Music plays a crucial role in book-to-film adaptations, shaping the tone, enhancing key moments, and deepening emotional resonance. While books rely heavily on descriptive language to evoke mood and atmosphere, films often use music to convey these elements more immediately. A well-crafted score or carefully curated soundtrack can capture the essence of a novel’s setting, character emotions, and key themes, translating the internal experience of reading into a visual and auditory immersion. By complementing or even enhancing the narrative, music ensures that the transition from page to screen retains the emotional depth and atmosphere of the original work, making it an essential component of successful adaptations.
Cinderella
Starting as early as 1899 with George Mieles Cinderella, books have been adapted into films. Stuffed into six minutes, the fairytale of Cinderella (1697) plays out on screen without any dialogue or color. Everything happens quickly, so some key details and scenes are left out. The entire beginning and background of Cinderella’s story is cut out; instead, Cinderella is already begging to go to the ball with her stepsisters but gets turned away. There is only one scene at the ball instead of two, and it moves rather fast into the Prince searching for whoever fits into the glass slipper and, once finding Cinderella, instantly into their wedding. There is no resolution to what happened with her stepsisters and stepmother and a grand finale. Even from the first book to the film adaptation, significant changes were made to the plot. Background music for films during this time was often performed by an orchestra, following along with the film in front of a live audience.
Ilene Woods
Eleanor Audley
Verna Felton
Claire Du Brey
Rhoda Williams
James MacDonald
Helene Stanley
Luis van Rooten
Don Barclay
Lucille Bliss
Jeffrey Stone
Mike Douglas
Julie Andrews
Jon Cypher
Ilka Chase
Kaye Ballard
Alice Ghostley
Edie Adams
David F. Perkins
George Hall
Alexander Clark
Robert Penn
Brandy Norwood
Whitney Houston
Victor Garber
Whoopi Goldberg
Bernadette Peters
Jason Alexander
Paolo Montalbán
Natalie Desselle-Reid
Veanne Cox
Matt Zarley
Annette Young
Lily James
Cate Blanchett
Richard Madden
Stellan Skarsgård
Holliday Grainger
Sophie McShera
Derek Jacobi
Helena Bonham Carter
Nonso Anozie
Ben Chaplin
Hayley Atwell
Richard McCabe
Check out the soundtracks for Cinderella '50 and Cinderella '15 here.
The Wizard of Oz
Judy Garland
Ray Bolger
Jack Haley
Bert Lahr
Frank Morgan
Margaret Hamilton
Billie Burke
Clara Blandick
Charley Grapewin
Pat Walshe
Terry
Adriana Caselotti
The Wizard of Oz (1939) is one of the most notable book-to-film adaptations. Iconic and innovative for the time, The Wizard of Oz stands as a classic still to this day. Since movies can’t hold every detail the original book can, some scenes and parts are sacrificed. The original book series written by Frank L. Baum contains fourteen books. With only one film, plenty of details and new characters are missed. In the first book, Dorothy speaks with three of the four witches in Oz. She starts with The Witch of the North, then the Wicked Witch of the West, and finally, Glinda, The Witch of the South. In the film, we see Dorothy only interact with Glinda and the Wicked Witch. Her iconic ruby slippers are silver in the book, but both in the story and film, they contain powerful magic. The heartfelt story of Dorothy and her friends gaining what they yearn for the most is quite similar to the story, but we don’t see what happens to Scarecrow, Lion, and the Tin Man. In the book, they are spread out throughout Oz to use their newfound courage, brains, and heart to help those in the world. Although music is not included during the writing of a book, The Wizard of Oz had plenty of iconic musical moments that helped push the storyline forward, including “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “If I Only Had a Brain.”
Check out the full The Wizard of Oz soundtrack here.
