History InNameOnly / LiveActionFilms

* ''Film/FunWithDickAndJane'': Like the famous [[Literature/DickAndJane beginning reader books]], the main characters are named Dick and Jane... and that's it!

* Alfred Hitchcock's adaptation of ''Literature/TheThirtyNineSteps'' is considered to be this by John Buchan's family due to how far it deviated from the source material after [[spoiler:Hannay sneaks out of his flat]]; that said, they still regarded it as an entertaining film in its own right.

* ''A Cry in the Wild'' is an adaptation of Gary Paulsen's ''Hatchet'', but the sequel, ''White Wolves: A Cry in the Wild II'' has no relation to [[Literature/BriansSaga the series]] other than having the same director.

** Garfield actually insisted on the changes. Due to his hatred of the sequels to the film version of ''Film/DeathWish'', he would not sell the film rights to ''Death Sentence'' unless the main character was not Paul Kersey and the adaptation didn't follow the film series. This in turn led to a long development hell period for the project.
* For that matter, ''Film/DeathWish''; the film's supposed glorification of vigilantism goes against the intended message of the novel.

* The 1995 remake of the 1947 crime drama ''KissOfDeath'' kept the basic plot and included a fleeting ShoutOut (that most people will miss), but changed the characters' names. It would have been polite to call it something else, since the 1947 original is a very good thriller and still quite scary.

* ''Film/{{Snowpiercer}}'' is based off of a French graphic novel named ''Le Transperceneige''. Very, ''VERY'' loosely - the only thing it has in common are the setting and the name of the train it takes place on. This actually doesn't make it bad at all - the film is still a very strong film on its own.

* It's been confirmed by WordOfGod that ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' will having nothing to do with the [[Comicbook/AgeOfUltron comic book story of the same name]]. Aside from featuring Ultron as the BigBad, [[CaptainObvious of course]]. They just went with the name because it [[RuleOfCool sounded cool]].
** Similarly, early indications are that the third (and fourth) ''Avengers'' films, ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', will have much more in common with the comic book story ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'' than the story actually titled ''Infinity War'', which is a sequel to the above. Again, blame the RuleOfCool.

* The forthcoming ''Film/CabinFever: Patient Zero'' has nothing in common with the previous two films outside of having a virus and from the premise, seems to read more like a combination of ''Film/{{Outbreak}}'' and ''Film/TheHumanCentipede''.

* Happens all the time with comic book movies. Given that ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' doesn't even keep the ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'' title out of confusion with ''Franchise/{{Hellraiser}}'', you have to wonder why they bothered.
** Constantine is a curious case, in that while it is viewed as a poor adaptation, it ''is'' viewed as a good stand alone movie.

* ''Film/DragonballEvolution'' has ''some'' elements in common with the original manga, such as the presence of Goku and a girl named Bulma who are in search of the seven [[MacGuffin Dragon Balls]]. But nearly everything else is heavily modified from the original canon. Goku went from a twelve-year old {{Chaste|Hero}} WildChild to a sixteen-year old negative high schooler who wants to get with a girl. He learns the Kamehameha too late, and is too serious to even be considered the same character. And Krillin, a highly important character in the original, was removed entirely (although [[FunnyAnimal Oolong and Puar]] may be understandable). Bulma and [[AscendedExtra Mai]] go the other way and TookALevelInBadass. It was declared CanonDiscontinuity by Toriyama.

* ''Film/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' was based on a book from the ''1970s'' (yes, there was book). The film and the book have almost nothing in common, besides the vaguely similar plot and some character names. Creator/LoisDuncan, the writer of the book, was apparently pretty unhappy about this.

* ''Film/IRobot'', has several passing similarities to the [[Literature/IRobot namesake series]] (it does prominently feature robots being ThreeLawsCompliant), but the actual storyline is nothing like the original. However, that book was an anthology of ''nine'' separate stories in a common universe, mostly revolving around the central character Susan Calvin. The film features many of the concepts of that universe. The conceit of the film is that it's a loose prequel to those stories, a new tale in the overall series of stories whose blanket title is ''I, Robot''.
** However there is [[Literature/AdamLink another story]] called ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_%28short_story%29 I, Robot]]'' that pre-dates the Creator/IsaacAsimov version where a robot is blamed for the death of his creator. Which was made into In Name Only episodes for both versions of ''Series/TheOuterLimits''.

