When television first emerged onto the scene in the post-War years, it shook up the entertainment world in a big way. While it did pose an existential threat early on to the theatrical model of film distribution, it also in many ways made movies a whole lot better. The mid-century disruption of television led the movie studios towards an era of innovation, hoping to coax away people from their TV sets with the spectacles of widescreen film and surround sound speakers; the kind of things that at the time you could only experience in a theater. Eventually, a balance was struck where movie theaters were able to thrive even with the competition of television. What television brought was the opportunity for studios to tell long format stories through serialized programs. Over time, television shows had just as much of a cultural impact as the movies, and became a mighty pillar of the industry that generated enormous profits along the way. The proliferation of media went even beyond that with the advent of cable television and the emergence of the likes of HBO, FX and AMC on the scene; creators of shows that very much feel cinematic. But, the movie industry would continue to prosper, and in some cases they would inspire hit television series spin-offs, such as The Odd Couple or M.A.S.H. What is definitely fascinating is the flip side of that; when a show inspires a film. There are several instances when a series makes the big leap from the small to the big screen, and how much of a stylistic change that can be. Working with a bigger canvas, sometimes the story or aesthetic of a series transforms the property into something very different than what we are used to. There have been many failures in that translation to the big screen, but sometimes the marriage of cinema and television does work out and creates a film not just worthy of it’s place alongside the show that inspired it, but also is able to stand on it’s own as a great movie. What follows are my top ten picks for what I think are the best movies based on television shows that have been made so far.
10.
21 JUMP STREET (2012)
Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
It should be noted that before this movie came out, nobody had any interest in seeing it. We had been bombarded with a ton of bad movies based on television shows in the years leading up to this, most of them just nostalgia bait that never justified their existence on the big screen. On the surface this just looked like another one, re-worked into a comedy vehicle for actors Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. So it was surprising once we saw the actual movie that it turned out to be a smart and hilarious meta commentary on the very notion of cheap nostalgia cash ins. It helps that the movie was made by the same guys who turned what could have been a lazy toy commercial into one of the best animated movies of the decade with The Lego Movie (2014). The team of Lord & Miller are just masterful at making movies that shouldn’t exist work extremely well. 21 Jump Street really bears very little resemblance to the more dramatic show that it is based on, basically just using the premise as a springboard for the comedy, but the movie goes above and beyond just easy fish out of water jokes about two undercover cops posing as teenagers at a high school. It is very self aware that it is a nostalgia cash grab, and it leans into that meta aspect to some hilarious results. Jonah and Channing also have incredible comedic chemistry in the film. Given that the movie had a lot of things going against it, especially with the fact that it was based on an early 90’s drama that most audiences today have little knowledge of, it is refreshing to see how well Lord & Miller subvert our expectations at every turn. But, even fans of the series do get some shout outs, especially given that two of the original cast members of the show, Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise, have surprise cameos (which the movie also puts a hilarious subversive spin on). Given that too many TV shows to movie translations miss the mark by just banking on their nostalgia, it’s nice that one such movie calls that out and has some fun with it in the process.
9.
SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT (1999)
Directed by Trey Parker
One of the most common small screen to big screen translations that we see are from the medium of animation. If an animated show is popular enough in the pop culture, it almost certainly makes the leap to the movie theaters. Some of the times, it’s a show that gets translated from animation to live action, such as with The Flintstones (1994) or Transformers (2007). But more often we’ve seen animated shows cross over with their animation style in tact, just beefed up with a cinematic budget. In most cases, the movies just are just another episode taken to cinematic length. This includes movies based on popular properties like Rugrats, Spongebob Squarepants, or The Simpsons. Most of the time, these movie adaptations come out after the original run of the show is over, but a couple of these movies will make it to theaters even while they are still on the air on television. And in the case of South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, it came out very early in the show’s run. South Park was a mere 3 seasons into it’s run when show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone created this movie based on the show. And yet even with that brief amount of time under their belt, they managed to create one of the best TV to cinema leaps ever. The movie is far more ambitious than anything they had ever done on the show up to then (or even since), becoming a full blown musical with an epic scale story line, and all the while still maintaining the same raunchy, subversive appeal that the show was beloved for. The movie is a prime example of how a TV series adaptation brings out the full potential of what it can do on the big screen. And even 25 years later, with the show still running on the air to this day, this is still the pinnacle of South Park for many. Most of the jokes still hit today, and some feel even more relevant than ever. Also, you’ve got to love any movie musical that brought out classic tunes like “Blame Canada” and “Uncle F$%#a” to the world. There are a lot of great movies based on classic animated shows, but none hit quite as hard as South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut still does all these years later.