It Ends with Us
Blake Lively
Justin Baldoni
Brandon Sklenar
Jenny Slate
Hasan Minhaj
Amy Morton
Kevin McKidd
Isabela Ferrer
Alex Neustaedter
Robert Clohessy
Robyn Lively
Megan Robinson
In more recent times, the amount of book-to-film adaptations has increased. It Ends with Us (2024), out in theaters now, is based on the book by Colleen Hoover. Before the movie was released, just off of set photos, fans of the book had harsh comments about the costuming and casting choices, which didn’t seem to match up with the descriptions in the book. A large change from the book comes from the proposal scene between Blake Lively and Justin Bladoni’s characters, Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid. In the book, Ryle proposes to Lily earlier on. In the film, it happens later and changes the end result of the hospital scene. Music plays a large part in the film process, especially for book-to-film adaptations, since it can portray the feelings readers feel while reading. “My Tears Ricochet” by Taylor Swift is featured in the trailer for It Ends With Us. Blake Lively and Taylor Swift are known to be close friends, and Swift's deep-meaning lyrics help portray the feeling of the movie.
Check out the full It Ends with Us soundtrack here.
Beautiful Creatures
Alden Ehrenreich
Alice Englert
Jeremy Irons
Viola Davis
Emmy Rossum
Thomas Mann
Emma Thompson
Eileen Atkins
Margo Martindale
Zoey Deutch
Tiffany Boone
Rachel Brosnahan
Beautiful Creatures (2013), directed by Richard LaGravenese also had many pivotal points changed through the duration of the film. The book series has four books, which are all shoved into one film. After missing many trials and tribulations that Ethan and Lena go through, their relationship feels rushed, and the same goes for the ending decision that readers don’t learn about until the fourth book. Ethan, played by Alden Ehrenreich, and Lena, played by Alice Englert, fight together for Lena to choose the light side instead of succumbing to her family curse and being forced to the dark side of the caster world. Viewers only saw a snippet of this in the film and a completely different end battle scene from the books. Along with a change of relationship dynamic, the sibling dynamic between Lena and Ripley (played by Emmy Rossum) is quite different as well since there isn’t much character development for Ripley as there is in the books that lead to her having two spin-off books of her own. Almost entirely different from the book series, the movie and books should be enjoyed separately for a more enjoyable experience.
The film's soundtrack is notable as it delves into the Southern Gothic vibe the book and movie give viewers. Composed by Thenewno2, Dhani Harrison, and Paul Hicks, each song helps develop the scenes in which they are heard. The final song at the end of the movie, where everything changes, elicits a feeling of hope and loss as both feelings intermingle between our two main characters.
Check out the full Beautiful Creatures soundtrack here.
Series or Movie?
Lola Tung
Christopher Briney
Gavin Casalegno
Sean Kaufman
Jackie Chung
Rachel Blanchard
Alfredo Narciso
Minnie Mills
13%
33
5.8
Lily Collins
Jamie Campbell Bower
Robert Sheehan
Kevin Zegers
Jemima West
Lena Headey
Aidan Turner
Jared Harris
Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Kevin Durand
Harry Van Gorkum
Godfrey Gao
Nicola Coughlan
Claudia Jessie
Ruth Gemmell
Luke Thompson
Polly Walker
Florence Hunt
Will Tilston
Luke Newton
Adjoa Andoh
Golda Rosheuvel
Martins Imhangbe
Jonathan Bailey
Regé-Jean Page
Hannah Dodd
Charithra Chandran
Many viewers believe that books should be turned into TV shows/series rather than movies. Some books that have been turned into TV series include The Summer I Turned Pretty, written by Jenny Han; The Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra Clare; Bridgerton, by Julia Quinn; and countless more. Bridgerton has taken the creative spin and uses modern songs to perform timeless classics throughout the series. Shadowhunters, which was based on The Mortal Instruments, has a popular scene built for the fans. The scene uses “War of Hearts” by Ruelle during a dramatic wedding scene where two opposing characters finally get together. The anxious tempo of the song and slight pauses help move the scene. Finally, The Summer I Turned Pretty is well known for its use of songs by Taylor Swift. While Swift re-recorded her albums, fans of both the show and her would catch snippets of unreleased Taylor’s Versions throughout the series. Although changes are inevitable in shows as well, the length and chance of multiple seasons for each book allow for the smaller details and prominent scenes to get their moments to shine.
Check out the soundtracks for The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and Bridgerton here.