* ''Film/TheMask'': [[ComicBook/TheMask The original comic]] was more of a horror series involving the titular Mask turning people into Axe Crazy murderers. The movie, then [[WesternAnimation/TheMask the animated series]] turned the character into a comical Super Hero, kept as the main character a guy who only last one issue in the comic, and used few elements from the comic. The show and the movie are actually better remembered than the comic, and the serie was rather well-received

** A person is only allowed to meet the Childlike Empress once, at least, until her name is changed again, and Bastian had already met her. [[note]]a good part of the premise to the second half of the book hinges on this[[/note]]

** The Fantasians are not supposed to enter the human world, due to the fact that they are then no longer part of the imagination, but become lies. That was part of the problem with the Nothing - the things it ate up were sent off to the human world, which destroyed both Fantasia and the human world.
* ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum,'' because the original book was very short.

* In Argentina, there's a pornographic film called ''Pollémon'', leading one to believe that it's a Pokémon porno spoof. The film's cover even advertises, ''"Vive las fascinantes aventuras de Pollachu!"'' ("Live the fascinating adventures of Pollachu!") If you were expecting to see someone in a poorly-designed Pikachu costume, Team Rocket, or anything else having to do with Pokémon, well... let's just say you'll be PRETTY disappointed.

* The first ''Film/ThePrincessDiaries'' film took the basic plotline of [[Literature/ThePrincessDiaries the books]] and the character names and did its own thing, probably because they got Creator/JulieAndrews to play the grandmother, but the sequel basically did its own thing entirely. The fact that Mia's mother married Mia's teacher and had a baby is the only thing the sequel took from the book series. [[MindScrew Though in-universe the movies exist within the books continuity]] with Mia lampshading how they changed so many things (Good and bad) compared to her "real-life" adventures.

* The movie adaptation of ''Literature/TheDarkIsRising'', which in its primary market didn't even keep the name, being re-titled ''Film/TheSeeker''. One reviewer joked that "They only changed one thing in the plot - ''everything''", and it's not far wrong. The Stanton family, who in the books are warm, caring and British, are now dysfunctional and American; Will is changed from a thoughtful, wise-for-his-age eleven-year-old to a whiny fourteen-year-old [[HormoneAddledTeenager hormone-addled]] {{jerkass}} who's more interested in stealing his brother's girlfriend than completing his quest for the Signs, and all the Arthurian mythology is hacked out and replaced with Christian allegory. The director himself ''bragged'' about how unfaithful it was, admitting that he [[SciFiGhetto didn't really care for fantasy works anyway]].

* ''A Shot in the Dark'' is allegedly based on a stage play by Harry Kurnitz (itself based on a play by Marcel Achard), but all it really has is the plot, a deceased chauffeur named Miguel and a couple named Benjamin and Dominique. In fact, it was supposed to be almost exactly like the stage play -- until Blake Edwards suggested that Creator/PeterSellers play Inspector Clouseau.

* The comic book ComicBook/TheSpirit is about a BadassNormal with no powers, who is a CelibateHero that gets nervous around women and wears an ugly, off the rack blue and white suit. ''Film/TheSpirit'' is about a revived dead guy with a HealingFactor, who is a HandsomeLech in a stylish, tailored, black-on-black suit. And his enemy, the Octopus, is an intimidating and powerful gangster obsessed with not letting anyone see his face. In the film, he's a lower-tier scientist with ambitions of godhood who is incredibly vain and showoffy about his good looks. It's like they were trying to do the exact opposite of the comics. The irony? Creator/WillEisner gave the rights to Michael Uslan, the producer, on the understanding that Uslan wouldn't give the project to anyone who 'Didn't get it'. There were further ironies in the fact that Creator/FrankMiller was a big fan of Eisner, one of Eisner's friends, and showed himself to be capable of understanding the concept of The Spirit as indicated by his Daredevil work.

