Stephen King's Greatest Film and TV Adaptations, Ranked!

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Since Stephen King’s 1974 debut with Carrie, the
author has long been one of the most recognizable names in horror and science
fiction. 

Two years later, director Brian De Palma directed the film
adaptation, which went on to earn two Academy Award nominations. Since then,
King's expansive body of work has been
adapted into more than 100 films and TV series. 

While many of them -- The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me and Misery, to name a few -- have been commercially successful and critically beloved, there have also have been a number of critically-derided adaptations that didn't exact capture the spirit of the source material.

And though King’s work has been continuously adapted over
the past 40 years, Hulu seemingly kicked off a resurgence of interest with 2016’s
11.22.63
starring James Franco and Chris Cooper. This year, Spike TV
followed with The Mist and AT&T’s Audience network is taking on Mr.
Mercedes
with David E. Kelley writing and Jack Bender directing. Meanwhile,
Netflix is producing film versions of Gerald’s Game and the short story,
1922. In theaters, the long-awaited adaptation of The Dark Towerstarring
Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey arrives in August and Pennywise marks his
return with It: Part 1 – The Losers' Clubin September with a reported
sequel, It Part 2: Pennywise, slated for 2018. And Hulu will bring
King’s prolific multiverse to TV in 2018 with the J.J. Abrams-produced Castle
Rock
starring Sissy Spacek -- the actress who helped start it all -- and
Andre Holland. 

So, with the many film and TV adaptations arriving in 2017 alone, it’s time to look back at King’s best screen adaptations, ranked from just OK to the life-changing. 

Click through the gallery below to see which of King's
movies have stood the test of time:

Related Gallery

And then check out our ranking of the horror master's
greatest TV shows and limited series:

Related Gallery