I haven’t done one of these in a while. Screen Rant offers us 15 Movies You Didn’t Know Were Based On Shakespeare. But really, if you’re at all a regular follower of what we do here, yes you did. Their header graphic is the Lion King, for goodness sake. Is there anybody out there today that doesn’t think Lion King is based on Hamlet?
The only reason I bother linking the list is that it’s got a good cross section of the different types of movies that Shakespeare’s original material can produce:
- Animated (see above)
- Teen comedies (10 Things I Hate About You, She’s The Man)
- Drama (My Own Private Idaho, A Thousand Acres)
- Musicals (West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate)
- Foreign language (Throne of Blood, Ran)
- Science-fiction (Forbidden Planet)
In case you’re looking for movie recommendations for the weekend, this is a great place to start. While we’ve no doubt mentioned all these movies many times over the years, you probably haven’t actually seen all of them yet.