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List of modernized adaptations of old works
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Sometimes, an author will write a story that is consciously based on an older story (typically in the public domain) but with a modernized setting and characters. Sometimes the original work is still copyrighted, but the writer includes the minimum quota of differences to avoid being a direct plagiarism while using an immediately recognizable story template. Film * 10 Things I Hate About You - William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew set in a Seattle suburbia * 20th Century Oz - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz set in the surfing and motorcyclist cultures of Australia in the 1970s * A.I.: Artificial Intelligence - self-referential version of The Adventures of Pinocchio set in a post-apocalyptic North America * - Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now in outer space * - The Great Gatsby in 2008 Long Island * - Jane Austen's novel in modern India * - tales from the Arabian Nights, filled with humorous anachronisms and fourth wall breaks * Alien From L.A. - very loosely inspired by Journey to the Center of the Earth * An American Summer - Mark Twain's 1876 novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer set in 1978 Southern California * Apocalypse Now - Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella Heart of Darkness set in 1969 during the Vietnam War * August Rush - loosely based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist * Bangaru Papa - Silas Marner set in India * - Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve's "Beauty and the Beast" * and its remake - the Faust legend * - A Comedy of Errors with gender reversal * The Birdcage - La Cage aux Folles * - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court with an African American protagonist, hence the pun on the common term black knight * - self-referential reimagining of Swan Lake partly influenced by and Perfect Blue * Blackenstein - An African-American version of Frankenstein. * Blacula - Dracula * Bride and Prejudice - Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, set in modern India * - Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice set in modern England * Broken Lance - King Lear * The Castle of Cagliostro - the Arsene Lupin character, represented here by a supposed grandson * Castle in the Sky - steampunk cartoon loosely based on the Laputa subplot from Gulliver's Travels * A Cinderella Story - Cinderella in modern Los Angeles * Carmen Jones - Prosper Mérimée's 1845 novella set in 1940s North Carolina * Clueless - Jane Austen's 1815 novel in modern Los Angeles * Le Divorce - Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady * Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde - Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde with an African-American protagonist * and its sequels - Doctor John Dolittle, originally written as a white man who espoused the of British colonialism, is reimagined as a modern African-American. Virtually the only plot element in common with the traditional version of the character is his ability to communicate with animals. * Don Jon - Don Juan legends * Don Juan DeMarco - Don Juan legends * Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman - the Don Juan legend with gender reversal * Doraemon: Nobita's Treasure Island - * - Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1846 novel of the same name, set in the 1950s * Downsizing - The Incredible Shrinking Man * and Dracula's Daughter - The 19th century setting of Dracula was abandoned by Universal Pictures to save money, and plenty of then-cutting-edge automobiles appear in these two movies, as well as airplanes traveling across Europe in the second film. * Dracula 2000 - Bram Stoker's Dracula * Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde - a parody of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, set in modern New York City. * Easy A - a self-referential adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter set in a modern California high school * ' - a Shakespeare play with a Victorian setting * Virgin Territory - stories from Giovanni Bocaccio's Decameron with humorous anachronisms of speech and custom * War of the Worlds, the 1953 and 2005 adaptations - H.G. Wells' 19th-century English novel, Americanized and reset to the 20th and/or 21st centuries. * ' - William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet where Romeo is a zombie * ' - William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet * - Edmond Rostand's set in a modern high school * Darkwing Duck - parody of comic book characters by way of Young Frankenstein. * A Diva's Christmas Carol - A Christmas Carol * ' - mash-up spoof of various fairy tales including Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty by way of Young Frankenstein * ' - This adaptation mostly keeps the original circa-1605 setting, but has one scene set in the late 19th century as a joke. * Dragon Ball Z - Journey to the West with guns, tanks, and other modern props * Ducktales - Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge by way of Indiana Jones and other film franchises. * ' - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, set in modern New York City. * ' - O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" as an animal fable * ' - A Hip-hop retelling of The Lion in Winter and William Shakespeare's King Lear * Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its spinoff Xena: Warrior Princess - frequently humorous retellings of Greek mythology, primarily the Hercules stories as the title suggests, with many deliberate anachronisms in the dialogue and general views of the characters * Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story - "Jack and the Beanstalk" by way of Rashomon and Young Frankenstein * King of Texas - King Lear set in Texas in the early 1840s * Kumkum Bhagya - Hindi TV serial adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility * Lost in Space - certain episodes are space opera adaptations of the Odyssey, The Niebelunglied, Treasure Island, Mutiny on the Bounty, and other plots, sometimes self-referential * Lupin III - the Arsene Lupin character, represented here by a supposed grandson * ' - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Dungeons and Dragons * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - many elements are based on The Wizard of Oz * Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol - animated version of A Christmas Carol presented as a play-within-a-play * Mockingbird Lane - A dark, dramatic version of The Munsters. * The Monkees - certain episodes are spoofs (often self-referential) of The Prince and the Pauper, The Most Dangerous Game, The Devil and Daniel Webster, Of Mice and Men, Mandrake the Magician, Frankenstein, Dracula, The Monkey's Paw, and other sources * Motocrossed - Twelfth Night * The Muppets' Wizard of Oz - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz set in modern times, with Dorothy and her family recast as African Americans, and many fourth wall breaks. * The Mysterious Cities of Gold - loosely based on Scott O'Dell's The King's Fifth * ' - Othello is a police commander in modern England * Ouran High School Host Club - William Shakespeare's As You Like It * ' - loosely based on the 1989 film * Phantom of the Megaplex - The Phantom of the Opera * Rashomon spoofs - countless television series have had at least one episode spoofing the Japanese motion picture Rashomon (set in the Middle Ages), often in the context of either a present-day situation comedy, a space opera, a dark fantasy world, or some conjunction of more than one of these. Alvin and the Chipmunks, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Farscape among them. * ' - loosely based on Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo * Rugrats - influenced by Look Who's Talking and Sugar and Spike. * ' (2013-14) - modern day adaptation of ' (1887-1902) which is set in feudal India. * Saru no Gundan (1974) - loosely based on Planet of the Apes. * ' - loosely based on by George Bernard Shaw * ' - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, updated to the 2010s * The Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow - Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" starring the Smurfs * Star Trek franchise - certain episodes of the various Star Trek series are space opera retellings (often self-referential) of The Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Paradise Lost, Alice in Wonderland, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Turn of the Screw, Rashomon, Brigadoon, the Helen of Troy legend, the Robin Hood legend, the Sherlock Holmes series, and other literary works. * TaleSpin - Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book by way of Indiana Jones * Ulysses 31 - loosely based on Homer's Odyssey * ' - Based on the 1989 film but this version has African-American main characters. * ' (1978) - Call of the Wild with Snoopy in place of Buck. * Willa: An American Snow White (1998, PBS) - self-referential spoof set in Virginia in the early 20th century * Wuthering High School (2015) - Wuthering Heights Web series * 221B - based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle * A Bit Much - inspired by Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare * The Autobiography of Jane Eyre - based on Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte * Bright Summer Night - inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare * Carmilla - based on Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu * Dashwood Days - based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen * Dashwood Diaries - based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen * East and West - based on North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell * Elinor and Marianne Take Barton - based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen * Emma Approved - Jane Austen's Emma * The Emma Project - Jane Austen's Emma * Emma Wood - Jane Austen's Emma * Frankenstein M. D. - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley * From Mansfield With Love - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen * Further Adventures of Cupid and Eros - based on Greco-Roman mythology * Green Gables Fables - based on Anne of Green Gables and Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery * The Grey Tarmac Road - based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and associated works by L. Frank Baum * Grimm Reflections - based on Grimm's Fairy Tales * Hashtag Hamlet - based on Hamlet by William Shakespeare (forthcoming) * In Earnest - based on The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde * The Adventures of Jamie Watson and Sherlock Holmes - based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle * Jo March Vlog - based on Little Women by Louisa May Alcott * Jules and Monty - based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare * Kate the Cursed - based on The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare * The Lizzie Bennet Diaries - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice * Lil Women - based on Little Women by Louisa May Alcott * Lovely Little Losers - based on Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare * Maggie Hale's Corner- based on North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell * The March Family Letters - based on Little Women by Louisa May Alcott * Mars and Elly - based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen * Middlemarch: The Series - based on Middlemarch by George Eliot * A Midsemester Night's Dream - based on A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare * The Misselthwaite Archives - based