Top 10 Events That Deserve To Have Hollywood Adaptations
These events may be a part of history, but you'd still probably want to see them done up on the big screen. Join http://www.WatchMojo.com as we count down our picks for the top 10 events that deserve Hollywood adaptations. For this list, we're looking at real-life events or stories that we've yet to see turned into a faithful Hollywood film production.
Special thanks to our user governmentfree for submitting the idea using our interactive suggestion tool at http://www.WatchMojo.comsuggest
Script written by Noah Levy
#10: Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989
Here’s an event so controversial and world changing that the country it happened in still refuses to really acknowledge it. If that’s not film-worthy, we don’t know what is. The 1989 student-led protests and subsequent government crackdown that occurred in Beijing, China contain many elements that are ripe for a big screen adaptation, including times of political and social unrest, unprecedented displays of military power, and an ending featuring a tragic loss of life. It would also be amazing to see what certain directors would do with iconic moments like the Tank Man.
#9: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria
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If any incident could be labeled as the moment that jump-started the events of an entire century, this was it. The shooting of the Archduke in June 1914 by a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip triggered a chain reaction that began the First World War, and it could be argued that the fallout from that conflict led to even bigger ones. This event plays like a great political thriller, and could be turned into a tension and dread-filled adaptation, considering the fact that audiences already know what happened following the Archduke’s death.
#8: The Hunt for Blackbeard
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This fearsome pirate deserves more than just getting shoehorned into a “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel. Formerly Edward Teach, the pirate known as Blackbeard gained notoriety in the 1700s after capturing a French merchant ship, equipping it with weapons, and naming it the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Following this, he went on a piracy campaign that lasted less than a year, with the highlight being the blockade and ransom of South Carolina, before he died in battle in 1718. If that reign of terror isn’t reason enough, it would just be awesome to see a faithful screen version of the real-life inspiration for most modern pirates in pop culture today.
#7: 7 July 2005 London Bombings
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Modern terrorism came to England on July 7th, 2005, when four Islamist extremists detonated bombs on London trains and buses during morning rush hour, killing fifty-two civilians (not including the perpetrators) and wounding over 700. It was the worst terrorist attack in England since 1988’s Lockerbie bombing, as well as the nation’s first ever Islamist suicide attack. Despite the tragedy, the perseverance of the British people guided them through this dark period. A movie based on this heinous act could focus on the heroes of that fateful day, and could serve as a worthwhile companion piece to other real-life terrorism based movies.
#6: The Tesla-Edison Feud
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While the visionary and prolific inventor Thomas Edison is definitely fascinating enough to warrant his own movie, he often overshadows his onetime employee and rival, Nikola Tesla. The latter was a Serbian genius whose story was practically tailor-made for the screen, as it features the development of landmark and outlandish inventions, and at is core is one of the finest examples of the mad scientist archetype. Together, Tesla and Edison’s rivalry in the “War of the Currents,” where the two battled for domination in the field of electrical power, could be a captivating tale of two men who should be friends, but end up in direct competition. Too bad we’ll never get a chance to see David Bowie play Tesla again, though.
#5: The Search for the Boston Marathon Bombers
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In April 2013, the United States was brought to a standstill when two Chechen brothers bombed the Boston Marathon. It was the worst attack on American soil since 9/11. What followed was a citywide chase and capture effort that would be a daunting task for even the most skilled and visionary filmmakers to put to screen. The manhunt and capture of the Tsarnaev brothers would be a suspenseful and intense film if done right. It could be like “Zero Dark Thirty,” except taking place in one city instead of across the globe, and over one week instead of… well, a decade.
#4: The Night Witches
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One of the only entries on this list that isn’t a completely depressing event, The Night Witches were a group of female Soviet pilots during World War II that performed many successful bombing missions for their homeland. They became the most highly decorated female unit in the Soviet Air Force, and legends in their country. The story of the eighty or so women that made up this elite squadron would make for an epic war movie, showing an aspect of the conflict that seems to have been largely overlooked by history.
#3: Chernobyl Disaster
Sure, there have been movies made about what happened after the worst nuclear power plant accident in modern history, or ones where characters just happen to wander into this irradiated wasteland in the Ukraine, but the main event itself is just too intense and significant to not be given its due on film. The disaster that caused radioactive particles to be released all across Europe, triggered health defects that persist to this day, and ensured that the area around the site wouldn’t be habitable for the next 20,000 years, is rife with elements that would be fit for a taut thriller or cautionary tale of science gone wrong.
#2: Jonestown [aka Peoples Temple Agricultural Project]
In one of the most bizarre and deadly events of the 20th century, a cult leader named Jim Jones convinced almost a thousand of his followers to come with him to the South American country of Guyana to start a religious settlement named after him. In 1978, the people’s devotion to their leader led them to commit the biggest mass suicide in history, with 909 of Jones’s followers dying of cyanide poisoning, while Jones’ also killed himself. Jim Jones, his religious organization, and the end they met formed one of the most fascinating stories of all time, and an enigmatic figure like Jones would be a prime target for a strange, revealing biopic.
Before we reveal our top pick, here are a some honorable mentions:
The War of 1812
Apollo 11 Lunar Landing
Aaron Burr vs. Alexander Hamilton
The Story of D. B. Cooper: Gentleman Thief
Japanese American Internment Camps in the US
#1: Fall of the Berlin Wall
The moment that signaled the eventual end of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, the lifting of the Iron Curtain… need we go on? That cold November 1989 night in Berlin where the people took back their city from Communism carries so much weight and significance that we’re honestly shocked that no filmmakers have taken a real crack at putting it on screen. It’s a tribute to peaceful revolution, the will of the people, and even the benefits of miscommunication, as the whole thing began due to confusion between the government and the media. Hey, it worked out well in the end, didn’t it?
Do you agree with our list? What real life events do you think deserve filmadaptations? For more entertaining top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
