Broadway to Hollywood Stage Play Adaptations
by urbanemovies | created - 15 Nov 2016 | updated - 08 Jun 2017 | PublicBroadway is where the musical reigns supreme. Regardless, non-musical stage plays still find a niche and can become just as big when they make the move to Hollywood. Which big non-musical movie adaptation became even bigger when it flipped coasts?
Which non-musical movie based on a successful Broadway stage play became the best Hollywood movie adaptation? * Broadway or Off-Broadway
Cast your vote here or Discuss the topic here.
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1. A Few Good Men (1992)
14 | 138 min | Drama, Thriller
Military lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder. They contend they were acting under orders.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon
Votes: 227,592 | Gross: $141.34M
Debuts: 1989 Broadway
2. Closer (I) (2004)
14A | 104 min | Drama, Romance
The relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Clive Owen, Julia Roberts
Votes: 198,880 | Gross: $33.99M
Debuts: 1997 London and 1999 Broadway
3. The Birdcage (1996)
PG | 117 min | Comedy
A gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's right-wing moralistic parents.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wiest
Votes: 77,484 | Gross: $124.06M
Debuts: 1973 Paris, 1983 Boston Tryout, 1983 Broadway and Original Movie: La cage aux folles (1978)
4. Amadeus (1984)
PG | 160 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life, success and troubles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as told by Antonio Salieri, the contemporaneous composer who was insanely jealous of Mozart's talent and claimed to have murdered him.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice
Votes: 358,639 | Gross: $51.97M
Debuts: 1980 Broadway
5. Steel Magnolias (1989)
PG | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friendship, and welcome her into the fold.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Julia Roberts
Votes: 45,632 | Gross: $83.76M
Debuts: 1987 Off-Broadway and 2005 Broadway
6. Stalag 17 (1953)
PG | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, War
When two escaping American World War II prisoners are killed, the German P.O.W. camp barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss
Votes: 50,081
Debuts: 1951 Broadway
7. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
14A | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office.
Director: James Foley | Stars: Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin
Votes: 93,242 | Gross: $10.73M
Debuts: 1983 London, 1984 Chicago and 1984 Broadway
8. The Odd Couple (1968)
PG | 105 min | Comedy
Two friends try sharing an apartment, but their ideas of housekeeping and lifestyles are as different as night and day.
Director: Gene Saks | Stars: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, John Fiedler, Herb Edelman
Votes: 30,648 | Gross: $44.53M
Debuts: 1965 Boston Tryout and 1965 Broadway
9. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
14A | 119 min | Drama, Romance
A scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz
Votes: 62,818 | Gross: $34.70M
Debuts: 1985 Stratford-upon-Avon 1986 West End and 1987 Broadway
10. August: Osage County (2013)
14A | 121 min | Comedy, Drama
A look at the lives of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Oklahoma house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them.
Director: John Wells | Stars: Meryl Streep, Dermot Mulroney, Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis
Votes: 82,924 | Gross: $37.74M
Debuts: 2007 Chicago and 2007 Broadway
11. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
PG | 122 min | Drama
Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.
Director: Elia Kazan | Stars: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden
Votes: 96,585 | Gross: $8.00M
Debuts: 1947 Broadway
12. His Girl Friday (1940)
PG | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart
Votes: 51,799 | Gross: $0.30M
Debuts as The Front Page: 1928 Broadway
* adapted into four Hollywood Movies and four TV productions, including The Front Page (1931), His Girl Friday (1940), The Front Page (1974) and Switching Channels (1988)
13. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
PG | 108 min | Drama
Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman), an alcoholic ex-football player, drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife, Maggie (Dame Elizabeth Taylor). His reunion with his father, Big Daddy (Burl Ives), who is dying of cancer, jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
Director: Richard Brooks | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, Jack Carson
Votes: 43,526 | Gross: $17.57M
Debuts: 1955 Broadway
14. Six Degrees of Separation (1993)
14 | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
An affluent New York City couple finds their lives touched, intruded upon, and compelled by a mysterious young black man who is never quite who he says he is.
Director: Fred Schepisi | Stars: Will Smith, Stockard Channing, Donald Sutherland, Ian McKellen
Votes: 19,324 | Gross: $6.41M
Debuts: 1990 Lincoln Center and 1990 Broadway
15. Harvey (1950)
G | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Due to his insistence that he has an invisible six foot-tall rabbit for a best friend, a whimsical middle-aged man is thought by his family to be insane - but he may be wiser than anyone knows.
