Every time a book is adapted for the big screen, the reading community splits into two irreconcilable camps: some are willing to accept the director’s vision as a separate work of art that exists alongside the original source material, while others leave the theater feeling dissatisfied. The director might have changed the ending, cut a beloved character, or cast an actor who bears no resemblance to the one readers have imagined all these years. And all of this sparks heated debate.
However, every high-profile film adaptation draws people to the book who would never have picked it up on their own. People leave the theater with the feeling that something was left unsaid—and go looking for the original source. That’s exactly how this mechanism works: a film adaptation doesn’t replace the book, but rather serves as a gateway to it.
UA.News has compiled a list of books that will hit the big screen next year—and that are worth reading either before or after you see them.
“Children of Blood and Bone”
Author: Tomi Adeyemi
Genre: Afro-fantasy, adventure thriller, drama
Release Date: January 14, 2027
Starring: Lashana Lynch, Idris Elba, Viola Davis
After several years of production hell and a change in studios, this large-scale project was handed over to director Gina Prince-Bythewood. Her previous experience working with African culture (*The Warrior Queen*) was the best guarantee that the film’s visual elements would be brought to life in the best possible way.
The story unfolds in the fictional kingdom of Orisha, where each clan once possessed its own magic. The main character, Zeli Adebola, remembers those times, but on the orders of a ruthless king, all magicians were exterminated. Left without a mother and without hope, Zeli unexpectedly gets a chance to restore magic and strike a blow against the monarchy. Joining forces with a runaway princess, she must learn to control her own powers and outmaneuver the crown prince, who is determined to eradicate magic forever.
“The Remnant”
Concept by: Nicholas Sparks and M. Night Shyamalan
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Psychological Thriller
Release Date: February 5, 2027
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Phoebe Dynevor
"The Remnant" is a collaborative project. Nicholas Sparks, a writer of sentimental fiction, and M. Night Shyamalan, a master of cinematic twists, co-developed the story. Sparks then wrote a novel, which was published in late 2025, while Shyamalan simultaneously took on the task of writing the screenplay and directing the film. So in 2027, audiences will see a film adaptation of the story that was created side by side with the book.
The main character, New York architect Tate, travels to the Cape Cod coast to design a house for a friend after suffering from severe depression and the loss of his sister. Amid the melancholic atmosphere, he meets the mysterious Ren, and feelings flare up between them instantly. However, the romance quickly unravels: Tate realizes that he has inherited his late sister’s ability to see ghosts, and his new lover draws him into a whirlpool of deadly secrets… This is a touching love story that could turn into a paranoid horror at any moment.
“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew”
Author: C. S. Lewis
Genre: fantasy, adventure
Release Date: February 12, 2027
Starring: Emma McKee, Daniel Craig, Meryl Streep, Carey Mulligan
Director Greta Gerwig takes on Lewis’s strangest story: there are no knights or epic battles here yet; instead, there’s the dead city of Charn with its chilling red sun, the eerie Forest Between Worlds, a mad wizard uncle, and primordial emptiness. Interestingly, this will be the first Netflix film to receive a full-scale global theatrical release before its release on the platform itself. A bold visual reimagining of the beloved classic is expected.
The story follows two children, Digory and Polly, who become guinea pigs in their eccentric uncle’s magical experiments. Using magical rings, they travel between worlds, accidentally awaken the ruthless Queen Jadis—the future White Witch—and witness the great lion Aslan create the unspoiled world of Narnia with his song.
“The Nightingale”
Author: Christine Gennah
Genre: Historical drama
Release Date: March 19, 2027
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning
This is one of the most poignant contemporary bestsellers about World War II. The story has finally made it to the big screen, directed by Michael Morris. An interesting fact is that sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning will appear together on screen for the first time in their careers.
This is the story of two completely different sisters, Vianna and Isabelle, whose lives are irrevocably shattered by the Nazi occupation of France. While the level-headed Vianna is forced to share her home with a German officer to save her daughter, the impulsive Isabelle joins the Resistance, consciously choosing a path of daily mortal danger. It is a grueling test of female courage, compromise, and survival in the darkest of times. Christine Henney’s book has moved millions of readers to tears, and the film promises to explore, with equal poignancy, the question of what price we are willing to pay for freedom.
“Beach Read”
Author: Emily Henry
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: May 7, 2027
Starring: Phoebe Dinevor, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Kevin Bacon, Andie MacDowell
A film adaptation of Emily Henry’s famous summer bestseller. The lead role of January, a disillusioned writer who pens bestsellers about perfect relationships, goes to “Bridgerton” star Phoebe Dynevor. And Patrick Schwarzenegger will play her gloomy colleague and rival, Augustus, who is stuck writing a serious, depressing novel.
The story centers on these two completely different authors, who are going through a creative crisis and accidentally end up in neighboring beach houses for the entire summer. To overcome their writer’s block, they make a bet: they’ll switch genres. She has to write a dark thriller, and he has to write a life-affirming story with a happy ending.
“The Maid’s Secret”
Author: Frida McFadden
Genre: Psychological thriller
Release Date: December 17, 2027
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Kirsten Dunst, Paul Anthony Kelly, Brittany Snow, Michele Morrone, Stephen Kalin
Following the first film’s staggering box office success, production on the sequel began shortly thereafter, cementing Frida McFadden’s suspenseful thrillers as a new, lucrative franchise. The sequel draws attention with a revamped cast: Sydney Sweeney, who continues to play Millie, is joined by Kirsten Dunst as the enigmatic Wendy Harrick and Paul Anthony Kelly, who plays her husband, Douglas.
This time, Millie tries to put her criminal past behind her once and for all by taking a job at the luxurious Manhattan penthouse of the wealthy Douglas Harrick. The conditions seem ideal, and her employer is friendly, but there’s one strict rule: under no circumstances is she to disturb his wife, Wendy, who is supposedly seriously ill and never leaves her locked room. However, as we already know, Millie is incapable of ignoring the quiet sound of a woman crying behind the wall for long…
