12 movies that were better than the books they were based on

We all know the story of Jaws: a string of shark attacks at a summer resort town leads a police chief, marine biologist and shark hunter to go off in search of the great white responsible for the havoc. But we know the story because of Steven Spielberg’s renowned blockbuster, especially thanks to the filmmaker’s instinct to focus on the shark hunt and introduce new material that wasn’t in the novel. There’s also John Williams’s unforgettable score and the ingenious decision to suggest the shark’s presence, rather than show it on-screen, to build tension.