on The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett * Much Ado About A Webseries - based on Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare * The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy - based on Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie * Nick Carraway Chronicles - based on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald * Northbound - based on Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen * Notes by Christine - based on The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux * Nothing Much to Do - based on Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare * Project Green Gables - based on Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery * SHAKES - based on Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare * Twincidents- based on The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare * Welcome to Sanditon - based on Sanditon by Jane Austen Literature * A True Novel by Minae Mizumura - Wuthering Heights set in mid-20th-century Japan * Ana of California by Andi Teran - Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables * Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty - "Androcles and the Lion" in a 1930s American small town * Beauty and the Beast - 17th-century tale by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve is a retelling of the Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche * ' by John Updike - Tristan and Isolde set in the slums of Rio de Janeiro * "Born with the Dead" by Robert Silverberg - the myth of Orpheus relocated to near-future Zanzibar * Death Comes to Pemberley by P. D. James - sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice * Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear - modern sequel to Arthur Conan Doyle's * by Diane Johnson - self-referential adaptation of Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady * Dorian, an Imitation by Will Self - Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray * ' by Curtis Sittenfeld - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice in Cincinnati, Ohio * ' by Alexander McCall Smith - Jane Austen's Emma * ' by Erica Jong - John Cleland's Fanny Hill * ' by J. M. Coetzee - Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe * The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - self-referential take on by way of Indiana Jones * ' by Henry Fielding - Cervantes' Don Quixote *Katy by Jacqueline Wilson - Susan Coolidge's What Katy Did set in the 2010s. * Lady Macbeth's Daughter by Lisa Klein - William Shakespeare's Macbeth * A Midsummer Night's Steampunk by Scott E. Tarbet - William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, a Steampunk retelling brought forward to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee * New Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms by Matthew Hodgart - sequel to Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels * Night's Daughter by Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Magic Flute * Ophelia by Lisa Klein - William Shakespeare's Hamlet * Peter and the Starcatchers and sequels by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson - Peter Pan and supporting characters, reassigned to a historical context with an undercurrent of secret history. * Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, with zombies. * Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Ben H. Winters - Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, with sea monsters * The Sotweed Factor by John Barth - Henry Fielding's Joseph Andrews * The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski - William Shakespeare's Hamlet * ' by Pamela Dean - the Scottish folk tale relocated to a college in early 1970s Minnesota * Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis - Cupid and Psyche * ' by James Joyce - The Odyssey reenacted in Dublin, Ireland on 16 June 1904 Theatre * All Shook Up - Shakespeare's Twelfth Night * The Bomb-itty of Errors - A Comedy of Errors as a hip-hop musical * The Boys from Syracuse - Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors * ' - humorous mash-up purporting to include at least one element of every play William Shakespeare wrote * Damn Yankees - the Faust legend * Godspell - the New Testament retold with deliberate anachronisms which serve both humorous and allegorical purposes *Hadestown - folk musical of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in a Great Depression-inspired post-apocalyptic setting * I Love You Because - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice * Into the Woods - musical mash-up of fairy-tales including those from The Brothers Grimm. * Jesus Christ Superstar - the New Testament retold with deliberate anachronisms for both humor and allegory * Kiss Me, Kate - self-referential adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew * Mourning Becomes Electra - the House of Atreus story relocated to New England in 1865 * Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 - based on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy * Republic - based on Henry IV by William Shakespeare * The Rocky Horror Show - musical spoof of Frankenstein, primarily the 1931 film adaptation rather than the novel itself * Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead - Hamlet retold from different perspectives, with minimal fourth wall breaking. * Rent - La Boheme * Spamalot — musical spoof of the Arthurian Legend, based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. * Twist - Oliver Twist * West Side Story - William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet * The Wiz - retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with the Kansas subplot relocated to 1970s Harlem * Young Frankenstein - musical spoof of Frankenstein, based on the 1931 and 1974 film versions rather than the novel itself See Also
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