The most successful Stephen King movie adaptations ever

With ‘The Dark Tower’ heading to cinemas, now’s a great time to examine Stephen King’s biggest hits, ranked by box office. But don’t expect to see ‘1408’ in the top five – we’ve adjusted for inflation, so these are the true Stephen King smashes, and every single one’s a classic.

5. Pet Sematary – $128.7 million

It might seem astonishing now, with ‘Pet Sematary’ solidified as one of the greatest – and scariest – movies ever made, but ‘Pet Sematary’ was badly received by critics. Thankfully, audiences were drawn to the film regardless. That’s possibly because it’s an adaptation of one of King’s most popular books, or it could’ve been pure word of mouth that packed out cinemas, but whatever it was, we’re glad to see it in the top five most successful King adaptations.

That’s because it’s brilliant. Like the original book, it’s a haunting mediation on life, death and grief – one that gets more powerful every time you experience it. It’s also incredibly faithful, with director Mary Lambert maintaining the bleak, downbeat ending, which some filmmakers would have been tempted to change. It’s also horrifying, with some of the most disturbing visuals in the history of King’s films, whether it’s a Zelda related jump scare, or Jud encountering Gage for the last time, there’s plenty here to give you nightmares.

Misery – $129 million

It’s currently the only Stephen King adaptation to win an Oscar (Best Actress for Kathy Bates), which says something about the quality of this incredible film. And that standard is maintained throughout the production, with Rob Reiner (‘Stand By Me’, ‘The Princess Bride’, ‘A Few Good Men’) directing and William Goldman (‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’, ‘All the President’s Men’) writing the film’s screenplay, it couldn’t have been anything but great.

But who could have expected it to be this great? Well, the book’s fans for one – the film sticks extremely closely to the novel’s story / structure, with changes only made for pace. And, seeing as it’s one of King’s best (and most personal) tales, staying faithful to it was a very good idea.

The plot, about an obsessive fan who keeps her favourite author prisoner, torturing him as she demands he rewrites his latest book to her demands is perfection and, in an age of internet entitlement, is still achingly relevant.

Carrie – $141 million

With many critics considering ‘Carrie’ to be the equal to ‘The Shining’ in terms of quality and shocks, it seems appropriate that it comes just behind Stanley Kubrick’s classic in the box office rankings. But we’ll get to that film in a second, for now it’s all about Brian De Palma’s masterpiece.

Like ‘Misery’, Carrie stuck religiously to the source material, but unlike ‘Misery’ it’s full of supernatural shocks and (literally) buckets of gore. Anchored by an Oscar nominated performance by Sissy Spacek, this story of a bullied telekinetic’s eventual vengeance against her tormentors resonated with audiences, who came for the stylish filmmaking and stayed for the operatic heartbreak.

It’s also got one of Stephen King’s adaptations most stunning scores – it was composer Pino Donaggio’s first collaboration of several with Brian De Palma, and it’s arguably his best.

With iconic sequences and unforgettable moments, ‘Carrie’ has become a major part of pop culture.

The Shining – $145 million

What do you get when you mix the greatest director in the world, with the greatest horror author? As it turns out, a bit of a falling out – King openly criticised ‘The Shining’, mainly because it changed his book so significantly. But you also get one of the most respected horror movies ever made, with Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King combining to create a truly terrifying experience.

‘The Shining’ is a cinematic masterpiece, perfect from start to finish, a film that constantly lands highly on critical lists of the greatest horror films ever made. That’s thanks to Kubrick’s obsessive attention to detail, Jack Nicholson’s unhinged lead performance and Shelley Duvall’s wide-eyed terror – that seemed to express how every single audience member felt as they watched the film unfold – with each element escalating the onscreen intensity.

We’re hugely happy to see it hit the number two spot on the list. Before we adjusted for inflation, it was placed at number seven, behind ‘Secret Window’ – so it’s good to know massive audiences got to see ‘The Shining’ on the big screen, the best place to see any King film, but especially this one.

The Green Mile – $232 million

There’s a very strong chance that audiences flocked to see ‘The Green Mile’ in 1999 to make up for a mistake almost every cinema-goer had made five years previously. That’s because ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ was a pretty disappointing box office flop in 1994, with the film being rediscovered on VHS, leading fans frequently referring to it as the best film ever made.

Given the chance to see another adaptation of a Stephen King non-horror prison drama novella, helmed by the same director (Frank Darabont), set in a similar time period, cinema audiences didn’t need to be asked twice.

Their reward? A moving, powerful film which, while it doesn’t quite hit the heights of ‘Shawshank’, contains some of the best performances in a Stephen King film, with Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan particularly impressive. Thoughtful and emotional, ‘The Green Mile’ might not be remembered as the best Stephen King film, but it is one of the most affecting.

Can The Dark Tower follow suit?

But what about ‘The Dark Tower’, the reason we wrote this list in the first place? It has just as much chance as any King adaptation of joining the hallowed halls of his biggest box office successes. Like ‘Pet Semetery’ it’s intense, like ‘Misery’ it has an amazing cast, like ‘Carrie’ it’s super stylish, like ‘The Shining’ it takes big risks and like ‘The Green Mile’ it has a huge heart at its centre. Alas, we’ll have to wait and see until its released around the world before we see where it’s landed on the rankings.

‘The Dark Tower’ hits UK cinemas on 18th August.