Why does Hollywood s***w up books with their movies?

Question

I've read P.S. I Love You, Jumper and The Notebook. And I've seen the movies and they complete twisted and Americanized P.S I Love You, Jumper was a mess! What is their problem? Why can't they just stick to the book?

Answer 1

to make money.

which is why i always read the book before i see the movie. i can never ever watch a movie then read the book.

Answer 2

Usually, there is too much detail in a book to fit within the time constraints of a two to three hour movie.  As a result, subplots and character development get lost and some times more major aspects have to be changed to cover up the omissions.

A movie needs a larger audience than book to be successful, so the story line may be changed or "Americanized" in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience.

Answer 3

Easy answer: Money. Movies sell, books generally don't. People don't want to be bothered to read.

Then again, there are some awesome movies based on books, so you can't always say it's a bad thing.

Examples (off hand): Everything is Illuminated, High Fidelity, Brokeback Mountain, Trainspotting.

It's good to think of the movie as a completely different text. I know it's hard, but try to divorce the two genres as separate.

Answer 4

I know, they often cut a bits and add parts that would make the story more suited for movies. It also depends on how long the novel is, producers would want to keep the movie in a reasonable time - not some 5 hour movie that would that would make audience fall asleep.

But I prefer novels over movies.  

Answer 5

Mainly because books are more complicated and detailed than movies.  With books, people can take whatever time needed to read and understand.  With a movie, everyone in the theater has to understand within approximately the same amount of time.  That is why movie versions of books are often dumbed down to account for the fact that they must appeal to the lowest common denominator in the theater.  

Also, there is money.  Movies are generally made to make money because movies *cost* tens of millions of dollars.  Books on the other hand are typically written by one or two people and often times authors have more lofty goals, like trying to express an idea, or trying to tell a story they believe in.  Its not necessarily all about the money with authors.

For movies, its almost always about the money simply because it has to be or else no movies would be made.