Everyone knows the literary classics, the ones everyone has often been assigned to read in school. Because these books are considered important and have been read by so many people, they have been prime source material for movie adaptations. Recent bid budget adaptations of classic literature like 2013's The Great Gatsby and 2019's Little Women were box office hits, as they brought these stories many people had read to the big screen.

Update August 26, 2023: This article has been updated by Evan Lewis to include even more classic novels that deserve big-budget adaptations.

Many of the classics have been adapted before, but some have not had a major adaptation in some time. They are in desperate need of a new update. Ones made by modern filmmakers that can make the material relevant again. All the films on this list are books that have already been adapted for the screen. Some of them are successful, while some are not, but all could benefit from a new perspective and a new adaptation that would introduce them to new audiences. Here are classic books that deserve a new film adaptation.

12 The Andromeda Strain

The Andromeda Strain
Universal Pictures

The Andromeda Strain is a 1969 novel by Michael Crichton, and it is about what can be inferred from its name; a lethal alien virus from another galaxy. There is a rapid outbreak of this virus, and some of the brightest scientists alive are sent to investigate and find a solution to this. It is a novel praised for its scientific accuracy. Everything in Andromeda Strain could actually happen, even if it would be a statistic anomaly, considering we know nothing about there being life that matches or surpasses human intelligence elsewhere in the universe.

Related: 10 Movies That Are Better If You Read the Book First

The 1971 film was the first and only attempt at bringing this ambitious story to theaters. A 2008 miniseries (negative reception from all ends) was also made. While the 1971 iteration followed the source material for the most part, there were some mistakes that stopped it from seeing universal critical acclaim. A remake could surprise as one of the greatest films ever made. It would likely take one of this generation's more risk-taking auteurists to make it work.

11 Brave New World

A scene from Brave New World
NBC

Long before the dystopian book and movie craze, Aldous Huxley’s 1932 book Brave New World introduced a world where everyone has a pre-created place in the world and has to follow the world’s rules to live. Leslie Libman and Larry Williams brought it to life with a TV movie in 1998, and David Wiener created a loose adaptation for Peacock in 2020, which was canceled after one season. Despite its recent failures, the story still makes a good fit for our times and is likely one that will continue to be told in the future. A future adaptation of this could truly bring Huxley's book's coldness and faint hope to life.

10 Their Eyes Were Watching God

A scene from Their Eyes Were Watching God
Touchstone Television

Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God was previously adapted into a TV movie starring Halle Berry. The plot focuses on Janie (Halle Berry), who is searching for love and identity in the 1920s. Many reviewers didn’t like the changes made to the book, saying that they watered down the novel’s themes of race and identity, but it received mostly positive reviews from audiences. A new version would give a new creative team the opportunity to fully address those issues, which are still relevant today, and let the story itself truly shine.

9 The Scarlet Letter

the scarlet letter
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

While this story might not be seen as controversial as it was back in the day, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850, still deserves a chance at receiving a competent film adaptation. It is about a woman who gets pregnant and births a child with a man out of wedlock. After the fact, finding normalcy is difficult, and constant repentance is something she becomes intertwined with. The title of the story actually refers to a red letter "A" she wears, which stands for the adulterous act she committed.

The 1995 adaptation of The Scarlet Letter was, for lack of a better word, disheartening to see. It was not given justice, and critics thought the same, as the reviews for the film were overwhelmingly negative. While the story might seem outdated, it could appeal to modern audiences as well since sexual shaming, gender empowerment, and liberation are subjects that are being discussed to this day. The best version of the story to this day remains Easy A.

8 1984

A scene from 1984
20th Century Fox

Michael Radford’s adaptation, released in 1984, is considered a strong adaptation that mostly succeeds in representing George Orwell’s grim vision of the future as worker Winston struggles to maintain his identity in a totalitarian world. The book still remains both relevant and popular, with the World Tribune reporting that it was a top seller just last year. It is both a reflection of some aspects of our world and a warning of what could come; a new film would be especially timely. After all these years, it appears that a modern remake of 1984 is waiting to be made.

