches of time in 2020, it’s possible that 2020’s slow and steady number of holds is due to library book borrowers being unable to access their library branch to take books out on loan during these 25-week periods. It’s also possible that the restrictions placed on movie theatres are impacting both the library circulation and sales of titles adapted into films in 2020, with both seeing lesser numbers.

The power of a page turner

These 60 book to film adaptations spanned a wide range of subjects — 42% were Fiction titles, 32% Juvenile and Young Adult, and 27% Non-Fiction.

And when it comes to the sales for these titles, Fiction titles also saw the most sales — up 589% at their peak during the first week post-release. Sales of Juvenile and Young Adult titles also peaked in the first week after release, increasing by 155%. Instead, Non-Fiction sales saw their biggest increase in the third week post-release after a steady increase of 283%.

The library circulation by subject for these titles is entirely different, shown in the graph below. Non-Fiction titles adapted into films have the greatest number of holds at the library, jumping up 70% between the eighth and ninth weeks post-release. Juvenile and Young Adult titles increase slowly to reach their peak at the sixth week post-release — up 41% from 12 weeks pre-release. Fiction titles adapted into films may not have the biggest volume of holds, but they do see the biggest increases. Holds for Fiction titles began to rise in the fifth week post-release and steadily increased 115% overall.

Holds by subject for titles adapted into films in 2020 and 2021

Whether or not a film is adapted from a book series or an individual title makes a difference, too, or at least for the 60 book to film adaptations we looked at here — 73% of films were adapted from individual titles and 27% were adapted from book series.

Despite this, sales of series titles adapted into films outperformed individual titles. In the graph below, the sales of series titles peaks at the first week post-release — up 131% between the first week pre- and post-release. Series titles see smaller sales peaks again in the fifth and eighth weeks post-release, before sales significantly decrease. For individual titles, sales only peak in the first week after the film’s release — up 99% between the second week pre-release and the first week post-release.

Sales for series and individual titles adapted into films in 2020 and 2021

At the library, the opposite seems to be true. For series titles, holds steadily increased 46% over the entire 25-week period. On the other hand, individual titles saw a significant spike in holds between the fifth and sixth week post-release — up 105%. And holds for individual titles continued to rise, reaching their peak at the tenth week post-release and up another 70%.

For the movie buffs

With movie theatre restrictions due to the pandemic and the rise of streaming platforms, not all of our 60 book to film adaptations had a full theatrical release — 42% did, but 58% had a streaming-exclusive or streaming-focused release (with a very limited theatrical release).

Interestingly, sales still favour titles adapted into films that have a full theatrical release, shown in the graph below. Titles whose films had a theatrical release actually saw sales peak in the second week post-release — up 109% from the first week pre-release. These titles also saw a sales peak at the fifth week post-release and another smaller peak eight weeks post-release. For titles adapted into films that had a streaming-dominant release, sales only peaked once at the first week post-release — up 73% between the first week pre- and post-release.

Sales by release type for titles adapted into films in 2020 and 2021

In the library, things are more even-keeled. While the total volume of holds for titles adapted into films with a full theatrical release is higher, these titles saw fewer increases in holds than ones with streaming-dominant releases. Holds for titles with full theatrical releases began to increase at eight weeks post-release and ended at an increase of 52% overall. In comparison, holds for titles with streaming-dominant releases began to rise at six weeks post-release and rose 186% over the entire 25-week period.

Does the date of the film’s release make a difference?

The release dates of our 60 book to film adaptations were more or less evenly split — 32% were released in the first quarter, 20% in the second quarter, 22% in the third quarter, and 27% in the fourth quarter.

That being said, sales for these titles heavily favoured the films released during the fourth quarter. While films released in each quarter saw a peak in sales in the first week post-release, titles whose films were released during the fourth quarter saw the greatest number of sales, up 113% between the first weeks pre- to post-release.

The same is also true for the library circulation of titles, shown in the graph below. Here, holds for titles with films released in the fourth quarter begin to skyrocket at the sixth week post-release, to increase 237% overall. Holds for titles with films released in the first and second quarters only increased 47% and 7% respectively over this 25-week period. And the number of holds for titles with films released in the third quarter decreased 55% overall.

Holds by film release date for titles adapted into film in 2020 and 2021

Curious for more data on book to screen adaptations? Keep your eyes peeled on our blog and sign up for the research newsletter to be the first to know about our upcoming research studies.

Stay tuned!