8.
WAYNE’S WORLD (1992)
Directed by Penelope Spheeris
One of the most prolific shows to have spawned countless movie adaptations over the years has been Saturday Night Live. The long running sketch comedy series has shepherded the rise of many comedic talents over the years, and with them they have also popularized many of the characters that these comedy actors have created. Unfortunately, Saturday Night Live’s track record of success has been spotty. It’s hard to take something that worked in a 5-7 minute sketch and expand it out into feature length. And a lot of time it becomes a bridge too far, as you can really feel the premises stretch to their breaking point in so many of these SNL movies. There are three adaptations that did buck the trend and became comedy classics in their own right. One is the underrated MacGruber (2010), another is the classic The Blues Brothers (1980) which the first such SNL sketch to jump to the big screen, and the last one is what I think is the best of the bunch, Wayne’s World. While so many of the SNL movies seem to be dragged down by too much adherence to back story, Wayne’s World in many ways was more free to develop into whatever it wanted to be. The original sketch was just a parody of a low budget cable access show made in a basement. The appeal wasn’t so much in who these characters were, but what they were. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey perfectly maintain the appeal of their characters Wayne and Garth, and the movie builds around them and their show, allowing freedom to tell a story that doesn’t have to stick so strictly to formula. As a result, we get a movie that is clever and creative, with fourth wall breaking jokes, hilariously cartoonish situations, and a surprising amount of heart as well. What’s more, it’s a movie that actually feels like it adds something to the world of these characters, rather than just resting on the laurels of their familiarity from the show. It’s something that sadly far too many other Saturday Night Live movies have forgotten to do. It’s a movie that knows it’s playing in a bigger sandbox, and it makes the most of it while giving the characters the chance to grow along the way. Party on.
7.
THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD (1988)
Directed by David Zucker
Sometimes a movie adaptation becomes so popular that it will even eclipse the TV series that it was based on, to the point where you even forget that the TV show existed in the first place. The comedy team of Jim Abrahams and Jerry and David Zucker created a short lived comedy series called Police Squad after their success with the movie Airplane (1980). The show ran a short 6 episodes i during the spring of 1982 before getting prematurely cancelled. Though it’s run was short, the episodes that did air were given critical acclaim, as the show maintained the same hilarious visual gags that made Airplane an all time classic comedy. A few year later, Abrahams, Zucker and Zucker re-pitched their Police Squad brand as a movie, retaining their star Leslie Nielsen and fleshing out the premise into a feature length story. The result was a smashing success, leading to what many consider to be a comedy classic on the same level as Airplane. Leslie Nielsen is in his best element as Lt. Frank Drebin, perfectly accentuating the hilarious sight gags with his no nonsense stoicism, something that he also brilliantly applied in Airplane. The movie also fleshes out the cast with some talented supporting players that also nail the right tone; including George Kennedy, Priscilla Presley, Ricardo Montalban Nancy Marchand, and yes even O.J. Simpson (back when he wasn’t on trial for murder). The comedy in these movies works is because everyone plays things straight amidst all the absurdity, with Nielsen hitting the mark exactly. In the end, the failure of the Police Squad series proved to be a good thing, because it inspired this comedy classic into being, though I strongly recommend seeking out the original show too, which surprisingly still holds up even against the movies. For Leslie Nielsen and the team behind the movie, this would be a hard act to maintain, as their comedic formula lost it’s potency over time. This original Naked Gun is still the best the best of them all as it hits the right notes with the greatest frequency.
