Sin City movie poster — directors Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino
Comic book film adaptations involve superhero comic book characters who are fun to study. Seriously, if you want to polish your screenwriting skills, these adaptations provide great examples. Today, I provide links to the actual screenplays — take a look! It just might be the nudge you need to get started or keep going.
I’ve previously blogged on adapting books to screenplays and scriptwriting examples of decades-old books adapted to film, but can’t leave out examples from comic books and comic strips that have been wildly successful. While die-hard fans are aware that these film are inspired by comic books, some movie-goers aren’t aware at all. Many are surprised to learn that the movies The Mask or 300 began as comic strips.
The beauty of these adaptations is that they connect audiences with the original source, pointing them back to the comic book series genre. It’s a great illustration (pun intended) of how a printed comic strip can evolve into something entirely different — a big screen blockbuster.
Some of the most popular comic books have been turned into screenplays, as you’ll see below. For anyone interested in how comic book are adapted to film, just click the links and take a look. You can see the writing method and flow stays true to other screenplay formulas.
Examples of Comic Book Film Adaptations
300 starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham
Based on a limited comic book series also by Frank Miller.
Read the screenplay here.
The Mask starring Cameron Diaz, Jim Carrey, Ben Stein.
Based on a series of comic books published by Dark Horse Comics.
Read the screenplay here.
Men in Black starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones
Based on a comic book series by the same name.
Read the screenplay here.
The Crow starring Bai Ling, Brandon Lee, Tony Todd.
Based on James O’Barr’s 1989 comic book by the same name.
Read the screenplay here.
Richie Rich starring Macaulay Culkin, Claudia Schiffer, Reggie Jackson.
Adapted from the Harvey Comics comic book character Richie Rich.
Read the screenplay here.
Sin City starring Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis.
Based a comic book series, the Dark Horse Manuals, by Frank Miller in 1991.
Read the screenplay here.
The Addams Family starring Angelica Huston, Christina Ricci, Raul Julia.
Adapted to a TV series and a film based on the New Yorker cartoon strip that debuted in 1938.
Read the screenplay here.