10 Movies That Started As Fan Fiction

For many, fan fiction may seem like a fairly new concept. After all, the internet has given more people a voice who wouldn't have one otherwise to where they can share their writings with potentially millions of people. A good way to get noticed is to riff off something that already exists and write your own story about the Mandalorian hunting the cast from "Frasier." That doesn't actually exist as far as I know, but feel free to run with it, fan fiction writers! 

The thing is, fan fiction dates back centuries. If you want to get really granular with what constitutes fan fiction, something like Dante's "Inferno" could be viewed as fan fiction based on the Bible. You could even argue some of William Shakespeare's plays were effectively fan fiction, with him merely remixing prior stories and historical events. The point is that fan fiction has a rich history that didn't begin on Wattpad. 

Especially over the last few years, Hollywood has begun taking notice. A lot of fan fiction has gotten popular online (or originated as a full-fledged book from the start) that studios want to adapt for the big screen. Oftentimes, a movie being based on fan fiction is major factor of the marketing, but in case you weren't aware, here are some movies that have origins in fan fiction. 

Note: Some of these films have disputed origins in fan fiction, but they seem worth discussing regardless.

The "Fifty Shades of Grey" series is arguably the most famous example of a book with fan fiction roots making it big in Hollywood. Author E.L. James was a big fan of "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer and wanted to write more sequels to that series. James posted the story, called "Master of the Universe," which technically would be a better name for some He-Man fan fiction, using the pseudonym "Snowqueen Icedragon." However, due to concerns surrounding the explicitly sadomasochistic sexual relationship between the two leads that emphasized BDSM, James retooled the story so that the couple became completely original. They turned into Ana Steele and Christian Grey, who would later be portrayed by Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, respectively. 

Obviously, there aren't any supernatural aspects to "Fifty Shades of Grey." Christian isn't a vampire, but the central relationships do have some similarities. Ana and Bella are both pretty meek, and there's a heavy emphasis on how there's nothing particularly special about them. Still, they're plucked from obscurity and become an object of obsession for Christian and Edward.

All three "Fifty Shades of Grey" movies were financial successes, even if they didn't win most over critically. That could be partially attributed to the fact E.L. James was trying to make constant changes to the script while the first film was in production. "Fifty Shades" may not have taken home any Oscars, but it set the stage for many more fan fiction adaptations to come.

Anna Todd was only 24 years old in 2013 when she began writing and publishing fan fiction centered on popular boy band One Direction. The basic gist of the story is that all five members — Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, and Niall Horan — are college students. It's Styles' character who catches the attention of Tessa Young, an innocent girl who nonetheless becomes an object of obsession for Styles' more bad boy sensibilities. This is a pretty common through-line in a lot of fanfics, so if you're a writer who's ever short on ideas for what to do with your story, that's a pretty safe path to follow.

Millions of people read the Wattpad storylines, and Todd was then offered a publishing deal at Simon & Schuster in 2014, just a year after starting. Like "Fifty Shades," Todd had to change the names when adapting it into an actual book, so Styles' character became Hardin Scott. But the sexual chemistry remained intact. Paramount Pictures acquired the rights to "After" that same year, and in 2019, the first film released in what would become a franchise. 

"After We Fell," "After Ever Happy," and "After Everything" would follow in the years that come, and you just need to watch every "After" film in order to understand what's going on. Another similarity the "After" movies share with the "Fifty Shades" franchise is how it didn't win over critics, who focused on the trite story and its minimizing the impact of abusive relationships. 

To be upfront, "The Idea of You" is not based on fan fiction according to author Robinne Lee, although it's easy why fans would make that assumption. The story sees divorced mom Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway) get into a romantic relationship with boy band member Hayes Campbell (Nicholas Galitzine) and needing to navigate this newfound fame by proxy. Many have referred to it as Harry Styles fan fiction, not unlike "After," but Lee insists that's not the case.

She did however list several famous men who influenced the creation of Hayes, and Styles was among them, in addition to Prince Harry and Eddie Redmayne. But as she explained to Entertainment Weekly, she doesn't like "The Idea of You" being called fanfic: "He was the only one in a British boy band that was current at the time, I guess, and so that's what people have latched onto. It's unfortunate because it's being used as clickbait, and when I'm writing for Hayes, I'm not picturing Harry Styles."