6.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1991)
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
While a lot of the show to movie translations tweak with the formula a bit, a lot of them still maintain a familiarity with what we already know from the original source. Then there are movies based on television shows that completely reimagine them entirely. Though the movie adaptation of The Addams Family owes a fair bit to the original comic strip that the series was based on, you can’t help but notice the DNA of the television show in the movie as well; especially with the use of the catchy theme song complete with the snapping fingers. The movie is a wonderful re-imagining of the spooky themed comedy series, maintaining it’s tongue-in-cheek macabre sense of humor, while at the same time taking advantage of the cinematic medium to up the visual aesthetic. Visually, the movie owes a lot of inspiration to the movies of Tim Burton, who surprisingly was not involved in the making of this film, with cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld making an impressive debut as a director. Ironically, 30 years later Burton would take his own shot at adapting The Addams Family by turning it back into a series with his hit spin-off Wednesday for Netflix. What makes this adaptation really shine is the perfect casting of all the classic characters. Raul Julia and Angelica Huston are just the ideal choices to play Gomez and Morticia Addams respectively. Christopher Lloyd also makes for a wonderfully manic Uncle Fester. But the movie’s absolutely dead on casting choice was a very young Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams. Her chilling deadpan delivery has left a lasting mark on the character, and her performance is the reason why the character has become so popular over the years. The movie definitely ups the ante of the macabre aesthetic that never quite felt as spooky in the show, but it still remembers to stay true to it’s comedic roots, and it is a hilarious movie throughout, owing a lot to the talented cast that understood the assignment. It’s definitely a case where the movie really took the full potential of cinema to deliver something new, mysterious and spooky with this familiar family.
5.
TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (1983)
Segments Directed by John Landis, Joe Dante, Steven Spielberg, and George Miller
This adaptation of the classic anthology series unfortunately has a dark cloud of controversy hanging over it. The film was a combination of four different stories adapted from individual episodes of the award winning anthology from acclaimed writer Rod Serling, with each segment given to some of the biggest movie directors of the time. The segment that sadly has the bad reputation is the one directed by John Landis, who was fresh off of his success with comedies like Animal House (1978) and The Blues Brothers. His segment features actor Vic Morrow playing a bigoted businessman who is transported into the middle of several crises where he must suffer through the same injustices that the people he professes to hate have gone through. One such moment involves a recreation of a battle in the Vietnam War, and Morrow’s character must help two young Vietnamese children to safety. Sadly, during the filming of this scene, a malfunction with a prop helicopter caused it to crash on Vic Morrow and the two children he was carrying with him, killing all three instantly. It’s one of the most notorious on set accidents in movie history, and it’s something that has clouded Landis’ reputation ever since, given the lax safety standards on set that were discovered later. They were able to finish the film without the star, and it is an otherwise dark side note to an otherwise excellent big screen adaptation. Fittingly, the Landis portion is the least interesting of the segments, and Spielberg’s is wonderfully whimsical but perhaps a bit too bright for this kind of movie. Where the movie really shines is in the more horror themed segments from Joe Dante and George Miller. Dante’s re-imagining of the “It’s a Good Life” episode is especially weird and disturbing in all the right ways and is definitely the highlight of the movie. And George Miller’s re-make of “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” is elevated by an incredible unhinged performance by John Lithgow in the role famously played by William Shatner in the original series. The movie had the unenviable task of taking one of the most iconic and influential shows on television and giving it a cinematic make-over, and thankfully these talented filmmakers were able to bring their own imaginative spins to help make it worthwhile.
