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This is an image I found on tumblr. I liked it immediately. I have a strange pet peeve where I just dislike movie adaptation covers for books. I prefer the ‘original’ covers (but there are so many editions these days that ‘original’ doesn’t really exist). Either way, I’ll buy any cover BUT the movie adaptation one. I think it feels cheap to me in some way. I feel like I’m buying the book because it reminds me of the movie. Which… feels a little bit like I’m betraying the literary world.
When I buy a book I want to buy the book, as it is. Somehow, if I buy the book with the movie adaptation cover I feel like I’m supporting the movie adaptation rather than the original novel. Strange, I know, but does anyone else share my pet peeve?
Yay or nay to movie adaptation book covers?
– Ermisenda Alvarez
Ermilia 
Nay. I completely agree with you. We all know the movie will never be as good as the book…. On the other hand… Yay. Having a movie adaptation book cover might get more people to read the book. I know that I’ve picked up some books before seeing the movie cover because I didn’t know they were a book first!
I think you raise a great point Karen. It’s true that the movie book cover may urge people who wouldn’t have read the book otherwise to pick it up. Thanks for stopping by!
I definitely agree! I always go for the original covers.
Thanks for commenting!
Ditto on what Karen said above. I’ll go out of my way to avoid buying a book when the cover is the poster for the film adaptation; I hate those. But yay on the fact that there’s been a few books I probably wouldn’t have read without there being a film adaptation of them.
I had never thought of it in that way before. It was a great point. Yay for more readers!
When the film of The Lovely Bones came out the movie adaptation covers bothered me so badly. All of the ones that I seen on the shelf featured the girl and her murderer, as though that was the most important aspect to be drawn from the story.
That is a good point. In creating the movie adaptation book cover they often draw out symbols/images that the designer or whoever thinks is “important” but it isn’t. Sometimes certain aspects get focused more in the movie than the book, and that can reflect in the cover. Thanks for stopping by!
yes! completely agree, I refuse to buy the movie cover versions, it just ruins it.
Thanks for commenting, lifeinfinityinsanity!
My problem with movie adaptation covers: It looks like they’re trying to visually overwrite your imagination’s experience of the story inside — y’know, one of the best parts of reading? All very well for a movie novelization, but when the book came first, a little respect, please.
I agree, this is why I don’t like buying movie covers. No matter how well they cast there will almost always be discrepancy between the looks of the film and the description of the book. Also I end up with movie scenes in my head when I read it if the first thing I’ve done is look at the actors, I’d rather make my own up.
So long as they keep offering both movie and non-movie covers I shall be happy. Movie covers to get people reading them and non-movie covers for those of us who want to read it anyway.
Some great points raised deshipley and darkrosemelody. I agree that when a movie adaptation cover is used, the reader immediately begins to think about the characters with that appearance (and also voice, mannerisms etc. if they’ve seen the movie). I think that’s why I generally dislike book covers with real human models. It restricts the imagination. As long as they offer both kinds of covers, I’m fine, but I just hate being restricted to the movie adaptation book cover. Thanks for your thoughts!
I agree. NAY!
I’m sure the marketing gurus love the movie adaptation book covers – so many opportunities for cross promotion!
Personally, I prefer the original covers too. They preserve the feeling that we can imagine the characters just as we like, without a Hollywood starlet overwriting those impressions.
Another perspective! I agree taht for marketing gurus it’d be great for cross promotion. I think that’s the key issue for me as well, it imposes a certain “Hollywood starlet” on the characters as oppose to letting my imagination handle the casting. 😛
(Eliabeth chiming in)
It depends. One of the FEW (possibly only) books I have with the movie cover is Tuck Everlasting. For one, I’m in love with Alexis Bledel. I have a girl crush on her and if I could look like anyone, it would be her in that movie. Second, I saw the movie first, so reading the book, I didn’t have a blank slate with which to mold my interpretation of the characters so I don’t feel cheated by having the actors on the cover.
Agree completely. I feel the same way about things like The Oprah Book Club. Do I really need her narcissistic logo on Steinbeck to tell me he’s a worthy writer? It’s all a matter of calculated marketing, but if the original book with the original cover were prominently displayed in bookstores (and the publishers pay for the display placement, let’s not pretend it’s random and at the whim of an informed store staff) wouldn’t customers see the books for themselves and buy it anyway if they were that interested? Anyone who is obsessed by, say, “The Hunger Games” and doesn’t make the connection that a book not featuring Jennifer Lawrence’s face on the cover is still the same book the film is based on, probably isn’t smart enough to be in a bookstore in the first place.
