List of modernized adaptations of old works

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Sometimes, an author will write a story that is consciously based on an older story (typically in the public domain) but with a modernized setting and characters. Sometimes the original work is still copyrighted, but the writer includes the minimum quota of differences to avoid being a direct plagiarism while using an immediately recognizable story template.

Film

• 10 Things I Hate About You – William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew re-located to modern Seattle suburbia
• 20th Century Oz - The Wizard of Oz set in the surfing and motorcyclist cultures of Australia in the 1970s
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (film) - often claimed to be based on The Odyssey, although the similarity is tenuous.
• A.I.: Artificial Intelligence - self-referential update of The Adventures of Pinocchio set in a post-apocalyptic North America
• Affluenza - The Great Gatsby in 2008 Long Island
• Aisha - sets Jane Austen's Emma in modern India.
• Aladdin (1992 Disney film) - the Aladdin legend with humorous anachronisms
• Alien From L.A. - very loosely inspired by Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Apocalypse Now – Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness set during the Vietnam War
• August Rush - loosely based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist
• Bangaru Papa - Silas Marner set in India
• Barb Wire (film) - Casablanca (film) with the three main characters' genders reversed, set in a post-apocalyptic future
• Beastly (film) - Charles Perrault's "Beauty and the Beast"
• Bedazzled and its remake - the Faust legend
• Big Business (1988 film) - A Comedy of Errors with gender reversal
• Black Knight (film) - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court with an African American Star Wars fan as the protagonist, hence the racial pun on the common term black knight
• Black Swan (film) - self-referential reimagining of Swan Lake partly influenced by The Double
• Bride and Prejudice – Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, set in modern times, with the main locales in India
• Bridget Jones's Diary (film) and its sequels – tenuously based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
• Broken Lance - King Lear
• A Bug's Life - animal fable retelling of Seven Samurai which was based on true events of the 16th century
• The Castle of Cagliostro - the Arsene Lupin character, represented here by a supposed grandson
• Castle in the Sky - steampunk cartoon loosely based on the Laputa subplot from Gulliver's Travels
• A Cinderella Story – Cinderella in modern Los Angeles
• Carmen Jones – Carmen
• Clueless – Jane Austen's Emma as a California valley girl
• Cosi (film) - self-referential version of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte set in modern Melbourne, Australia
• Coriolanus – Shakespeare's tragedy set in modern times, using the original dialogue
• Crime and Punishment in Suburbia – Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment set in a suburban high school.
• Cruel Intentions – Pierre Choderlos de Laclos's novel Les Liaisons dangereuses set in a New York City prep school.
• The Cutting Edge - Olympic figure skating movie with elements of The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing
• Deliver Us From Eva - loosely linked to The Taming of the Shrew
• Die Mommie Die - the legend of the House of Atreus
• Dr. Dolittle (film) and its sequels - Doctor John Dolittle, originally written as a white man who espoused the questionable racial views of British colonialism, is reimagined as a modern African-American. Virtually the only plot element in common with the traditional version of the character, is the Doctor's unusual ability to communicate with animals.
• Don Jon - Don Juan legends
• Don Juan DeMarco - Don Juan legends
• Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman - the Don Juan legend with gender reversal
• Dracula (1931 film) and Dracula's Daughter - The 19th century setting of Dracula was abandoned by Universal Pictures to save money, and plenty of then-cutting-edge automobiles appear in these two movies, as well as airplanes traveling across Europe in the second movie.
• Dracula 2000 – Bram Stoker's Dracula
• Easy A – a self-referential adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter set in a modern high school.
• Edward II (film) - Edward II (play) with Christopher Marlowe's text but an explicitly modern setting
• Ella Enchanted - "Cinderella" set in a world full of mythological creatures, talking animals, and a bit of steampunk
• Ever After – Cinderella in Renaissance France
• The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, Evil Dead (2013 film) - spoof, amalgamating H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon series and (in the third movie only) Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
• Eyes Wide Shut - movie set in 1990s New York, based on Dream Story, an Austrian novel from the 1920s
• The Fisher King (film) - loosely and self-referentially based on a tale from Arthurian legend
• Forbidden Planet – William Shakespeare's The Tempest set on the planet Altair IV in the 23rd century.
• Frankenhooker - Frankenstein
• Frankenstein (1931 film) - the 18th century setting of Frankenstein (novel) was abandoned by Universal Pictures to save money, and plenty of then-modern props appear throughout this film and its sequels