* If Creator/KevinSmith is to be believed, Jon Peters' ''Franchise/{{Superman}} Lives'', a movie that was never made, would have had Superman's iconic outfit be replaced by an all black one, Superman wouldn't fly, and he'd fight ''a GiantSpider'', it would have also given Lex a pet named "Chewie", as well as making Brainiac fight ''polar bears''. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk This is true folks]]. Fortunately, Kevin Smith tried to make a script that worked the changes in while still throwing in the traditional Superman feel, but ''Superman Lives'' was never made to this day.

* The 1990 film, ''Film/{{Troll 2}}'' is not related to the 1986 B-movie ''Troll'' in any way but name. It's also about goblins, not trolls. Amusingly, there are two films that claim to be the sequel to ''Troll 2'', both directed by Joe D'Amato: ''Crawlers: Troll 3'', which is about killer tree roots, and ''Troll 3: The Sword of Power'' (AKA ''Quest For The Mighty Sword''), which uses some of the goblin costumes from ''Troll 2'', but is actually one of the sequels to ''[[Film/TheBladeMaster Ator]]''). Ultimately the ''Troll'' "series" immediately became a dumping ground for whatever genre horror film came along.

* The ''Film/{{Underdog}}'' [[TheMovie Movie]]: Well, it uses some of the names from the cartoon. Everything else is different.
* The ''Series/WalkingWithDinosaurs'' 3D movie doesn't follow the documentary format of the original series, opting instead for telling a coherent story with highly anthropomorphised, talking (or rather, "thinking aloud") dinosaurs. The serious, scientific tone is replaced with {{slapstick}}, ToiletHumour and BlackAndWhiteMorality. Nor are most of the original creators involved. It's seemingly more of a combination of ''WesternAnimation/MarchOfTheDinosaurs'', ''Series/DinosaurRevolution'', Disney's ''Disney/{{Dinosaur}}'' with bits of ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime''. However, the background dinosaur extras ''do'' behave like real animals, at least.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' bears very little resemblance to its original source, ''Literature/WhoCensoredRogerRabbit''. Only five characters and the premise of human beings and cartoon characters co-existing and the murder plot are there.

** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'':

*** Deadpool retains his sarcastic sense of humor, MotorMouth and katanas... and even those fall by the wayside by the time of the main events of the movie. [[spoiler:While he does undergo a procedure to give him a copy of Wolverine's HealingFactor that leaves his body horrifically scarred just like in the comics, he's also saddled with Cyclops' optic blasts, Wraith's teleportation (He uses a device in the comics) and a pair of [[BladeBelowTheShoulder Blades Below the Shoulders]], and just to add insult to injury, his mouth is sewn shut.]]

** ''Film/MinorityReport'' only takes 4 or 5 characters and the concept of Precrime from the original short story of the same name. Differences include a setting relocation, {{adaptation expansion}}s to characters, name changes, adding new characters and what not. The biggest most significant gap, however is the actions the protagonist takes towards the end in their respective stories.

** The original ''Film/TotalRecall1990'' is very loosely based on a short story called "We Can Remember It For You, Wholesale.". Actually, both the film and the story begin being roughly the same, but there's a point in which they divert: just after the protagonist has his malfunctioning memory trip. Viewers of the movie will instantly recognize that point as the same one in which the movie has a sudden MoodWhiplash from classic sci-fi to pull-all-the-stops action movie, while the story turns into a spectacular MindRape.

* ''Film/{{Snowpiercer}}'' is based off of a French graphic novel named ''Le Transperceneige''. Very ''VERY'' loosely - the only thing it has in common are the setting and the name of the train it takes place on. This actually doesn't make it bad at all - the film is still a very strong film on its own.

* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' features a version of Ashley Kafka with the only thing in common with the comic character being that they work as Ravencroft and the name, as the Kafka of the comics was a female psychologist who cared about her paitents, whereas the movie Kafa is a male MadScientist who tortures Electro ForScience
* The only things ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'''s version of Gillian Loeb has in common in the character of the same name from ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'' is that he's against Batman and preceding [[TheCommissionerGordon Jim Gordon]] as Police Commissioner[[note]]and even then, in the comics, then was a man named Grogan was held the job between Loeb leaving and Gordon taking over[[/note]], as the movie character has more to do with Michael Akins, an officer who temporarily replaced Gordon as Commissioner: namely being a young, honest, African-American cop rather than the old Caucasian CorruptCop from the comics.

*** Callisto's not scarred or one-eyed, she has a mix of Caliban's and Quicksilver's powers and not her own hypersensitivity.\\\
Kid Omega is actually Quill. The writers even state so in the DVDCommentary.

** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'':\\\
Callisto's not scarred or one-eyed, she has a mix of Caliban's and Quicksilver's powers and not her own hypersensitivity.\\\
Kid Omega is actually Quill. The writers even state so in the DVDCommentary.\\\
Leech. The movie ditches his defining trait of not passing for normal and not being able to do anything about it because most mutant powers don't work on him. Also, his powers no longer temporarily nullify whoever he touches, he has an area of effect that fully humanizes whoever enters it. Granted, it serves as a better justification for [[spoiler: using him as a source for The Cure, as using the original comic book plot would have left no screen time for the Phoenix plotline]].
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' is fairly notorious for it, with many of the featured mutants having little (or nothing) to do with its comic book counterparts:\\\
Emma Frost. The only attributes that she has in common with her comics counterpart is that she's blonde and can turn her skin into a diamond-like form. ''First Class'' would [[CanonDiscontinuity ignore]] her appearance in this story and present its own version of Emma as much closer to her comics counterpart. Then again, she's called "Emma", but the surname is never said. However, in one of the character TV spots, they clearly use Frost as her surname.\\\
Agent Zero. Not only do they use his New Weapon X callsign instead of his Weapon X one (Maverick), he somehow has Agent X's powers as well. Neither his powers as Maverick (kinetic energy absorption and redirection), nor his powers as Agent Zero (corrosive skin secretions designed to defeat HealingFactor abilities) make an actual appearance. Oh, and he's no longer East German.\\\
Bolt. Or Bradley, for those who missed him because he's long-dead in the comics. He's not only not called by his callsign, he's also no longer the kid Maverick teaches in the use of his powers after retiring - he's now Maverick's comrade-in-arms. Who, instead of lightning-flinging powers, has electric-appliance-powering-and-controlling powers.\\\
Deadpool retains his sarcastic sense of humor, MotorMouth and katanas... and even those fall by the wayside by the time of the main events of the movie. [[spoiler:While he does undergo a procedure to give him a copy of Wolverine's HealingFactor that leaves his body horrifically scarred just like in the comics, he's also saddled with Cyclops' optic blasts, Wraith's teleportation (He uses a device in the comics) and a pair of [[BladeBelowTheShoulder Blades Below the Shoulders]], and just to add insult to injury, his mouth is sewn shut.]]\\\
In the comics, Blob's fat body was a part of his mutation, with the super strength more of a {{Required Secondary Power|s}}. In fact it's ''the fat'' that made him virtually resistant to any weapons.
** ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' has nothing to do with the [[ComicBook/XMen comic book of the same name]] and features entirely different origins for many of the characters. Despite this, the movie was very well-received by critics and was a hit at the box office.\\\
A notable aspect is the complete reinvention of one character in particular, Azazel. Azazel in the comics is an immortal mutant/demon warlord who was banished to another dimension because he looked and acted like the devil and got many women pregnant to have an army of children to free him...somehow. In the film, he's a Russian KnifeNut who looks like the devil but other than killing a few people, doesn't act like it. He instead appears more like his son, Nightcrawler, only red and evil. [[TropesAreNotBad This is not a bad thing]], and as he originally was [[TheScrappy so despised]], the film [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap gave the character a well welcomed overhaul]].
** Most of ''Film/TheWolverine'''s characters are based from ''[[ComicBook/FrankMillersWolverine Frank Miller's Wolverine]]'' series; with some of them taken liberties to in terms of role.\\\
The comics' Kenuichio Harada is ''THE'' Silver Samurai, Shingen's arrogant illegitimate son and a mutant seeking to rule the Yashida clan for himself. He despises the "gaijin" and the Yashidas especially his half-sister Mariko. In the film, most of his personality reflected on Shingen while Harada is relegated to the Yashidas' bodyguard, Mariko's ex-fiance [[spoiler:and not even the actual Silver Samurai]]. His closest reference to the comics is his affiliation with Viper.\\\
Viper aka Madame Hydra is a high-ranking member of HYDRA (and eventually leader) who is a human with superb martial arts skills and knowledge with poisons. Much like Juggernaut before her, the film depicts her as a mutant scientist with snake-like attributes who mainly works for herself. Confusingly, Fox was still allowed to use her, even though she's much more tied to Nick Fury and SHIELD. Strangely enough, it's the Silver Samurai who is one of HYDRA's leaders during the events of ''X-Men: The Official Game''.

