The five-book “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series has sold more than 42 million copies. It inspired two movies that have collectively grossed $141.5 million worldwide. Rob McEwan
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“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” was also a successful multi-book series that spawned two movies. Collectively, both movies made $86.4 million at the global box office. Warner Brothers
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Decades before “Harry Potter,” C.S. Lewis unleashed a hit series with fantasy elements. The seven books have sold more than 100 million copies and though budgets for the three film adaptations each hovered around the $200 million mark, every one has grossed more than $400 million worldwide, with “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” pulling in an outsized $745 million. 20th Century Fox
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“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” sold 13 million copies worldwide. The most recent, Johnny Depp-starring movie version made nearly $475 million at the global box office. AP
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Berkeley Breathed’s “Mars Needs Moms” was evidently such a big hit that Disney felt the need to spend $150 million to turn it into a movie released this past March. It opened to a disappointing $6.9 million before going on to pull in just under $39 million worldwide by early June. Now, it’s the latest adaptation to demonstrate that a successful children’s book won’t necessarily produce a hit children’s movie. AP