• Frankenweenie and its remake - Frankenstein
• Freeway – Modernized Little Red Riding Hood with the pun referring to "'hood," a low-income urban neighborhood.
• From Prada to Nada – Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility set in modern Los Angeles.
• Frozen - inspired by Andersen's Snow Queen, set in a generic Scandinavian country in the late 19th century
• G (2002 film) - The Great Gatsby with African-American main characters
• Get Over It - A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - A Christmas Carol. Although this story is frequently adapted to modern times, this adaptation is unusual for completely eliminating Christmas from the plot.
• Gnomeo and Juliet – a self-referential adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet wherein the main characters are enlivened statues in two adjacent garden displays in modern England
• A Good Woman (film) - Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan set in the 1930s
• Great Expectations – Charles Dickens' Great Expectations set in modern New York
• The Great Mouse Detective - Sherlock Holmes as an animal fable
• Gulliver's Travels (2010 film) - Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. Instead of an 18th-century English doctor, Gulliver is now a 21st-century New York postal clerk who loves pop cultural fantasy and make believe; after getting lost among the Lilliputians he creates for them a religion based on himself by acting out the Star Wars movie saga which he tells them is the story of his own life.
• Hamlet - Shakespeare's Hamlet set in Victorian times
• Hamlet – William Shakespeare's Hamlet set in modern Manhattan
• Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters - Hansel and Gretel set in a quasi-steampunk world with clever anachronisms
• Happy, Texas - vaguely similar to "The Emperor's New Clothes" with two con men pretending to be great tailors
• Henry V (1989 film) - This adaptation of Henry V (play) cleaves to a medieval setting, except for a man called Chorus who wears a modern suit of clothes and regularly invades the scenery to make fourth wall-breaking speeches. A brief frame story at the very beginning and end of the film, shows Chorus living in a modern sound stage set.
• Hoi Polloi (1935 film) - Pygmalion with The Three Stooges taking the place of Eliza Doolittle
• Hollow Man (film) - H.G. Wells's The Invisible Man
• Hook (film) - Peter Pan
• The Hours – self-referential adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
• House of Strangers - King Lear, and possibly the Book of Genesis chapters 37-50.
• Independence Day (1996 film) - H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds
• Journey to the Center of the Earth, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, and a planned third film - Self-referential pastiches of Jules Verne novels, wherein modern explorers learn that the fanciful settings Verne wrote about were real, and recreate the voyages of Captain Nemo, Otto von Lidenbrock, etcetera.
• Just One of the Guys - Twelfth Night
• Kandukondain Kandukondain – Tamil adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
• A Kid in King Arthur's Court - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
• King of California - Don Quixote, according to an interview with the writers
• A Knight's Tale - loosely based on elements of The Canterbury Tales with deliberate anachronisms for humorous purposes
• Last Man Standing - the novel Red Harvest by way of the film Yojimbo
• Les Liaisons Dangereuses (film) - Les Liaisons Dangereuses set in 1959
• The Libertine - based on writings of scandalous poet Earl John Wilmot of Rochester. A frame story has the character of Wilmot breaking the fourth wall and making anachronistic references to terms and events post dating his own death.
• The Lion King – William Shakespeare's Hamlet as an animal fable
• Love at First Bite - Dracula (novel) set in 1970s New York
• Love's Labour's Lost - Love's Labours Lost set in 1939, with the characters singing popular 1930s songs
• The Magic Flute - based on an opera of the same name, film set in World War I
• The Manchurian Candidate and its remake - one subplot is a self-referential adaptation of the House of Atreus legend
• Mars Attacks! - H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds
• The Mask and Son of the Mask - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Material Girls - Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility set in modern Los Angeles.
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999 film) – William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream set around 1900
• A Midsummer Night's Rave – William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream set in the rave scene
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Arthurian legend retold with deliberate anachronisms included for humorous purposes
• Moulin Rouge! - mashup of La Boheme, La Traviata/The Lady of the Camellias, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and real life historical figures, set in 1899-1901 but with deliberate anachronisms included for humorous purposes
• The Muppet Christmas Carol - A Christmas Carol with humorous anachronisms and breaking the fourth wall
• Muppet Treasure Island - R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island with humorous anachronisms and breaking the fourth wall
• The Musketeer - loosely based on The Three Musketeers with anachronistic martial arts scenes