* Film/PromNight1980'' spawned a series of sequels and a remake that have nothing do with the film, other than being horror movies set around a prom.

** The DirectToVideo ''Film/PromNightIIITheLastKiss'' ''is'' an actual sequel to ''Hello Mary Lou'' though, and ''Film/PromNightIVDeliverUsFromEvil'' (also released DTV) is a spin-off.

* None of the sequels or the remake to ''Film/PromNight1980'' have ''anything'' to do with the film, other than being Canadian horror films set around a prom.
** ''Film/HelloMaryLouPromNightII'' wasn't even filmed as a sequel. It only got branded as such at the last minute due to ExecutiveMeddling, much to the dismay of the writer/producer. Wheres the original ''Prom Night'' has a realistic slasher premise, this film is full-blown supernatural/fantasy, and has it's share of camp and comedic elements. The difference is pretty striking. The DirectToVideo ''Film/PromNightIIITheLastKiss'' ''is'' an actual sequel to this film, but ''Film/PromNightIVDeliverUsFromEvil'' (also released DTV) is once again a completely independent film.
** [[Film/PromNight2008 The 2008 remake]] is similar to the original in only the most basic sense, [[StalkerWithACrush having a completely different story]] all together. It does go back to being a straight slasher film though.

* ''Film/HelloMaryLouPromNightII'' has no connection to the [[Film/PromNight1980 first]] outside the setting and being a prom-themed horror film. Likewise, [[Film/PromNightIVDeliverUsFromEvil the fourth]] is unconnected to the previous three outside a brief appearance by Hamilton High (the [[Film/PromNightIIITheLastKiss third film]] was a legit sequel to the second film). [[Film/PromNight2008 The remake]] is similar to the original in only the most basic sense, [[StalkerWithACrush having a completely different story]] all together. Some even consider it to be a completely independent film. The reason the second ''Prom Night'' flick was this was because of ExecutiveMeddling. Originally it was supposed to be called "The Haunting of Hamilton High", and be a scary tribute to the slasher genre (featuring references to ''Literature/{{Carrie}}, Film/TheOmen, Franchise/{{Halloween}}, Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet, Franchise/FridayThe13th, Film/TheExorcist, Film/PromNight1980'', along many others), but because it was a prom-themed horror film with a school of the same name as ''Prom Night'' (which was done on purpose as a homage to the original ''Prom Night''), the original film's distributor picked it up to cash in on ''Prom Night'''s success, and retooled it as a ''Prom Night'' sequel. Needless to say, the director was not happy about this...

* In ''Film/IronMan3'', the BigBad is [[spoiler:Aldrich Killian]]. In the comic arc the movie adapts, the character [[spoiler:dies off very near the start and plays no active role in the order of events]] as a result. In this case, this was done intentionally in order to place a very crazy plot twist halfway through the movie; [[BrokenBase fans are still divided]] weither this was a [[TropeAreNotBad good]] or bad thing.

