The Best Adaptation Movies and TV Shows on Cinemax
Finding a good Adaptation movie and TV show to watch can be hard, so we've ranked the best ones and included where to watch them. Check out our list of the best Adaptation movies and TV shows of all time streaming on Cinemax.

1. Apocalypse Now
What it's about: At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

2. Rush
What it's about: A biographical drama centered on the rivalry between Formula 1 drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda during the 1976 Formula One motor-racing season.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

3. Darkest Hour
What it's about: A thrilling and inspiring true story begins on the eve of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials: exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to change the course of world history.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

4. Alita: Battle Angel
What it's about: When Alita awakens with no memory of who she is in a future world she does not recognize, she is taken in by Ido, a compassionate doctor who realizes that somewhere in this abandoned cyborg shell is the heart and soul of a young woman with an extraordinary past.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 3 others).

5. Mississippi Burning
What it's about: Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Vudu).

6. Winter's Bone
What it's about: 17 year-old Ree Dolly sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. If she fails, Ree and her family will be turned out into the Ozark woods. Challenging her outlaw kin's code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy & Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

7. Friday Night Lights
What it's about: A small, turbulent town in Texas obsesses over their high school football team to an unhealthy degree. When the star tailback, Boobie Miles, is seriously injured during the first game of the season, all hope is lost, and the town's dormant social problems begin to flare up. It is left to the inspiring abilities of new coach Gary Gaines to instill in the other team members -- and, by proxy, the town itself -- a sense of self-respect and honor.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & HBO), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

8. Murder on the Orient Express
What it's about: In 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

9. Blinded by the Light
What it's about: In 1987, during the austere days of Thatcher’s Britain, a teenager learns to live life, understand his family, and find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
What it's about: Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

11. In the Bedroom
What it's about: Summertime on the coast of Maine, "In the Bedroom" centers on the inner dynamics of a family in transition. Matt Fowler is a doctor practicing in his native Maine and is married to New York born Ruth Fowler, a music teacher. His son is involved in a love affair with a local single mother. As the beauty of Maine's brief and fleeting summer comes to an end, these characters find themselves in the midst of unimaginable tragedy.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

12. The Sessions
What it's about: Though a childhood bout with polio left him dependent on an iron lung, Mark O'Brien maintains a career as a journalist and poet. A writing assignment dealing with sex and the disabled piques Mark's curiosity, and he decides to investigate the possibility of experiencing sex himself. When his overtures toward a caregiver scare her away, he books an appointment with sex surrogate Cheryl Green to lose his virginity.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

13. Get Shorty
What it's about: Chili Palmer is a Miami mobster who gets sent by his boss, the psychopathic "Bones" Barboni, to collect a bad debt from Harry Zimm, a Hollywood producer who specializes in cheesy horror films. When Chili meets Harry's leading lady, the romantic sparks fly. After pitching his own life story as a movie idea, Chili learns that being a mobster and being a Hollywood producer really aren't all that different.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

14. Reds
What it's about: An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed (1887-1920), who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his dream of spreading its principles among the members of the American working class, and his troubled romantic relationship with the writer Louise Bryant (1885-1936).
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

15. The Art of Racing in the Rain
What it's about: A family dog—with a near-human soul and a philosopher's mind—evaluates his life through the lessons learned by his human owner, a race-car driver.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Microsoft & 2 others).

16. Altered States
What it's about: A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from native American shamans, he explores these altered states of consciousness and finds that memory, time, and perhaps reality itself are states of mind.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

17. Tag
What it's about: For one month every year, five highly competitive friends hit the ground running in a no-holds-barred game of tag they’ve been playing since the first grade. This year, the game coincides with the wedding of their only undefeated player, which should finally make him an easy target. But he knows they’re coming...and he’s ready.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Microsoft & Vudu).

18. Breakthrough
What it's about: Tragedy strikes when a woman named Joyce's son falls through the ice on a frozen lake and is trapped underwater for over 15 minutes. After being rushed to the hospital, the 14-year-old boy continues to fight for his life as Joyce, her husband and their pastor stay by his bedside and pray for a miracle.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Microsoft & Vudu).