• My Kingdom (film) - King Lear
• My Own Private Idaho – one of the movie's subplots is based on the Falstaff subplots from William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V; another alludes to George Eliot's Silas Marner
• The Nutty Professor and its remake - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• O – retelling of William Shakespeare's Othello in a private school
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Homer's Odyssey adapted to 1930s Mississippi
• Oliver & Company - Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist as an animal fable
• Orfeu - the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in Brazil
• Penelope (2006 film) - "Beauty and the Beast" with genders reversed, or possibly "The Wife of Bath's Tale"
• Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge - The Phantom of the Opera
• The Phantom of the Opera: The Motion Picture - The Phantom of the Opera
• Phantom of the Paradise - The Phantom of the Opera
• Ponyo - "The Little Mermaid"
• Pretty Woman – Pygmalion with also a self-referential bit of the Cinderella story
• Rags – Cinderella – Gender Inverted, Set in New York
• Ran (1985 film) - King Lear relocated to medieval Japan
• Red Riding Hood - This take on the Little Red Riding Hood tale is set in a generic medieval country which seems to be in Europe but has African soldiers in its army. Certain modern attitudes seem to be popular in this generic medieval country, including a scene where two young girls at a village fair dance suggestively as if pretending to be lesbians.
• Rent (film) - the opera La Boheme
• Richard III (1995 film) - the play's original text, but with many subplots and characters cut, and set in the 1930s
• Robin Hood: Men in Tights - the Robin Hood legend with much deliberate anachronism and fourth wall breaking
• Romeo + Juliet – William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet adapted for modern Florida; used mostly the original dialogue
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead - Hamlet. Set in Elizabethan times with some steampunk and fourth wall breaks.
• Roxanne – Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac
• Scotland, PA – William Shakespeare's Macbeth set in a fast food restaurant in Scotland, Pennsylvania
• Scrooged – Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol set in 1980s Manhattan.
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers - self-referential spoof of the Rape of the Sabine Women legend from Plutarch's "Life of Romulus" from Parallel Lives, set in Oregon in 1850
• Shakespeare in Love - a self-referential pastiche purporting that William Shakespeare based certain plot elements of Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, and other plays, on an experience in his own life
• She's All That – Pygmalion
• She's the Man – William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will re-located to modern suburbia
• Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon - Sherlock Holmes, a quintessentially Victorian character, is updated to WWII, aids the French Resistance, and foils Nazi acts of sabotage.
• A Simple Twist of Fate – George Eliot's novel Silas Marner
• Sita Sings the Blues – Feminist retelling of the Indian epic Ramayana
• Spike – Cupid and Psyche, Hades and Persephone, Beauty and the Beast
• Start the Revolution Without Me - spoofs A Tale of Two Cities, also The Corsican Brothers and The Man in the Iron Mask
• Sydney White – Snow White set in a modern university
• Tamara Drewe (film) - Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd
• Tempest – William Shakespeare's The Tempest
• A Thousand Acres (film) - King Lear
• Throne of Blood- William Shakespeare's Macbeth relocated from medieval Scotland to medieval Japan
• Time After Time - self-referential adaptation of Wells' Time Machine combined with Jack the Ripper legends
• Time Bandits - derived from many sources including The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit
• Titus - Titus Andronicus set in an ambiguous alternate history where the Roman Empire exists in the 20th century
• Trading Places - The Prince and the Pauper and Pygmalion (play)
• Treasure Planet - animated film of R.L. Stevenson's Treasure Island, set on other planets with much steampunk imagery
• Trishna – Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles
• The Triumph of Love - Marivaux's play set in his time but with brief interludes of steampunk and breaking the fourth wall
• Tromeo and Juliet – A modern, punk adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
• The Truth About Cats & Dogs – Cyrano de Bergerac
• Twelfth Night (1996 film) - a Shakespeare play set in the 19th century
• Van Helsing - steampunk adventure based on both the Dracula and Frankenstein archetypes
• Virgin Territory - spoof of Giovanni Bocaccio's Decameron with humorously anachronistic speech and custom
• Warm Bodies (film) – William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet where Romeo is a zombie
• Whatever It Takes – Cyrano de Bergerac
• What Maisie Knew (film) - Henry James novel
• Where the Heart Is (1990 film) - King Lear
• The Wiz - retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with the Kansas subplot relocated to 1970s Harlem
• Young Frankenstein - self-referential spoof of Mary W. Shelley's Frankenstein (primarily based on previous film adaptations of that novel) set in "Transylvania" which appears to be a fictitious nation with little connection to the real Transylvania