There are so many books, some great and some poor, but I guess that’s where clever (and possibly annoying) marketing techniques come in to drive certain customers to certain novels. Thanks for commenting!
I only have two such books somewhere on my shelves. ‘The Friendly Persuasion’ by Jessamyn West, and ‘Tunes of Glory’ (first published as ‘Old Jock’) by James Kennaway. Nostalgia and the intervening decades has lent such artefacts a charm of their own which, I guess, would not be attached to a more modern twinning of book and movie. However, keep one of these modern ones on hand and look at it in thirty years’ time, as an experiment, and see if it still seems as ghastly.
🙂
A great point, kvennarad. It’s all a bit relative. Our modern covers of today will be the vintage cover in 30 years time. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Book covers should appeal to book lovers and book readers, anything less seems offensive. Generally, readers will not enjoy a modified version of a novel, and a novel peddled with images of an incomplete adaptation is probably what most book lovers find unappealing. I’m surprised this marketing technique works, if it does.
Well, I suppose, it’s targeting a different audience. Also, there might be many readers (who can be avid readers) who just didn’t know that there was a book for a certain movie. That’s what I think at least. Thanks for commenting!
I completely agree!
Also, I HATE movie adaptations with a passion and can very rarely even sit through them… They are usually let downs and leave me feeling sad :p
I bought this T-shirt a while ago in order to better express my feelings :p >> http://www.threadless.com/product/1046/Movies_Ruining_The_Book_Since_1920
Haha! That’s a great shirt. Thanks for sharing. I think many of our commentators should invest into one to further support their discontent for movie adaptation covers. 😉
I don’t hate movie adaptations in general (I would never have read The Phantom of the Opera had I not seen the movie that led me to the musical and eventually the book). 🙂
However, I think pictures/posters of the movie should remain in the cinemas and the DVDs. Not every devoted reader of the adapted novel falls in love with the movie adaptation and it would simply annoy them to stare at a book cover they don’t really like. *shrugs*
Personally, I request the bookstore for original covers if all I find in the shelves were the movie adaptation cover. If they don’t have it, I wait until they do–or I find another bookstore. 🙂
I agree. Hate is a very strong word. Movies are great things, no doubt, and when it comes to book covers sometimes it can lead readers to the book behind the movie. As readers (even though we are all brilliant of course 😛 ) we can’t be aware of every book that gets turned into a movie. When I see a book with a movie adaptation cover I’m often interested in reading the book, but I wouldn’t choose to buy THAT edition. Thanks for commenting!
I dislike the covers of movies on books too, the original covers from Stieg Larssons Millenium trilogy were simple and amazing, I had my own view of how Lisbeth and Mikael looked, but then I saw the swedish version of the movies (really good), which eventually ended up with a Hollywood adaptation and now i’m stuck with Daniel Craig as Mikael which ruined it for me.
One thing i’m really glad about is that the book covers of the Lord of the Rings (which i’ve seen) are still the simple book covers without characters on there.
– Otheus
I saw that as well (for the Millennium Trilogy). That’s the weird thing about our imagination. It can be so adaptable, dynamic and unique and yet… as soon as we see an actor playing a character it can often be near impossible to remove that face from that character. Funny, eh? Thanks for stopping by!
No, no, no to movie covers. It feels like I’ve bought the book only because it’s a movie, not for being a book. *sob*
Cheer up Stef, we all know you bought the book for being a book! 😉 Thanks for commenting!
As long as we’re clear that I like books for being books! =p
It may make sense from a marketing standpoint, but to me it’s false advertising. The movie is not the book. I just saw the movie cover of The Help. 😦
Indeed, it does make sense from a certain standpoint. I think it’s appropriate if the book itself is “rewritten” like the movie but that only (as far as I know) happens when the movie comes out first. For example, Shrek has books even though it was a movie first. Thanks for stopping by, Annie! 🙂
I totally agree with you – I hate movie adapted covers too! And I can’t believe that my friend has told me that the original Twilight cover isn’t selling in local bookstores anymore… and she wants it so badly! Come on… original covers are the ones who made the movie happen… 🙂
Exactly! They are what intrigued people to first buy it which resulted in the production of the movie. I think the original book cover deserves some slack. Thanks for stopping by, evilnymphstuff!