* In ''Film/IronMan3'', the BigBad is [[spoiler:Aldrich Killian]]. In the comic arc the movie adapts, the character [[spoiler:dies off very near the start and plays no active role in the order of events]] as a result. Another example where [[TropesAreNotBad it works to the benefit of the adaptation]], as it led to a very crazy plot twist halfway through the movie as a result.

* The Korean film ''Film/HanselAndGretel'' borrows some concepts from the original tale but overall it's a completely different story.

* ''Film/{{Catwoman}}'': Go read a ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'' comic. '''Any''' ''Catwoman'' comic. Then compare it to this movie. Other than the main character being a cat-themed antiheroine who dresses in black leather and wields a whip, there's almost no resemblance. The closest this film gets to having anything in common with the source material is an off-hand comment about "other people who have had such abilities", and one of the photos on the table is Selina from ''Film/BatmanReturns''.

* ''Film/FreakyFriday2003'': A girl named Anna and her mother who don't understand each other very well both switch bodies one Friday morning and get a better understanding of each other's lives and become closer, and...that's about all this movie has in common with the original film ''or'' the book. [[TropesAreNotBad During the movie's release, people praised it for not directly rehashing its predecessor, which was already more than 20 years old.]] The lack of similarities didn't stop publishers of the book from slapping a photo of Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis on reprints' covers, though.

* Creator/RogerZelazny's 1969 ''Literature/DamnationAlley'' was set in a post-apocalyptic Nation of California in which the aftereffects of WWIII twenty years ago have spiraled way beyond nuclear winter to bring the entire Earth to the [[ApocalypseHow brink of death]], including continuous several hundred mile an hour winds that continually roar by about 500 feet above the ground to produce a blanket of radioactive rubble and garbage mixed with the contents of a good part of the world's oceans (which regularly results in a shower of horribly mutated sea life raining down to feed the giant abominations that dominate the land) in the sky. The story follows a SociopathicHero (the last living Hell's Angel) who has been forced into a lone suicidal medicine delivery mission through the inland no-man's-land to the U.S. East Coast as the result of a murder conviction. The movie ''Film/DamnationAlley'' was instead set in a toned down version of this two years after the fireworks, with the protagonist recast as a soldier at a missile base in the desert. After braving some drunken hillbillies and rubber cockroaches to investigate a mysterious radio signal, he and his [[TheSquad squadmates]] discover a [[HiddenElfVillage completely untouched]] [[VivaLasVegas haven]] and live HappilyEverAfter. The film was the more strongly favored of two "Sci-Fi" films being made by Fox at the time. The other film was ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' (1977); this one's budget was 1.54 times larger.

* ''[[Film/HoratioHornblower Captain Horatio Hornblower, R. N.]]'': Comprising ''The Happy Return'', ''Ship of the Line'' and ''Flying Colours'', the film takes the bare plotline and ignores everything else. Several major elements and subplots are removed or replaced entirely, characterizations are radically changed.

** Hornblower, in the book, absolutely ''wreaks havoc'' on French shipping and naval operations in the Mediterranean, taking numerous prizes. The ''Sutherland'' is explicitly Dutch built and painted with a sloppy Nelson Chequer, which Hornblower uses to perform numerous ruse de guerre, before attacking the four warships in the open sea, virtually destroying three and heavily damaging the fourth, to prevent them from slipping into the harbour defended by coastal artillery, and the ''Sutherland'' is captured and towed to shore to stop from sinking. In the movie, the ''Sutherland'' is French and (in the colourised version at least) is painted an ugly seafoam, Hornblower captures one brig before learning of the warships and attacks them in the harbour, mostly being attacked by shore battery before personally firing a cannon into the ''Sutherland's'' hull to bottle up the harbour and prevent her capture.
** The Chateau de Graçay is removed entirely. They are ''quite'' vital to ''Flying Colours'', as the Comte de Graçay houses Hornblower, Bush and Brown through the winter and helps them assemble a rowboat and has his maids fashion Dutch customs officers' uniforms to escape, whereas here they simply escape from the carriage and reach Nantes, then [[MuggedForDisguise attack three Dutch officers for their uniforms]]. The character Marie, with whom Hornblower carries on an affair, is also removed.