4.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1996)
Directed by Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma was no stranger to adapting a hit series into a movie before he tackled this movie based on the classic spy thriller show. In 1987, De Palma put his own spin on the acclaimed Prohibition Era set crime show The Untouchables. And while that movie was an excellent adaptation on it’s own, his more longer lasting legacy in translating a show for the big screen came with this adaptation of the show Mission: Impossible, which ran from 1966-73. The interesting thing about this movie is that it is in the continuity of the show, integrating the main character from the show (Jim Phelps), but putting him in charge of a new team. Out of this, a new lead character was created in Ethan Hunt, a character molded specifically for a movie star named Tom Cruise to play. The great twist with this movies is that (spoilers) Jim Phelps, the previous main character, is revealed to be the villain this time around; an interesting subversion on the original premise. That twist is probably why the original actor who played Phelps (Peter Graves) refused to appear in this movie, but award winning actor Jon Voight fills the role perfectly in his place. There’s no denying, this was a vehicle first and foremost for Tom Cruise to shine, which is not surprising given that he’s also the producer of the film. Brian De Palma does do a great job of taking the iconic elements of the show (the gadgetry and the famous face masks) and giving them a cinematic flair. He also does a masterful job of staging the action scenes as well, with the break-in to a sensory security room via rope suspension being one of the most iconic ever put on screen. Though Brian De Palma left after one film in the series, he still left a strong foundation on which Cruise and his team have continued to build over the years, creating one of the greatest action franchises in history. It’s definitely a case where the movie takes the premise of the show and brings it to it’s full potential, and is even not afraid to take some creative risks in order to rewrite the history of the show itself. It’s definitely a mission worth choosing to accept.
3.
THE MUPPET MOVIE (1979)
Directed by James Frawley
The Muppets throughout the 1960’s and 70’s were a television institution. The felt made puppets created by Jim Henson and his company had two hit shows airing at the same time, with The Muppet Show being a primetime hit on network TV, as well as Sesame Street being a beloved program for younger audiences on public broadcasting. So it wasn’t at all surprising that the Muppets would eventually make it to the big screen. The only question was, what kind of movie would they make. The Muppet Movie in some ways is an origin story of how the characters got their start in showbiz. We start off with Kermit the Frog (played by Henson himself) and his friend Fozzie the Bear (Frank Oz) taking a road trip cross country to make their break in Hollywood. Along the way, they meet up with all of the familiar faces we know from The Muppet Show. In a nice meta joke, they also run into Big Bird, whose heading in the opposite direction to New York to start his own show on public television. It’s a great way to build a movie story around familiar characters without having to adhere to the format of the show they came from. One thing that the movie does carry over from the show is the many celebrity cameos sprinkled throughout the movie, with icons such as Mel Brooks, Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, and even Orson freaking Welles showing up at the end. By the movie’s end, we see the Muppets given their big break, and it’s easy to see how the famed Muppet Show would have been a continuation of their story. The movie is itself very iconic, with the Paul Williams penned song “The Rainbow Connection” becoming something of an anthem for the Muppet brand. And of course this would lead to a series of loosely connected Muppet movies over the next several decades. Most of them are excellent in their own right, but the fact that they made it to the big screen is because of how well this movie set the standard going forward.
2.
STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (1982)
Directed by Nicholas Meyer
If there is a brand that can definitively say it’s the most popular brand to have even come from television, Star Trek can make a very strong claim. The sci-fi series created by Gene Rodenberry may have lasted only 3 seasons, but it’s legacy is enormous in the history of television. It has created one of the largest and most devoted fan bases in pop culture and has spun off a whole bunch of hit television series based within the same universe. About a decade after it’s original run, the series had grown so popular through years of re-runs that it convinced Paramount Pictures to pursue a big screen adaptation of the series. Bringing back the full original crew of the starship Enterprise, the movie was a big budget spectacle, intended on giving the sci-fi brand the same cinematic appeal as other classics of the genre like Star Wars (1977) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Unfortunately, director Robert Wise didn’t understand the fundamental basics of what made the show work in the first place, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) was a disappointing bore that alienated fans and turned away audiences. Still, Paramount was eager to still make it work. Nicolas Meyer was brought in to re-work the franchise for a sequel. What he ended up doing was create a movie that indeed lived up to the legacy of the show while at the same time giving it a worthy cinematic upgrade. What’s even better is that it picks up as a continuation of an on-going storyline from the series, bringing in Ricardo Montalban to reprise his role as the villainous meta-human Khan, with a performance now considered iconic to most Trek fans. The Wrath of Khan really does feel like the true successor to the original series. It rewards long time fans with a return of a classic villain and at the same time delivers moments that elevate the Star Trek franchise as a whole, including Shatner’s iconic guttural scream of “Khaaaaan” and Leonard Nimoy’s tear-jerking final moments after Spock’s sacrifice. This was the movie that truly resurrected Star Trek and helped to turn it in not just a force on television, but on the big screen as well; a legacy that continues to this day.
