The team at OnBuy keep on sending Geek Native quirky stats. I guess they keep doing it because I keep on posting (most) of them.
This time around, the marketplace site (which has DVDs and blu-rays to sell) has been looking into the data behind the book-to-film adaptations that most disappointed fans. Wait until they get to computer games!
You may not be surprised to know that Fifty Shades of Grey is the worst book-to-film adaptation according to fan ratings.
More surprisingly, Mockingjay the Hunger Games final film is in second place, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is tied in third place.
Gone Girl does much better, only 1% worse in the ratings than the book.
So, what was the methodology?
It starts with getting the best-selling books that have also had a film adaptation in recent years. In the murky world of book sales numbers and their manipulations, OnBuy kept it simple and went to Wikipedia.
Next, they hit up Goodreads for the number of ratings each book had and their average. After that, IMDb was used for the average user review score and the film version’s Metacritic.
These two sources enabled the absolute and percentage difference between the two.
The entire study’s assumption is that a more significant difference (in the book’s favour), the greater the film’s disappointment.
I’ve still not read Fifty Shades of Grey nor seen the film; it seems like I’ve not been missing out. I have seen, but not read, Mockingjay and the Deathly Harrows and didn’t hate either.
Level up your geek stat by contributing to the comments.