* ''Creepshow 3'' is a much lambasted example, which is rather remarkable since like its namesakes it's a horror anthology movie. But unlike the other ''Film/Creepshow'' movies it had no involvement from George Romero or Stephen King and, even more damning, had no homages to the EC horror comics of the past. Of course, it helps (or doesn't help) that ''Creepshow'' and ''Creepshow 2'' are considered classics, while with ''Creepshow 3'' is as widely disliked as any work can be.

* ''Creepshow 3'' is a much lambasted example, which is rather remarkable since like its namesakes it's [[Film/Creepshow a horror anthology movie.]] But unlike the other ''Creepshow'' movies it had no involvement from George Romero or Stephen King and, even more damning, had no homages to the EC horror comics of the past. Of course, it helps (or doesn't help) that ''Creepshow'' and ''Creepshow 2'' are considered classics, while with ''Creepshow 3'' is as widely disliked as any work can be.

* ''Film/IKnowWhatYouDidLastSummer'' was based on a book from the ''1970s'' (yes, there was book). The film and the book have almost nothing in common, besides the vaguely similar plot and some character names. LoisDuncan, the writer of the book, was apparently pretty unhappy about this.

* It's been confirmed by WordOfGod that ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' will having nothing to do with the [[Comicbook/AgeOfUltron comic book story of the same name]]. Aside from featuring Ultron as the BigBad, [[CaptainObvious of course]].

** The new character Batgirl introduced is considered by many fans to be this due to the liberties taken with her origin, changing her from Commissioner Gordon's daughter to Alfred's niece, and dropping any original characterization and {{backstory}}.

*** Ironically enough, a true sequel titled "Beast" was supposed to be released around the same time as Millionaire Boyz Club, and was meant to follow up on the two main characters since the last film. This was either scrapped or put on the shelf. The main cause was of course the many legal troubles of one of its main actors, {{DMX}}.

* ''[[Film/HoratioHornblower Captain Horatio Hornblower, R. N.]]'': Comprising of ''The Happy Return'', ''Ship of the Line'' and ''Flying Colours'', the film takes the bare plotline and ignores everything else. Several major elements and subplots are removed or replaced entirely, characterizations are radically changed.

* ''Film/CheaperByTheDozen'': The book is about the world's first efficiency expert and how he raises his twelve children, while the movie is about a husband trying to raise twelve kids while his wife is away on a business trip. Note that this only applies to the remakes. The original movies made in the 50's and 60's were much, ''much'' more faithful to the events in the books - which were actually loosely based on events in real life, reminiscent of the Little House on the Prairie books.

* This trope is present in ''Existo'', the strangest installment in the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/ErnestPWorrell Ernest]] canon. Existo was a mentally unstable stage magician played by Bruce Arntson in the Ernest movies and TV show. In TheNineties when Ernest was relegated to straight-to-video releases, Existo got his own movie...sort of. ''Existo'' starred Bruce Arntson, but changed his character into an obsessively antiestablishmentary singer/songwriter and put him at the center of a morbid political satire set in Nashville.

* ''Film/FreakyFriday2003'': A girl named Anna and her mother who don't understand each other very well both switch bodies one Friday morning and get a better understanding of each other's lives and become closer, and...that's about all this movie has in common with the original ''or'' the book. [[TropesAreNotBad During the movie's release, people praised it for not directly rehashing its 20+ year old predecessor.]] The lack of similarities didn't stop publishers of the book from slapping a photo of Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis on reprints' covers, though.

* The ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' series was originally intended to be something of a ''Goosebumps'' for adults, with new, unrelated stories released every year. After the first two films had concluded Michael Myers's story, ''Film/HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch'' told a completely new and unrelated story about an insane Irish-American novelty-maker and his scheme involving android mooks and planting tiny shards of Stonehenge into his company's Halloween masks in order to "sacrifice" millions of American children via a TV broadcast. The film's poor financial performance led to Michael's return.

