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Stephen King is so prolific that for as many movies based on his books that exist, it almost seems like there should be more of them. He’s written well over 60 novels and hundreds of short stories, which means that even though he’s an entire film subgenre unto himself at this point, there are still dozens and dozens of untapped tales waiting to hit the big screen.
Counting The Life of Chuck, which premiered at festivals in 2024 but opened wide this June, four of King’s stories will have hit the box office by the time 2025 comes to a close, three of which—Chuck, The Monkey, and this week’s The Long Walk—were first-time adaptations. (The fourth, The Running Man, comes out in November, nearly 40 years after the Arnold Schwarzenegger-led version, and we’re not counting King’s work cropping up on the small screen in October’s IT: Welcome to Derry.) Only 2017 and 2019 have seen as many King adaptations hit the big screen in a single year.
What about King’s stories makes for such good films? With the caveat that many of the movies based on his works are not especially good, it could be because King isn’t just a master of horror; he’s a master of people and emotions, as evidenced by his many great stories that aren’t scary. Whether he’s weaving a massive tale involving epochs and cosmic horror or an entirely mundane drama about two people in a small house, King understands how his characters tick—and he knows how his audience ticks, too. The best filmed King adaptations, a few of which were helmed by some of the most celebrated directors of their eras, understand this, too. The thrill, but also the challenge, of putting King’s work on the screen is that he typically has already created such a rich visual on the page.
This list of the 20 best King adaptations does not include TV shows and, perhaps controversially, TV miniseries like Salem’s Lot, The Stand, and the ’90s It, aren’t included, either. Not that they would make the list based on quality, but…
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