Television and TV-movies

• Beauty and the Beast series and its reboot - Charles Perrault's "Beauty and the Beast" by way of Batman
• Carmen: A Hip Hopera – Carmen
• Christmas Eve on Sesame Street - the Bert and Ernie subplot mirrors O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi"
• Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (2002) - film, based on a novel, places Cinderella in Baroque Holland
• A Diva's Christmas Carol - A Christmas Carol
• Don Quixote (2000 film) - This adaptation of the early 17th century tale of Don Quixote, for the most part keeps the setting of Miguel de Cervantes' lifetime, but has one scene set in the late 19th century as a joke.
• Elementary – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, set in modern New York City.
• Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas - O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi" as an animal fable
• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its spinoff Xena: Warrior Princess - frequently humorous retellings of Greek mythology, primarily the Hercules stories as the title suggests, with much deliberate anachronism in the dialogue and general views of the characters
• Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story - "Jack and the Beanstalk" by way of Rashomon and Young Frankenstein
• King of Texas - King Lear set in Texas in the early 1840s
• Kumkum Bhagya – Hindi TV serial adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
• Lupin III - the Arsene Lupin character, represented here by a supposed grandson
• Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol - animated version of A Christmas Carol presented as a play-within-a-play
• Motocrossed - Twelfth Night
• The Muppets' Wizard of Oz - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz set in modern times, with Dorothy and her family recast as African Americans, and many fourth wall breaks.
• Othello (2001 TV film) - Othello is a police commander in modern England
• Ouran High School Host Club – William Shakespeare's As You Like It
• Phantom of the Megaplex - The Phantom of the Opera
• Revenge - loosely based on Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo
• Selfie - loosely based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
• Sherlock – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, now set in modern 2010's London with the main characters utilising modern technology such as the internet and smartphones. Watson is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick.
• Ulysses 31 – loosely based on Homer's Odyssey
• Willa: An American Snow White (1998, PBS) - self-referential spoof set in Virginia in the early 20th century
• Wuthering High School (2015) - Wuthering Heights
• Empire - A Hip-Hop retelling of James Goldman's The Lion in Winter

