We love a good book-to-screen adaptation — and this summer’s got plenty in store. From updated takes on old favorites to stories making their silver-screen debut, we’ve got the scoop on all the adaptations hitting screens this summer. Dive in to find your next great watch!
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Season 3 of the Prime Video show based on Jenny Han’s hit book trilogy will hit streaming in July. Following the plotline of its book counterpart, We’ll Always Have Summer, the show’s final season will skip ahead to Belly, Jeremiah, and Conrad’s college years. At this point, Belly and Jeremiah have been dating for two years, having gotten together at the end of season 2. With Jeremiah preparing to take the next step, Conrad realizes he’s running out of time to tell Belly how he feels. The Summer I Turned Pretty’s long-awaited finale promises plenty of familiar drama — but also, says Teen Vogue, quite a few surprises.
How to Train Your Dragon
Can you believe it’s been 15 years since the original How to Train Your Dragon movie? Neither can we. Loosely based on Cressida Cowell’s book series, this live-action remake hits theaters June 13. Early reviewers say it boasts all the excitement, heart, and visual spectacle of its animated predecessor. You’ll fall in love with Hiccup, Toothless, and their rowdy crew of Vikings all over again.
Animal Farm
Andy Serkis puts his spin on George Orwell’s dystopian satire with a “darkly comic” animated adaptation, slated for release July 11. Over ten years in the making, Serkis’s version aims to present a modernized, family-friendly take on a classic cautionary tale. Screenwriter Nicholas Stoller says the film will feature a “central dynamic that’s not in the book between the kind of Napoleon, bad pig and a younger pig who [gets] corrupted through the system and then pulls out of it.” Featuring Serkis’s signature motion-capture, this film couldn’t be more timely.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
The original 1997 adaptation of Lois Duncan’s 1973 suspense novel launched a slasher franchise — and now it’s finally getting an update. 2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer follows a whole new group of teens targeted by a serial killer after covering up a hit-and-run. Realizing that history is repeating itself, they turn to the only two people who can help them: the survivors of the previous murders. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze, Jr.’s return to the franchise has already garnered massive hype. They team up with a cast of fresh faces that includes Lola Tung. (Looks like turning pretty wasn’t the only thing she did last summer.)
The Bad Guys 2
Your favorite criminals are back for one last job. The Bad Guys 2 follows up DreamWorks’ 2022 adaptation of Aaron Blabey’s Bad Guys books. Five years after vowing to get on the straight and narrow, the Bad Guys’ life of crime is proving difficult to escape. Wolf, Snake, Shark, Piranha, and Webs find themselves roped back into the game by a new squad on the scene: the Bad Girls. Much as we love a good redemption arc, sometimes there’s nothing like being bad — especially with Danielle Brooks and Natasha Lyonne joining the party.
Freakier Friday
Over two decades after its initial release, the Disney flick you know and love is getting a sequel. Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reprise their roles as Tess and Anna Coleman in Freakier Friday, premiering August 8. They’re joined by a number of members of the original cast as Anna, now a mom herself, prepares to merge families with her new husband. With newcomers Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons onboard, this movie takes the chaotic body-switching fun of the original to new heights. It’s the latest interpretation of Mary Rodgers’s 1972 novel to take the screen.
Caught Stealing
Coming to theaters August 29, Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of this 2004 Charlie Huston thriller features a star-studded cast. Once a California baseball player, Henry “Hank” Thompson now tends bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. When two Russian mobsters assault him at work, he finds himself on the run — but he doesn’t know why. Boasting the likes of Austin Butler, Zoe Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, and even Bad Bunny, Caught Stealing is sure to have viewers on the edge of their seats.
Can’t wait to kick off your summer viewing? No sweat — all these books will give you plenty of reading to tide you over. Let us know which adaptation you’re most excited for on Instagram, Bluesky, X, or Facebook!
Want more adaptations? Check out which 2024 adaptations the Bookstr team enjoyed here.
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