19. Stand and Deliver
What it's about: Jaime Escalante is a mathematics teacher in a school in a hispanic neighbourhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he adopts unconventional teaching methods to try and turn gang members and no-hopers into some of the country's top algebra and calculus students.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

20. The Grifters
What it's about: A young short-con grifter suffers both injury and the displeasure of reuniting with his criminal mother, all the while dating an unpredictable young lady.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

21. One Day
What it's about: A romantic comedy centered on Dexter and Emma, who first meet during their graduation in 1988 and proceed to keep in touch regularly. The film follows what they do on July 15 annually, usually doing something together.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

22. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
What it's about: London, England, on the eve of World War II. Guinevere Pettigrew, a strict governess who is unable to keep a job, is fired again. Lost in the hostile city, a series of fortunate circumstances lead her to meet Delysia LaFosse, a glamorous and dazzling American jazz singer whose life is a chaos ruled by indecision, a continuous battle between love and fame.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

23. Indignation
What it's about: In 1951, Marcus Messner, a working-class Jewish student from New Jersey, attends a small Ohio college, where he struggles with anti-Semitism, sexual repression, and the ongoing Korean War.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

24. The Lovely Bones
What it's about: After being brutally murdered, 14-year-old Susie Salmon watches from heaven over her grief-stricken family -- and her killer. As she observes their daily lives, she must balance her thirst for revenge with her desire for her family to heal.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

25. The Shack
What it's about: After suffering a family tragedy, Mack Phillips spirals into a deep depression causing him to question his innermost beliefs. Facing a crisis of faith, he receives a mysterious letter urging him to an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Despite his doubts, Mack journeys to the shack and encounters an enigmatic trio of strangers led by a woman named Papa. Through this meeting, Mack finds important truths that will transform his understanding of his tragedy and change his life forever.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

26. The Pope of Greenwich Village
What it's about: Charlie and his troublesome cousin Paulie decide to steal $150000 in order to back a "sure thing" race horse that Paulie has inside information on. The aftermath of the robbery gets them into serious trouble with the local Mafia boss and the corrupt New York City police department.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax) & stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax).

27. Calendar Girls
What it's about: Members of a Yorkshire branch of the Women's Institute cause controversy when they pose nude for a charity calendar.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

28. The Punisher
What it's about: When undercover FBI agent Frank Castle's wife and son are slaughtered, he becomes 'the Punisher' -- a ruthless vigilante willing to go to any length to avenge his family.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

29. The Eagle Has Landed
What it's about: When the Nazi high command learns in late 1943 that Winston Churchill will be spending time at a country estate in Norfolk, it hatches an audacious scheme to kidnap the prime minister and spirit him to Germany for enforced negotiations with Hitler.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax & Shout Factory TV), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

30. The Wings of the Dove
What it's about: Kate is secretly betrothed to a struggling journalist, Merton Densher. But she knows her Aunt Maude will never approve of the match, since Kate's deceased mother has lost all her money in a marriage to a degenerate opium addict. When Kate meets a terminally ill American heiress named Millie traveling through Europe, she comes up with a conniving plan to have both love and wealth.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

31. The Lucky One
What it's about: U.S. Marine Sergeant Logan Thibault returns from his third tour of duty in Iraq, with the one thing he credits with keeping him alive-a photograph he found of a woman he doesn't even know. Learning her name is Beth and where she lives, he shows up at her door, and ends up taking a job at her family-run local kennel. Despite her initial mistrust and the complications in her life, a romance develops between them, giving Logan hope that Beth could be much more than his good luck charm.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

32. Strike
What it's about: A war veteran turned private detective operates out of a tiny office in London’s Denmark Street. Although wounded both physically and psychologically, his unique insight and background as a military police investigator prove crucial in solving complex crimes that have baffled the police. Based on the bestselling novels written by J.K. Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Where to Watch: 7 episodes (47%) are available to stream on a subscription service (HBO & Cinemax). 7 episodes (47%) are available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax). 7 episodes (47%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Vudu).

