Why Hollywood Suddenly Can’t Stop Adapting the Classics

By Bryce Rioux

Pull up any entertainment calendar for 2026, and something will stick out: half of it looks like a college syllabus. Emily Brontë, Jane Austen and Homer are having bigger box office success than most modern screenwriters and original movies. Forget coincidences; this is becoming an industry trend, and it poses an interesting question about why literature that's 150 to 2,700 years old is suddenly Hollywood's best performers. 

Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights”

Fennell, who solidified her reputation in the film world following “Saltburn”, took Brontë's famous gothic romance and reworked the version most people read for English class. The 2026 adaptation stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, and really leans into physical desire and tension rather than the novel's emphasis on emotional torment. Released in February (on Valentine's Day, too) with a Charli XCX soundtrack, it has already been called one of the year's most divisive films; it was the kind of adaptation that either revitalizes interest in the original novel or makes die-hard book fans cringe. Either way, commercially it worked, pulling in $240 million dollars from its $80 million budget. 

Netflix’s “Pride and Prejudice”

Fennell definitely went for shock factor, but Netflix was aiming for respect. Its six-part series, written by Dolly Alderton and directed by Euros Lyn, set to come out December 3, 2026, describes itself as a faithful, classic take on Austen. They are not looking to reinvent it, just bring the novel so many people already love to television. Emma Corrin is set to play Elizabeth Bennet alongside Jack Lowden’s Mr. Darcy. The show could not be coming at a better time, 2025 marked the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birth, which may be responsible for what some culture writers have called a “regency renaissance”, a cluster of period-romance projects landing within months of each other. 

Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey”

Then, possibly the biggest one of all, a new Nolan film hit theatres. Fresh off Oppenheimer, Nolan took on Homer and produced what was arguably the most anticipated film of the year. It premiered on July 17, 2026, and pulled in $264.1 million opening weekend alone. With Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland as Telemachus and Zendaya as Athena, the cast was stacked and guaranteed to bring in viewership. To make this film even more revered, it was also shot entirely on IMAX 70MM film. An R-Rated, nearly three-hour-long adaptation of the 2,700-year-old poem was able to outperform franchise tentpoles on pure directorial reputation. If “Wuthering Heights” showed classics can be provocative, “Pride and Prejudice” showed they can still be a source of comfort and stay true to the original. “The Odyssey” proved one can be a summer blockbuster even nearly three millennia later. 

The true testament to whether this series of releases proves classics can carry a box office success, or whether it's just a one-year coincidence driven by three projects packed with stars landing in the same 12 months. You can call it a renaissance if you want, but this seems like Hollywood finally rediscovering why classics were canonized in the first place.