Regardless of what people say "The Idea of You" is, it's a good romantic movie, according to /Film's Ryan Scott in a review: "From a stellar cast to spectacular execution of a unique story, this movie has so much to offer lovers of rom-coms." Even though "The Idea of You" isn't fan fiction, everyone thinking it is just speaks to how prevalent the genre has become in the larger zeitgeist. 

At first glance, "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" seems like any other young adult novel-turned-film that was all the rage in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The book was first published in 2007 and follows a teenage girl who's drawn into a magical world that's hidden from anyone who doesn't possess any miraculous abilities. If that sounds pretty similar to "Harry Potter," it's worth noting that "Mortal Instruments" is more concerned with demons and those who hunt them as opposed to wizard classes; however, some fans think there's a reason there's so much overlap between the two franchises.

Like "The Idea of You," "Mortal Instruments" is not based on fan fiction, according to author Cassandra Clare. She did write a good amount of Harry Potter fan fiction, most notably the Draco trilogy, which is a series of fan-made works set between the events of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" that creates a love triangle between Harry, Hermione, and Draco. Many fans believe the character Jace (Jamie Campbell Bower) is based on Draco, particularly with his sheer blonde hair and cynical personality. 

There are other concepts fans believe was lifted from "Harry Potter," such as the idea that anyone not affiliated with magic is referred to as a "mundane" or "mundie" as opposed to a "muggle." Unfortunately, unlike many other YA properties at the time, "Mortal Instruments" failed to take off on the big screen, only grossing $95 million globally. It did however get another chance with a TV show called "Shadowhunters," a critically-panned fantasy series that's still a lot of fun. 

Seth Grahame-Smith published "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" in 2009 as an obvious parody of Jane Austen's work. It takes scenes and characters from the 19th century novel and throws the undead into the mix, with Elizabeth Bennett (Lily James) now being an awesome zombie hunter. It's a fun twist on a work that has long been in the public domain, and if you really want to get granular about it, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" qualifies as fan fiction. 

It takes an established work and infuses it with new sensibilities. A lot of fan fiction adds romantic subplots, but in this case, Grahame-Smith has thrown in zombies. Much fanfic gets published online at first since things like "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" still have their copyrights intact, but when they have the opportunity to get published as a physical novel, the names, settings, and details get altered so as not to infringe on any pre-established work. 

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" may not be what most people think of when they hear "fan fiction," but it explores a potential "What if" scenario within an existing piece of art. It wouldn't be the last book to toy around with adding fantasy/sci-fi elements to classic literature, as other books like "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters" as well as "Android Karenina" would also materialize. I'm just going to go ahead and say it: Some studio absolutely needs to adapt those so that all these heroes can team up in a Classic Novels With Monsters Cinematic Universe.

If I had a nickel for every time "Twilight" fan fiction got adapted into a cinematic trilogy, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. Following in the footsteps of "Fifty Shades of Grey," the author known as Sebastien Robichard and then later Sylvain Reynard (both of which are pen names) would publish a series of "Twilight" fanfics online. The story was called "The University of Edward Masen," and the titular Edward was based on the Edward from "Twilight," only this time he's a dark, brooding professor who specializes in teaching the works of Dante (hence the eventual switch over to the name "Gabriel's Inferno). One of his students is the timid Bella Swan, and a torrid romance ensues. 

Omnific Publishing then bought the rights to the story, which was published under the new name "Gabriel's Inferno" that also came with a sequel called "Gabriel's Rapture." The books were picked up for film adaptations that eventually aired on Passionflix, a streaming service that specializes in romantic content, taking the idea of "Netflix and chill" and cutting out the middleman. 

The director for all films in this franchise is Tosca Musk, who, yes, is the younger sister of Elon Musk. But whereas her brother's interested in politics and going to space, her attention is more on media, as she's a co-founder of Passionflix. 