33. Blindness
What it's about: When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

34. The Great Gilly Hopkins
What it's about: Wisecracking, gum-chewing 12-year-old Gilly is well known in the foster system. Totally unmanageable, she has stayed with more families than she can remember and has outwitted them all. After all, how can she settle down when her real mother, the beautiful and glamourous Courtney, might be out there waiting for her? When Gilly is sent to live with the Trotters, the weirdest family yet, she isn’t planning to stick around. But cheerful, affectionate Maime Trotter isn’t giving up on Gilly just yet...
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

35. A Shock to the System
What it's about: Madison Avenue executive Graham Marshall has paid his dues. A talented and devoted worker, he has suffered through mounting bills and a nagging wife with one thing to look forward to: a well-deserved promotion. But when the promotion is given to a loud-mouthed yuppie associate, Graham unleashes his rage on an overly aggressive panhandler, who he accidently kills by pushing him into the path of an oncoming subway train. He re-thinks his problems with an entirely new solution. First, he arranges an "accident" for his annoying wife. Then he creates another "mishap" for his boss. It seems like the world is once more Graham's oyster…but a missing cigarette lighter and a prying police detective may change all that.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (Fandor, Kanopy, Cinemax & 1 other) & stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax).

36. The Shipping News
What it's about: An emotionally-beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

37. The Russia House
What it's about: An expatriate British publisher unexpectedly finds himself working for British intelligence to investigate people in Russia.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

38. Live by Night
What it's about: A story set in the Prohibition Era and centered on a group of individuals and their dealings in the world of organized crime.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Microsoft & 2 others).

39. Hellboy
What it's about: Hellboy comes to England, where he must defeat Nimue, Merlin's consort and the Blood Queen. But their battle will bring about the end of the world, a fate he desperately tries to turn away.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

40. The Aftermath
What it's about: In the aftermath of World War II, a British colonel and his wife are assigned to live in Hamburg during the post-war reconstruction, but tensions arise with the German widower who lives with them.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Microsoft & 2 others).

41. Dark Water
What it's about: Dahlia Williams and her daughter Cecelia move into a rundown apartment on New York's Roosevelt Island. She is currently in midst of divorce proceedings and the apartment, though near an excellent school for her daughter, is all she can afford. From the time she arrives, there are mysterious occurrences and there is a constant drip from the ceiling in her daughter's bedroom.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

42. The Shadow
What it's about: Based on the 1930's comic strip, puts the hero up against his arch enemy, Shiwan Khan, who plans to take over the world by holding a city to ransom using an atom bomb. Using his powers of invisibility and "The power to cloud men's minds", the Shadow comes blazing to the city's rescue with explosive results.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

43. Feast of Love
What it's about: A meditation on love and its various incarnations, set within a community of friends in Oregon. It is described as an exploration of the magical, mysterious and sometimes painful incarnations of love.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

44. Monkey Shines
What it's about: A quadriplegic man is given a trained monkey help him with every day activities, until the little monkey begins to develop feelings, and rage, against its new master and those who get too close to him.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

45. Can You Keep a Secret?
What it's about: Emma Corrigan, a girl with a few secrets on a turbulent plane ride, thinks she’s about to die, Emma spills them all to the handsome stranger sitting next to her. At least, she thought he was a stranger. But then, her company’s young and elusive CEO, arrives at the office. It’s him. And he knows every single humiliating detail about Emma.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

46. Won't Back Down
What it's about: Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

47. Freejack
What it's about: Time-traveling bounty hunters find a doomed race-car driver in the past and bring him to 2009 New York, where his mind will be replaced with that of a terminally ill billionaire.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

48. The Evil That Men Do
What it's about: Professional killer Holland is forced out of retirement to break a Central American government's political torture ring when one of his friends, a Latin American journalist, is killed. The murderer, Doctor Clement Molloch, is the master sadist behind the political torture of innocent victims. Posing as a journalist, Holland lures Molloch out of his fortress-like headquarters by using his murdered friend's wife and daughter as bait. When Holland kidnaps Molloch's sister, the doctor is led on a wild chase that takes him to an abandoned opal mine where he finally comes face to face with Holland.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

49. A Handful of Dust
What it's about: English aristocrat Tony Last welcomes tragedy into his life when he invites John Beaver to visit his vast estate. There Beaver makes the acquaintance of Tony's wife, Brenda. Together, they continue their relationship in a series of bedroom assignations in London. Trusting to a fault, Tony is unaware that anything is amiss until his wife suddenly asks for a divorce. With his life in turmoil, Tony goes on a haphazard journey to South America.
Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Cinemax) & stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax).

50. Wolves at the Door
What it's about: Four friends gather at an elegant home during the Summer of Love, 1969. Unbeknownst to them, deadly visitors are waiting outside. What begins as a simple farewell party turns to a night of primal terror as the intruders stalk and torment the four, who struggle for their lives against what appears to be a senseless attack.
Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & Vudu).