People who love movies always claim, "The book is always better than the movie." Usually, that is the case. There is so much more room for layered storytelling and multifaceted characters. Within the pages of a book, someone can "see" more if they look hard enough.
Famed author Stephen King once said, "Books and movies are like apples and oranges. They both are fruit but taste completely different." If someone who has had over 50 of his 67 books made into movies or TV series can accept it, we all can.
Christian or faith-based movies based on books aren't any different. There have been marvelous projects based on books with biblical precepts and/or linked to the heart of God. These are movies that are often equally as spectacular as the books that inspired them.
Here are seven must-see Christian movies or TV series based on exceptional books.
The Blind Side
Set aside the controversy since this powerful true story was released. Michael Oher was a homeless and illiterate gentle giant who was eventually beloved, cared for, and ultimately adopted by the conservative and evangelical Tuohy family of four. Through the love of a family in the face of hate and faith in God in the face of doubt, Michael Oher's story spans the racial, social, and ecumenical divides.
When the movie came out, it took America by storm and Sandra Bullock, who starred as the firebrand matriarch Leigh Anne Tuohy, all the way to the Oscars, where she was given Best Supporting Actress. It was a David and Goliath story, with David being a giant of a boy and Goliath being an empty labyrinth he called Memphis. When you can overcome what Michael Oher was able to do with God's help, you're bound to gain the attention of an entire world.
Book published in 2006 (W.W. Norton & Company)
Movie produced in 2009 (Warner Bros./Alcon Entertainment)
God's Not Dead
Regretfully, Christian movie franchises experience the same awful devolution as mainstream film franchises. There are five God's Not Dead movies, with the last two being blatant cash grabs. The second and third focused on evangelism, but none came close to the original movie based on the book God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty. That bold title is all that's needed to peel these pages apart and see what this country is missing.
Authentic faith is lacking across the country for many reasons: seeker-sensitive theology, woke culture, disenfranchised Christians, and religious scandal. Any one of those is enough to make people blame God for something. Yet, if haters would get past the rhetoric and investigate the proof, they would find that God's Not Dead. And if they missed it in the book, the movie slaps anyone in the face with the reality of Christ and embraces them with God's loving forgiveness.
Book published in 2013 (Thomas Nelson)
Movie produced in 2014 (Pinnacle Peak Pictures/Fathom Events)
A Walk to Remember
Nicholas Sparks is an ardent man of faith but also a savant with depressing romance movies. The Notebook is known lovingly as one of the saddest movies in history. While A Walk to Remember falls short of that iconic status, the book is another woeful trip through snot bubbles and a box of riddled tissue.
The movie features preacher kid Jamie Sullivan (Mandy Moore) and the town's bad boy Landon (Shane West), who share a riveting relationship and a buried secret. Sparks doesn't disappoint with his book adaptations, and A Walk to Remember is no exception. Landon despises Jamie for all the wrong reasons, loves her for all the right ones, and learns to overcome dismay by God's grace. It's an emotional ride, for sure.
Book published in 1999 (Grand Central Publishing)
Movie produced in 2002 (Warner Bros./Gaylord Films/Pandora Cinema)
The Case For Christ
Lee Strobel was a remarkable journalist for the Chicago Tribune. He spent his life writing legal briefs and stories about litigious affairs. His mind was full of logic, but his heart was devoid of it. He was an atheist with no regard for who knew it. Little did he know that while buried in self-loathing and watching the law of society pass by, his wife was saved.
He became possessed and vengeful, showing her how dumb this decision was. This book—and subsequent film, which took almost 20 years to make—is his remarkable journey to disprove God's reality and stand in His righteousness.
Through interviews, exegesis, and deep investigation, he discovers that his entire life has been a sham of ignoring the only thing that has been true throughout his days. It's a real achievement.
Book published in 1998 (Zondervan)
Movie produced in 2017 (Triple Horse Studios/Pure Flix Entertainment)
Jesus Revolution
By now, Jesus Revolution, directed by Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle for Netflix, has earned over $54 million on a modest $15 million budget. The story of a young pastor named Greg Laurie (played by Joel Courtney) and a more seasoned pastor named Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) is a fantastic read that demonstrates how God can use anyone for anything at any time.
In the psychedelic 1960s, God used a Hippie named Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie) to reach an ultra-conservative area of Southern California and radically change them to live the life Christ desired them all to experience. Laurie's words are known to be anointed from the pulpit, but his pen (and that of his co-writer Ellen Vaughn) is just as blessed. The memoir beautifully details how God turned on the fires of revival and stoked them with the least likely people.
Book published in 2018 (Baker Books)
Movie released in 2023 (Lionsgate/Netflix)
Same Kind of Different as Me
Few movies can surprise people in the best way possible. The Ron Hall biography Same Kind of Different as Me is a book that draws in the reader, captivating them into a story about a marriage on the brink of divorce, if not for one visit to a Fort Worth, Texas homeless shelter and meeting a complex man named Denver Moore.
The book is written uniquely using the voices and experiences of Rob Hall (played by Greg Kinnear in the movie) and Denver Moore (played by two-time Oscar winner Djimon Hounsou). While the movie doesn't straddle voices and experiences, the blend is a compelling tale generally told in flashbacks. These people would have never met in real life—only that's exactly what happened, according to God's plan.
Book published in 2006 (Baker Books)
Movie released in 2017 (Pinnacle Peak Pictures)
The Shack
Little can be said or written about William P. Young's best-selling novel The Shack's achievement in storytelling. It takes a novel approach to man's journey for self and God through the person of the Trinity. Writing, reading and watching a story involve emotion and imagination.
Unfortunately, several people who read the book or saw the movie couldn't get past the metaphorical take on how William or Mack Phillips (played by Sam Worthington in the film) sees the Trinity—God is a matronly woman named "Papa" (Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer), a Middle Eastern gentleman who was Jesus (Aviv Alush) and the Holy Spirit was named Sarayu (played by a Japanese actress and model Sumire Matsubara).
Following a family tragedy, Mack Phillips spirals out of control, and it's only when the Holy Trinity confronts him in a Dickensian journey that he understands that God has been by his side his entire life. It's a life-changing experience, reading it or watching it.
Book published in 2012 (Windblown Media)
Movie released in 2017 (Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate Films)