1.
THE FUGITIVE (1993)
Directed by Andrew Davis
While a lot of hit movies have been inspired by television series, only one can lay claim to have been so good that it got a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. The Fugitive is a classic in every sense of the word, taking the premise of the original hit series that ran from 1963-67, and updating it with a pulse pounding adaptation. The story of wrongfully convicted Dr. Richard Kimble became one of the must see event shows of it’s time, and the final episode is still to this day one of the most seen in television history; on par with the finale of M.A.S.H. It took nearly 30 years for a big screen adaptation to happen, and by that time there was enough separation from the source series to help make this film feel like a fresh new thing. The movie wisely cast Harrison Ford as Richard Kimble, a role that perfectly utilizes his intensity as a performer while also feeling different enough from his work as Han Solo and Indiana Jones in the past. It was the kind of meaty dramatic role that Harrison Ford really wanted to show his acting chops with, and he delivers a great performance overall. But, the movie is made even better with the scene stealing performance of Tommy Lee Jones as Samuel Gerard, the top cop in charge of hunting Richard Kimble down. Jones strikes the perfect balance between intensity and absurdity, with a whole movie’s worth of great one-liners. The role would even win Tommy a well deserved Oscar for Supporting Actor. Of all the movies based on television shows, this one feels like the one that strives the most to be a great movie, and for the most part it succeeds. It’s another case where the film is so iconic it eclipse the show it was based on, and that show was an icon in it’s own day too. There are moments in this movie that are just thrillingly cinematic, including Ford’s dive off of the top of a dam, which is the movie’s most iconic scene. So many adaptations of television shows try perhaps a little too hard to break free of their small screen roots. This adaptation is definitely a case where the story was calling for a great big cinematic re-telling and the filmmakers managed to craft a film that transcends any size screen.
One of the things that I noticed in putting this list together is that the success rate of creating a big screen adaptation of a television series is found more often on the comedy side. It would seem that comedies lend themselves better to a feature length expansion. It’s probably because comedies tend to be more stand alone stories with every episode, meaning that a movie fits in better with the continuity of a show by just being a longer episode. Dramas on the other hand are serialized for the most part, which can be difficult to condense into a two hour length for the big screen, or to expand upon in a re-imagining. The best dramatic adaptations of television shows are the ones that usually just take the premise and start with a fresh new take, kind of like what we saw with The Fugitive. Because telling stories for television and for cinema are so different, it is often difficult to make that transition work. Movies don’t break for commercial, and television shows have to adhere to more standards and practices than movies do. They very much are two different formats for telling a story, so a lot of things are going to have to change in translation. Still, there are a number of cases where it has worked and payed off immensely well. Star Trek and Mission: Impossible are both cinematic franchises that have stood well on their own even with the television shows still standing out within the pop culture. And in some cases, great movies can rise out of even the most trivial of inspirations seen on television, like Wayne’s World managing to become a hit comedy movie based on a short sketch from a weekly variety show. The continuing blurring of the lines between television and cinema in the age of streaming is making the definitions of a small screen to big screen adaptation change as well. At some point, a cinematic adaptation of a television series will not seem as much of a reward as it has been in the past, but more of an inevitability. Even still, as seen with some of the examples on this list, there have been some great films that owe a lot to their success to the foundation that was made for them on television beforehand. Great stories always find a way to capture an audience, and as we’ve seen it’s not so much the size of the screen that matters, but rather the strength of the story that comes through and entertains us and makes these classics endure in any format.