teut509 t1_iuj9jio wrote on October 31, 2022 at 7:17 PM

Lord of the Rings and Narnia got pretty big.

Delphiantares t1_iujd4yy wrote on October 31, 2022 at 7:41 PM

Lord of the Rings isn't just "pretty big" it is the grandfather of modern day fantasy as we know it

Rebelpride1 t1_iujbdr4 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 7:30 PM

Narnia didn't really have the lasting power of LotR outside of christian circles tho, imo. The movies get big and then die off. There hasn't been a series that got past 4 of the 7. Sometimes schools read LWW but that's really it for the series.

LotR is big and continues to be big, mostly thanks to Peter Jackson. I'm glad the Hobbit movies didn't kill the franchise, and RoP is doing pretty well all things considered

I think Dune has potential, but the books are such a slog for the average scifi movie viewer imo

teut509 t1_iujcpmg wrote on October 31, 2022 at 7:38 PM

The Chronicles of Narnia were written between 1950 and 1956. Lord of the Rings was huge even before Peter Jackson. This is, after all, r/books

Rebelpride1 t1_iujdnay wrote on October 31, 2022 at 7:45 PM

I know this, but in the constant barrage of content and shortening attention spans we have today, movies are keeping some big stories from the past alive, and are becoming part of the universe begun by the books.

I assumed OP was talking about books that had a long lasting impression that were commercially successful today. Charles Dickens and Mark Twain were big for their time, but I wouldn't expect an adaptation of Great Expectations to generate billions in revenue the way Harry Potter did.