The Top 25 Movies Based on Plays of All-Time

Chris Peterson

• OnStage Editor-in-Chief
• @onstageblog.com

Whenever the latest movie musical premieres, it's met with much fanfare and fandom. But when a play adaptation is released, lets just say it doesn't get the same amount of attention, or scrutiny for that matter. 

Why? Well there are a couple of reasons for this. The first being is that plays don't really have identifiable features that would spark the special interest while musicals obviously have music and dancing. 

The other reason is that not many casual moviegoers will know that the film they're watching actually started out on stage as live theatre. 

Well maybe this column will clear some of that up for them. 

It's a fact that some of the most heralded films of our time have been based on plays. Some of them had incredible success at the box office while others have won Oscars. Here's our list of the 25 best movies based on plays of all-time.

25. Barefoot in the Park

24. Closer

23. Wait Until Dark

22. Six Degrees of Separation 

21. Sleuth 

20. Doubt

19. On Golden Pond

18. Noises Off

17. Inherit the Wind

16. Dangerous Liaisons

15. The Boys in the Band

14. Driving Miss Daisy

13. The Miracle Worker

12. The Odd Couple

11. Romeo & Juliet

10. The Lion in Winter

9. Amadeus

8. Casablanca

7. Henry V

6. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

5. Deathtrap

4. Glengarry Glenn Ross

3. Hamlet

2. A Streetcar Named Desire

1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?