Web series

• 221B - based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• A Bit Much - inspired by Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
• The Autobiography of Jane Eyre - based on Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Carmilla - based on Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
• Dashwood Days - based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• Dashwood Diaries - based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• East and West - based on North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Elinor and Marianne Take Barton - based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• Emma Approved – Jane Austen's Emma
• The Emma Project - Jane Austen's Emma
• Emma Wood - Jane Austen's Emma
• Frankenstein M. D. - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• From Mansfield With Love - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• Further Adventures of Cupid and Eros - based on Greco-Roman mythology
• Green Gables Fables - based on Anne of Green Gables and Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery
• Grimm Reflections - based on Grimm's Fairy Tales
• Hashtag Hamlet - based on Hamlet by William Shakespeare (forthcoming)
• In Earnest - based on The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
• The Adventures of Jamie Watson and Sherlock Holmes - based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Jo March Vlog - based on Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Jules and Monty - based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
• Kate the Cursed - based on The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
• The Lizzie Bennet Diaries – Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
• Lil Women - based on Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Lovely Little Losers - based on Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare
• The March Family Letters - based on Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Mars and Elly - based on Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
• A Midsemester Night's Dream - based on A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
• The Misselthwaite Archives - based on The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
• Much Ado About A Webseries - based on Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
• The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy - based on Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
• Nick Carraway Chronicles - based on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Northbound - based on Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
• Notes by Christine - based on The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
• Nothing Much to Do - based on Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
• ProjectAOGG (working title) - based on Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (forthcoming)
• Project Green Gables - based on Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
• SHAKES - based on Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
• Welcome to Sanditon - based on Sanditon by Jane Austen

Literature

• Andy and the Lion - children's book by James Daugherty retelling "Androcles and the Lion" in a modern (1930s) setting
• Beauty and the Beast - 17th century tale by Charles Perrault is a retelling of the Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche.
• Brazil (novel) by John Updike - Tristan and Isolde set in the slums of Rio de Janeiro
• Dorian, an Imitation by Will Self – Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman - Grimms' Fairy Tales
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - self-referential take on Dracula (novel)
• Lady Macbeth's Daughter by Lisa Klein – William Shakespeare's Macbeth
• Night's Daughter by Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Magic Flute
• Ophelia by Lisa Klein – William Shakespeare's Hamlet
• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski – Hamlet, with dogs
• Tam Lin by Pamela Dean – Tam Lin relocated to a college in early 1970s Minnesota
• Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis - Cupid and Psyche
• Ulysses (novel) by James Joyce - The Odyssey reenacted in Dublin, Ireland on 16 June 1904 by a town drunk
• A Midsummer Night's Steampunk by Scott E. Tarbet - William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, a Steampunk retelling brought forward to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee

Theatre

• All Shook Up - Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
• The Bomb-itty of Errors - A Comedy of Errors as a hip-hop musical
• The Boys from Syracuse - Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors
• The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) - humorous mash-up purporting to include at least one element of every play William Shakespeare wrote
• Damn Yankees – the Faust legend
• Godspell - the New Testament retold with deliberate anachronisms which serve both humorous and allegorical purposes
• I Love You Because - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
• Jesus Christ Superstar - the New Testament retold with deliberate anachronisms for both humor and allegory
• Kiss Me, Kate - self-referential adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
• Mourning Becomes Electra - the House of Atreus story relocated to New England in 1865
• My Fair Lady – Pygmalion
• Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 - based on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• Republic - based on Henry IV by William Shakespeare
• The Rocky Horror Show - musical spoof of Frankenstein, primarily the 1931 film adaptation rather than the novel itself
• Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead - Hamlet retold from different perspectives, with minimal fourth wall breaking.
• Rent – La Boheme
• Twist - Oliver Twist
• West Side Story – William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
• Young Frankenstein - musical spoof of Frankenstein, based on the 1931 and 1974 film versions rather than the novel itself