The idea of movie novelizations has been debased in recent times as derivative junk made for the sole purpose of profiteering off the work of others. However, many out there believe that novelizations have a valid place within the literary and cinematic vortex, even going as far as to defend their creations.

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Written at the time or many years on reflection, novelizations may follow the storyline of the film they're based on but often make a few alterations. Whether written by serial novelizer, well-known outside writers, or the filmmaker themselves, these popular movies were transformed into books.

10 'Heat' (1995)

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One of the seminal works in the crime and action genres, Michael Mann's Heat is one of the 90s most defining movies. Mann's opus as well as the film that brought Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino together on screen, the film follows the parallelism of a seasoned, single-minded cop who must track a potent and equally unwavering criminal.

Considering Mann had the concept of Heat swelling around in his brain long before he made the 1995 film, including fleshing out the plot in his 1989 TV movie LA Takedown, a novelization of Heat didn't seem out of the question. A prequel to the events of the film, Heat 2, which Mann co-wrote with Meg Gardiner, was released in 2022. With such a rich and cinematic text, Mann says he plans to adapt the book into a film one day.

9 'Alien' (1979)

The beginning of the chestburster scene on a table in 'Alien.'
Image via 20th Century Fox

A formative film in the sci-fi, action, and horror genres, Alien received tepid reception upon release but has gone on to be critically appraised. Ranked by Empire magazine as the 33rd greatest film of all time, the film spawned numerous sequels, some very excellent including James Cameron's Aliens and Ridley Scott's Prometheus.

In addition to the subsequent films, Alien generated numerous other works of varying mediums from their likeliness. These include a lauded graphic novel, Alien: The Illustrated Story, which has been called "the single best adaptation of film into comics ever." In addition, multiple novels based on the film have been released, including the well-received Alien: Out of the Shadows as well as Alan Dean Foster's Alien.

8 'The Omen' (1976)

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Dismissed by some contemporary critics as being "silly" and "goofy", The Omen is retrospectively seen as a horror classic. Ranked 81st on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, the plot surrounds a father who switches his stillborn child with an orphaned one, leading to frightening and demonic consequences.

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The film would raise the profile of its screenwriter David Seltzer who, prior to The Omen, was best known for writing melodramas such as Two Is a Happy Number and The Other Side of the Mountain. Seltzer would write a novelization of the movie that was released alongside the film, changing minor elements such as character names. Considering the film spawned multiple sequels and a remake, it seems likely there be a market for Seltzer's book version.

7 'Blade Runner' (1982)

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Another misunderstood, retroactively lauded sensation, Blade Runner is regarded as one of the most influential science fiction films of all time. Adapted from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick, the film would be deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation by the Library of Congress.

Dick would refuse $400 000 shortly after the release of the film to write a novelization, which he would adjudge as "disastrous to me artistically." In turn, the studio would hire writer Les Martin to produce an unofficial novelization that was released in 1982. Dick's friend K.W. Jeter would begin an authorized series of Blade Runner novels starting in 1995. Some, notably his Blade Runner 3: Replicant Night, would serve as some inspiration for Blade Runner 2049.

6 '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968)

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Concentrated, ambiguous, and visually grand, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is up there with his most talked about work. Monumental in its exploration of high-concept themes, breathtaking set design, and Herculean scope, the movie is considered by many to be one of the greatest achievements since the birth of cinema.

The film was inspired by the writing of English writer Arthur C. Clarke, notably his short story The Sentinel, although Clarke himself disputes this. Clarke would however expand to make 2001: A Space Odyssey into a 220-page novel, which by 1992, had sold 3 million copies worldwide.

5 'E.T. the Extra Terrestrial' (1982)

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Surpassing Star Wars, Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra Terrestrial held the title belt for the highest-grossing film of all time until it was surpassed by Spielberg's own Jurassic Park. Nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards, the film follows a young boy who befriends an extraterrestrial who had been left behind on Earth.

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The universally beloved picture has hatched many related projects including a disastrous video game as well as a ride at Universal Studios Orlando. The movie also inspired a book by William Kotzwinkle, who at that time had been known for the cult novel The Fan Man. Kotzwinkle would follow up his initial novelization with a fictional sequel titled E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet.

4 'The Deer Hunter' (1978)

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Widely seen as one of the best films ever made, The Deer Hunter would win Best Picture at the Oscars, cementing itself as one of the finest films of the 1970s. Despite the frustration around the rest of director Michael Cimino's career, the film still remains a standalone cinematic giant, listed by The New York Times as one of the best movies ever.

Filled with such deep, profound characterizations and thrilling, often emotionally shattering sequences, The Deer Hunter should theoretically seem ripe for a more extensive exploration in novel form. That is just what writer E.M. Corder would attempt to harness with his novelization. Despite following the plot of the film and including an epigraph from Ernest Hemingway, the novelization fails to capture the movie's catalog of horrors.

3 'Dawn of the Dead' (1978)

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After his pioneering, low-budget horror Night of the Living Dead, George A Romero took a 10-year absence before making the sequel, Dawn of the Dead, for fear of being typecast. Thank goodness he did as the film would become a major, legacy-defining hit and is widely pronounced as the all-time best zombie movie.

Dawn of the Dead would inspire multiple sequels and a popular 2004 remake. It would also prove influential in the rise of popular zombie films in the 21st century such as Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead. Originally written in 1978, Romero's novelization of his film would be reissued by Gallery Books in 2015 and include a new introduction by Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg.

2 'Star Wars' (1977)

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A mammoth multimedia conglomerate, Star Wars has well surpassed its expectations as an ambitious science fiction film to become one of the most popular pop culture franchises of the past 50 years. Grossing over $10 billion across all films combined, the series has created numerous off-branches to build its empire.

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The first novelization of the original film came in 1976. Credited to creator George Lucas himself, it would eventually be revealed that it had been ghostwritten by professional novelizer Alan Dean Foster. Maybe the most popular book adaptation is Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. Becoming a New York Times Best Seller, many fans credit the trilogy with reigniting interest in the Star Wars franchise during a dead period in the early 90s.

1 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' (2019)

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Image via Sony Pictures

Perhaps no director knows his characters better than Quentin Tarantino. They are so zestful, so flavorsome, so pulpy. While many of his films are characterized by unbelievable and rambunctious action sequences, in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino lets his characters breathe as the audience follows the stories of failing actor Rick Dalton and his stuntman Cliff Booth.

To better understand the story, Tarantino started off the project as a novel which, after the release of the film, was launched in 2021. An instant New York Times bestseller, the novel expands on the storylines of the movie and vividly paints classic Hollywood. Praised as "addictively readable", the novel is a treasure chest of movie lore by way of Tarantino's trademark cinephilia and lively discourse.

NEXT: 10 Movies Based on Books That Didn't Quite Get the Point