Book Lovers Day: Best Book-to-IMAX-Movie Adaptations

Celebrate 'Book Lovers Day ' today by showing some love for classic childhood books that became IMAX films. Here are three of our favorite film adaptations to honor this holiday. What's yours?

Harry Potter

J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is among the most recognizable book titles to date. The film series following the book is no different. Since the release of the first movie, it's hard to imagine Harry, Hermione and Ron played by anyone but Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, respectively.

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The first Harry Potter film to be released in the IMAX format was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and the final five films followed suit. The spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was featured in IMAX last year, preceded by an entire week of all 8 original movies! What's more, we have four more Fantastic Beasts movies coming our way.

Any true fan of the Wizarding World wishes for their chance to attend Hogwarts. We recite spells, browse Pottermore, sort ourselves into Hogwarts houses, and most importantly, await our letter! (It's never too late)

BuzzFeed entertains the early 2000s Harry Potter hype with quizzes to find out which house you belong in by answering standard questions, or by detailing your pizza order. Many universities have Quidditch teams, too, who compete for the World Cup! The first publication of the original Harry Potter celebrated its 20th birthday only a few weeks ago, and the celebrations continue for Book Lovers Day.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games sparked a fanatic fandom of its own. Suzanne Collins' stories of a post-apocalyptic world involving televised death matches and government rebellions attracted millions of readers and moviegoers. The film adaptations brought back Josh Hutcherson, the beloved actor from another film adaptation, Bridge to Terabithia. It propelled Jennifer Lawrence into stardom as a role model for courageous girls on and off the screen.

Just like with Harry Potter, fans would take quizzes to find out which district of Panem they'd belong to. Mockingjay pins became fashion staples, and finding a fellow fan was never easier than holding up three fingers in the air. Archery became the new big thing after Katniss made it cool, but if you were going to use a bow and arrow, you had to don the classic braid, too.

Bonus: Did you know that the Hunger Games: Catching Fire arena scenes were shot on IMAX cameras?

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings

Throwing it back to a little over a century ago when J. R. R. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and plunged readers into an entirely new world. Although The Hobbit is a precursor to The Lord of the Rings, the LOTR films were the first on-screen introduction to Middle-earth. The first of its trilogy, released in 2001, introduced a new legion of diehard fans to the fantastical tale and led to two subsequent films. The books and films have left quite the legacy; references made to both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings remain relevant, and the books are still essential to some high school curriculums.

Despite the stories being the oldest of this bunch, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings still attract new fans all the time. You're guaranteed to see at least one kid on Halloween each year in a Gandalf costume, complete with a beard that would probably take as many years to grow as The Hobbit has been around. Furry hobbit feet slippers exist, too, so when you curl up to re-watch one of the six films for the one hundredth time, your feet can stay warm and in character.

We can't wait to see what the next big book-to-movie franchise will be. There are countless other books to celebrate today. Here's to the authors who create them and the filmmakers who bring them to life!

- Samantha Ulin | Intern, Corporate Communications