7 Frankenstein

Boris Karloff as Frankenstein
Universal Pictures

Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein aka The Modern Prometheus, has had many adaptations, the most popular being the 1931 classic with Boris Karloff, which created the popular image of Frankenstein’s monster. Other notable ones include 1994's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the drastically different in 2015's Victor Frankenstein. Universal Pictures was reportedly developing a version of the story for their Dark Universe but those plans have since been scrapped.

Related: Why Guillermo del Toro is a Perfect Director for Frankenstein

A new version of the film is on the way, though, from legendary filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, and Mia Goth are set to star. The film has been a passion project of Del Toro's for years, and given how great his reimaging of Pinocchio was, there is a chance his Frankenstein could become the new favorite version of the story.

6 East of Eden (1955)

Julie Harris and James Dean in East of Eden
Warner Bros.

East of Eden is best remembered for the 1955 film adaptation directed by Elia Kazan. It focuses on the final part of John Steinbeck's novel. It stars James Dean in his first major film role, earning him a posthumous Oscar nomination. This version is excellent enough to stand on its own, but it would be interesting to see how a new take would adapt the story of generational conflict and the balance between good and evil. A new version could also bring the full novel to life, rather than just the final part, creating additional depth.

5 The Picture of Dorian Gray

A scene from Dorian Gray
Momentum Pictures

Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture of Dorian Gray was recently adapted in 2009 in a film directed by Oliver Parker and brings a horror approach to the tale of a young man who remains young and beautiful while his portrait ages and grows monstrous with his actions. The film received average reviews from critics and wasn’t much better received by audiences.

Another try at adapting this novel could depart from the horror and lean more into romance, albeit the romance of one man and his desire for his own youth, while addressing the perils of society emphasizing such beauty. A modern version could also fully embrace the queer aspects of the novel that many modern adaptations have downplayed.

4 Love in the Time of Cholera

A scene from Love in the Time of Cholera
New Line Cinema

Mike Newell directed the 2007 film Love in the Time of Cholera, based on the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It tells the story of Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), a young woman caught in a love triangle in a story that spans from 1880 to 1930. While visually stunning, the film didn’t recreate the magical feel of the novel and often felt boring. A new adaptation could benefit from embracing a more fantastical approach while also making the romance fresh and exciting by addressing the perils of lovesickness.

3 The Three Musketeers

A scene from The Three Musketeers
Summit Entertainment

Alexandre Dumas's classic The Three Musketeers has had many adaptations over the years, but the most recent big-screen one was the 2011 film. Despite a talented cast, the movie was released in a crowded marketplace and bombed at the box office. This is an iconic story that is in need of a new version, one for a new age. It could take more inspiration from grounded historical dramas or be more a swashbuckling throwback like the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

2 Treasure Island

Muppet treasure Island
Walt Disney Pictures

Pirate films were for years considered box office poison. That all changed with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean. Yet, to the shock of many, other studios did not try to cash in on the pirate trend, and now it appears that Disney has the only pirate franchise. Yet the foundational text for most pirate stories, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, is just waiting for a modern adaptation.

There has not been a traditional film adaptation in some time, with the most recent ones actually being from Disney that were new takes on it in the form of Muppet Treasure Island and Treasure Planet. Yet a big-budget modern update could be a big hit, giving audiences a pirate movie that could be bloodier and more violent than what Disney could deliver.

1 The Time Machine

Guy Pearce in the Time Machine
DreamWorks Pictures

The most recent film version of H.G. Wells's classic novel, The Time Machine, was directed by Simon Wells and came out in 2002. It stars Guy Pearce as Dr. Hartdegen, a professor who travels through time and finds himself in a world of feuding Eloi and Morlocks. The film would go on to earn $123 million worldwide but was considered a critical flop, focusing on special effects rather than the humans in the story.

A new adaptation would be a good way to blend the advances of science with the costs it has on humanity. It could take this still-relevant issue and apply it to our times, giving the story more emotion and depth than its previous iteration.