* Any ''Film/HomeAlone'' films after the second one have only tenuous connections to the ones before them. 3 and 5 feature completely different families and antagonists (a group of international criminals working for North Korea in 3 and a trio of thieves in 5.) ''Home Alone 4'' technically has the [=MacCallisters=], but they have little to nothing to do with the [=MacCallisters=] from the first 2 movies, nor do any of the new actors look anything like their previous counterparts. Similarly, the Wet Bandits are back (though they're never called that), but Harry has been replaced with Marv's wife. Also, instead of building his own traps, Kevin just relies on a technologically advanced smart home to thwart them.
* The movie version of ''Literature/HowToEatFriedWorms'' has nothing in common with the book other than that the main characters gets stuck in a bet that involves having to consume earthworms. And even then, the film still gets it wrong by saying he has to eat ten worms in one day, when in the book, he had to eat one worm a day for 15 days.

* Classic Creator/HumphreyBogart film noir ''Film/InALonelyPlace'' shares its title and the character's names with Dorothy B Hughes' novel, and absolutely nothing else. One can see Dix Steele's (successful) attempt to adapt a trashy novel into a screenplay as a metaphor for adapting Hughes' book into a film.

** It does take inspiration from different Isaac Asimov stories, including one called "Robot Dreams." One of the Asimov short stories, "The Evitable Conflict," featured [[spoiler: massive, central robot minds taking over the planet because they could run it better than us. While that story was more subtle (the robots took over without humans even knowing it, versus the RobotWar of this film), VIKI's motivations are close to what Asimov wrote]]. Spooner himself bears resemblance to the protagonist of Asimov's Robot series, Elijah Baley, who is a New York detective who overcomes his distrust of robots when he is forced to work with a robot partner. The similarities end there, however.

* ''Series/ISpy''. Has none of the wit or coolness of the original. In fact, the director begged the studio not to use that as the title for the movie, but ExecutiveMeddling won the day.

* ''Jingle all the Way 2'', the 2014 DirectToVideo sequel to ''Film/JingleAllTheWay'', has absolutely no characters or actors in common with the original. Literally the only common thread is that both films are about a father trying to find a CoolToy for their child.

* ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''. The Creator/AlanMoore [[Comicbook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen comic]] won't remind you of the film, and vice versa.
* Steven Spielberg's ''Film/{{Lincoln}}'' was promoted (and even credited) as an adaptation of Doris Kearns Goodwin's nonfiction book ''Team of Rivals''. A tie-in version of ''Team'' was even reprinted around the time of ''Lincoln'''s release. However, ''Team'' covers Lincoln's entire presidency, devoting only a few pages to the 13th Amendment and its ratification - the movie's entire focus. Somewhat justified, as Spielberg originally planned a miniseries adaptation of ''Team'' and later pared it down to the extant film.

* ''Film/TheMask'': [[Comicbook/TheMask The original comic]] was more of a horror series involving the titular Mask turning people into Axe Crazy murderers. The movie, then [[WesternAnimation/TheMask the animated series]] turned the character into a comical Super Hero, kept as the main character a guy who only last one issue in the comic, and used few elements from the comic. The show and the movie are actually better remembered than the comic, and the serie was rather well-received

** ''The Mysterious Island'' has nothing to do with [[TheMysteriousIsland the book of that name]]; it's actually based loosely on ''TheOdyssey''.
** ''Under the Seas'' is sometimes called ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'', but it takes only two things from [[TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea the book]]: the submarine and the fish. (No, seriously. The cutout fish Méliès made for the movie were closely based on the original book illustrations; TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Seas says so]].)

** AURYN can only exist in Fantasia, as its power is Fantasien, the world of human fantasy. A person cannot make things from their imagination magically appear in the human world.

* The sequel to ''PureCountry'' shares literally no characters or actors with the first film.

* Given only 5 of the ''Film/JamesBond'' films don't take at least the title from Creator/IanFleming's [[Literature/JamesBond novels/stories]], it happened often.