Adaptations Dominate 2009's Most Rented DVDs

By Helen Storey Staff Writer 11 December 2009

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RAGS to riches flick, Slumdog Millionaire, has been named the most-rented film of the year by online DVD rental provider LoveFilm in a bumper year for cinematic adaptations of books.

The summer blockbuster, which tells the story of an Indian teen who appears on the Indian version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' was based on the novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup. The film was a box office smash and bagged a whopping 8 Oscars.

Four more adaptations made it into the top 10, oddly following another literary reference from Cohen Brothers' comedy Burn After Reading, which was the second most rented DVD of the year.

Bond film, Quantum of Solace was adapted from one of Ian Fleming's short stories while The Curious Case of Benjamin Button started out life as a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The Reader was adapted from the novel by Bernhard Schlink and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was originally a novel by John Boyne.

A special mention also goes out to Heath Ledger blockbuster The Dark Knight, (very, very loosely based by now) on Frank Miller's comic series. It might be pushing it a bit to claim it as a sixth adaptation.

Also in the top 10 was Disney favourite, Wall-E, Liam Neeson's gritty thriller, Taken and tense drama Changeling.

Patriotism counts

As well as literary taste, the survey found that patriotism counts when choosing which DVD to rent.

Edinburgh-based DVD renters were more likely to add Trainspotting to their rental queues.

Sheffielders meanwhile were still loving a bit of cheek in 2009 - they were more likely to rent The Full Monty on DVD than people from elsewhere in the country.

The survey also revealed that the Abba musical Mamma Mia! was the most purchased film of 2009, although it's unknown whether that was due to sheer cinematic brilliance or the fact it made a quick and easy last minute Mother's Day present.

TV Series

The most popular TV series rental was for fantasy series, The Colour of Magic, the Terry Pratchett adaptation which beat the (debatably) comedy series Gavin & Stacey to the top spot.

"Staying in has indeed become the new going out throughout 2009, but it has actually suited film fans down to the ground as they've been spoilt by some of the best films of the last few years," said Fliss White, from LoveFilm.

"Whilst Slumdog Millionaire was the real winner this year across the nation's homes, the success of comedies like the Coen brothers' Burn After Reading shows that despite the recession us Brits are more than able to look on the brighter side of life. We're also clearly a loyal bunch too, supporting locally based films like never before.".

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