Director: Henry Koster | Stars: James Stewart, Wallace Ford, William H. Lynn, Victoria Horne
Votes: 51,738
Debuts: 1944 Broadway
16. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
(Banned) | 131 min | Drama
A bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of a distressing night.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis
Votes: 67,270
Debuts: 1962 Broadway
17. Frost/Nixon (2008)
PG | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell
Votes: 100,820 | Gross: $18.59M
Debuts: 2006 London, 2006 West End and 2007 Broadway
18. The Seven Year Itch (1955)
PG | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
When his family goes away for the summer, a hitherto faithful husband with an overactive imagination is tempted by a beautiful neighbor.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Evelyn Keyes, Sonny Tufts
Votes: 33,038 | Gross: $12.00M
Debuts: 1952 Broadway
19. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
PG | 112 min | Comedy, Romance
When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.
Director: George Cukor | Stars: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey
Votes: 61,660
Debuts: 1939 Broadway
20. You Can't Take It with You (1938)
PG | 126 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A man from a family of rich snobs becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold
Votes: 22,589 | Gross: $4.66M
Debuts: 1936 Broadway
21. On Golden Pond (1981)
109 min | Drama
Norman is a curmudgeon with an estranged relationship with his daughter Chelsea. At Golden Pond, he and his wife nevertheless agree to care for Billy, the son of Chelsea's new boyfriend, and a most unexpected relationship blooms.
Director: Mark Rydell | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon
Votes: 26,812 | Gross: $119.29M
Debuts: 1979 Broadway
22. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
PG | 118 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
A drama critic learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are homicidal maniacs, and that insanity runs in his family.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson
Votes: 63,838
Debuts: 1941 Broadway
23. Shadowlands (1993)
PG | 131 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
C.S. Lewis, a world-renowned Christian theologian, writer and professor, leads a passionless life until he meets spirited poet Joy Gresham from the U.S.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Debra Winger, Julian Fellowes, Roddy Maude-Roxby
Votes: 16,634 | Gross: $25.84M
Debuts: 1989 in London and 1991 Broadway
24. Rabbit Hole (2010)
PG | 91 min | Drama
Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies in an accident.
Director: John Cameron Mitchell | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Miles Teller
Votes: 46,596 | Gross: $2.23M
Debuts: 2006 Costa Mesa, CA and 2006 Broadway
25. Wait Until Dark (1967)
14+ | 108 min | Thriller
A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment.
Director: Terence Young | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Votes: 26,927 | Gross: $17.55M
Debuts: 1966 Broadway
26. Play It Again, Sam (1972)
14A | 85 min | Comedy, Romance
A neurotic film critic obsessed with the movie Casablanca (1942) attempts to get over his wife leaving him by dating again with the help of a married couple and his illusory idol, Humphrey Bogart.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Jerry Lacy
Votes: 24,032 | Gross: $2.30M
Debuts: 1969 Broadway
27. Funny Girl (1968)
151 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
The life of Fanny Brice, famed comedienne and entertainer of the early 1900s. We see her rise to fame as a Ziegfeld girl, subsequent career, and her personal life, particularly her relationship with Nick Arnstein.
Director: William Wyler | Stars: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford, Anne Francis
Votes: 18,701 | Gross: $58.50M
Debuts: 1963 Boston and 1964 Broadway
28. The Crucible (1996)
G | 124 min | Drama, History
A Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials.
Director: Nicholas Hytner | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Paul Scofield, Joan Allen
Votes: 34,444 | Gross: $7.34M
Debuts: 1953 Broadway, Original Movie: Les sorcières de Salem (1957)
29. Mister Roberts (1955)
PG | 123 min | Comedy, Drama, War
In the waning days of World War II, the United States Navy cargo ship Reluctant and her crew are stationed in the "backwater" areas of the Pacific Ocean. Trouble ensues when the crew members are granted liberty.
Directors: John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy, Joshua Logan | Stars: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell, Jack Lemmon
Votes: 14,925 | Gross: $21.20M
Debuts: 1948 Broadway
30. Dial M for Murder (1954)
PG | 105 min | Crime, Thriller
A tennis player tries to arrange his wife's murder after learning of her affair.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams
Votes: 151,782 | Gross: $0.01M
Debuts: 1952 West End and 1952 Broadway
31. Sleuth (1972)
138 min | Mystery, Thriller
A man who loves games and theater invites his wife's lover to meet him, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine, Alec Cawthorne, John Matthews
Votes: 43,861 | Gross: $4.08M
Debuts: 1970 Broadway, Remake Movie: Sleuth (2007)
32. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
PG | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A veteran British barrister must defend his client in a murder trial that has surprise after surprise.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester
Votes: 103,120 | Gross: $8.18M
Debuts: 1953 West End and 1954 Broadway
33. The Elephant Man (1980)
13+ | 124 min | Biography, Drama
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud
Votes: 212,830
Debuts: 1978 West End and 1979 Broadway
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