The cinematic version of "Wicked" might be based on the Broadway musical, but that musical has its roots in a book titled "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West." It's a revisionist look at L. Frank Baum's seminal work with "The Wizard of Oz," one that portrays the Wicked Witch of the West as a far more sympathetic character. Instead of merely being an antagonist, the reader gets to see how Elphaba was ostracized as a girl and ultimately became radicalized against the Wizard.

Like "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," many people probably wouldn't think of "Wicked" being fan fiction, but it is. There's something of a trope within fanfic circles that villains lacking much depth in the original source material can become sympathetic. Even if they're still bad guys, a lot of fanfic authors seem to want to justify why someone would turn out evil. Cassandra Clare's Draco trilogy would fall into this category, taking someone bad and getting the reader to root for them. 

"Wicked" is effectively that, and it's arguably the most successful example. "Wicked" has been an immensely popular musical since it first came out in 2003, and the first "Wicked" movie dominated the box office. 

Nicholas Galitzine sure has a knack for starring in fan fictions that the authors insist aren't fanfics, but fans sure seem to think so. In 2023, he starred in the film adaptation of "Red, White & Royal Blue," based on the book of the same name. Galitzine plays Prince Henry, part of the British royal family, who falls in love with Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), son of the President of the United States. Things start off frosty between the two, but it's a classic enemies-to-lovers arc (with some screwball comedy influences, too) where they slowly learn how much they each adore one another. 

Given tropes usually relegated to fan fiction, it makes sense many have wondered whether "Red, White & Royal Blue" has roots in fan fiction. As far as we know, it doesn't although there is a compelling case to be made that it started as fanfic of "The Social Network" where Alex and Prince Henry began as Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield fanfic. There's a fascinating rabbit hole to go down if you feel compelled.

But at the end of the day, there's no hard evidence that's the case. Fortunately, author Casey McQuiston told Polygon that the comparisons to fanfic are a good thing: "Fanfiction is pure pleasure reading. It's not like almost any other kind of reading. It is here to be fun. It is here to pacify, it is here to transform something that you love into something that you could love in a different way. It's just pure love."

Fan fiction feels like a more contemporary idea, but it's been influencing films for decades. For example, "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" has some (very mild) roots in fanfic. 

"The Search for Spock" naturally follows up the ending of "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," where Spock (Leonard Nimoy) sacrifices his life for his crewmates and friends. Where is a franchise to go when it's lost one of its most recognizable characters? Producer Harre Bennett has claimed that when trying to come up with ideas for "The Search for Spock," he was looking through a "Star Trek" fan magazine where he came upon a poem told from the perspective of Captain Kirk (William Shatner) on losing his friend. The passage that stuck with him was, "I left you there. Why did I do that? I must come back to you, my friend."

That poem made up the thematic core of the film, which is Kirk going to the edges of the galaxy to bring back his friend when an opportunity presents itself. Without knowing the author's intentions, it's possible the poem has some romantic connotations, but at the end of the day, it's about someone who cares deeply for his friends, which is the kind of universal truth "Star Trek' excels at highlighting. 

Fan fiction has a rich history, and it's not going anywhere when it comes to movie studios looking for the next big thing to adapt. The latest entry fanfic-to-film pipeline is "The Love Hypothesis," which has its origins in "Reylo" fan fiction. This is a genre all to itself where people envision Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) from the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy being in an explicitly romantic relationship as opposed to the brief kiss we saw in "Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker." It should be fairly obvious when going off the book cover because the couple really does look like Ridley and Driver, only in lab coats. 

Like many before, author Ali Hazelwood got a publication offer and switched up the names to become Olive and Adam. Olive's a PhD student who fakes a relationship with her professor so that her friend won't worry about her being so lonely. In July 2025, it was announced a film adaptation was in the works starring Lili Reinhart as Olive and Tom Bateman as Adam. The funniest part of that is that Bateman is Ridley's husband in real life, and now, he's starring in fan fiction based on her most famous character. 

In a way, these fanfic stories are pretty inspirational. Someone writes a story that catches fire online, and with the right take and enough steamy scenes, it can become a major Hollywood production.