10 Adaptations That Fell Short of Expectations

      Simon Thompson outlines ten adaptations that utterly failed to capture their source material…

      The art of crafting a successful adaptation resembles preparing a complex stew with a highly detailed recipe; you can have most of the right components, but if even a couple of elements are slightly amiss, the end result can be far from satisfactory. Just as there are exemplary films like Shawshank Redemption, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, or The Godfather, there exist countless poor adaptations that completely lose the essence of the original, making it quite a challenge to narrow them down to just ten.

      This collection will highlight a variety of subpar movie and TV adaptations based on books, comics, video games, and anime, all sharing the commonality of suffering from a botched screen transformation…

      **Spawn (1997)**

      Todd McFarlane’s Spawn was the most significant American comic book franchise of the 1990s. After leaving Marvel to establish his own company, Image Comics, for greater creative freedom, McFarlane introduced Spawn, a dark and troubled antihero.

      Al Simmons was a government assassin who ended up in Hell due to his numerous crimes against humanity. Yearning to return to his wife Wanda, Al strikes a deal with Malebolgia, a Hell lord, who promises to revive him in exchange for leading his army. However, Malebolgia deceives Al, sending him back to a changed world—five years later, unrecognizable to those he once knew and stripped of his memories. Seeing it as a chance for redemption, Al adopts the name Spawn and resolves to use his demonic powers for good.

      From its first issue, Spawn was a phenomenal success; McFarlane's toy company produced a vast array of bestselling merchandise, and its issues frequently outsold renowned characters like Batman and Spider-Man. Unsurprisingly, Hollywood came calling, with director Mark A.Z. Dippe set to adapt it for New Line in 1997.

      The Spawn film faltered for two main reasons: New Line enforced a PG-13 rating, diluting the original comic's dark themes, violence, and edge. Additionally, CGI was still nascent in the late 90s, and while films like Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park pushed the boundaries of special effects, many studios struggled to merge CGI convincingly with live action until the release of The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

      As a result of clumsy CGI, the action sequences appear less like a polished Hollywood blockbuster and more akin to a poorly made Ultraman episode produced with Windows Movie Maker.

      With a budget between $40-45 million, the film earned $87 million at the box office. While those figures might seem respectable, the actual production costs, considering marketing and distribution, likely exceeded initial estimates, categorizing it as a box office flop.

      Despite the 1997 film's shortcomings, McFarlane's original comics remain outstanding. In contrast to other adaptations on this list, the late-90s HBO animated series featuring Keith David as the voice of Spawn serves as an incredible adaptation worth far more than its 18 episodes, helping to redeem the dismal movie.

      **I Am Legend (2007)**

      I Am Legend is Richard Matheson's masterpiece, a blend of science fiction and horror that lingers in the mind long after reading. First published in 1954, it follows Robert Neville, the last human survivor of a global pandemic that occurred two decades prior, turning the infected into vampires.

      Neville grapples with both the external threat of the infected and the internal struggles of isolation, depression, and alcoholism in his fight for survival.

      As one of the most influential works of American horror fiction, it inspired creators from George A. Romero to Stephen King and is arguably the first post-apocalyptic genre novel. Although Matheson’s story has been adapted into The Last Man on Earth (1964) and The Omega Man (1971), neither pleased Matheson or his fans due to their inadequate adaptations.

      After a planned adaptation by Ridley Scott fell through in the late 90s, I Am Legend was brought to the screen again by director Francis Lawrence, starring Will Smith and written by Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman.

      The adaptation falters chiefly because it transforms the introspective, brooding atmosphere of Matheson’s work into a standard action blockbuster, complete with a more conventional Hollywood-style happy ending. Will Smith is wrongly cast as Neville; instead of being a capable action hero, he comes off as an out-of-shape alcoholic who has survived by evading confrontation.

      Because the tone, atmosphere, and specific moments from the I Am Legend book have been so widely referenced over the last seventy years, creating a strictly faithful film or TV adaptation now would feel redundant. If Matheson’s premise entices you, Romero’s Dead Trilogy and 28 Days Later are far more aligned artist