Carolina Theatre of Durham Hosts Page to Picture: Book & Film Adaptation Festival 2026

Carolina Theatre of Durham is a retro movie Mecca, hosting regular Friday night double features, themed festivals like its horror-centric Splatterflix, and more. Running from September 18 through 20, 2026, Carolina Theatre hosts the Page to Picture: Book & Film Adaptation Festival.

There’s no shortage of book-to-big screen adaptations, from tour de forces like The Fellowship Of The Rings trilogy and Shawshank Redemption to absolute duds such as Artemis Fowl and The Dark Tower. Unsurprisingly, Carolina Theatre is showing the pinnacle of page to silver screen flicks.

Here’s the complete Page to Picture: Book & Film Adatation Festival 2026 lineup!

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Based on Harper Lee’s 1960 novel To Kill A Mockingbird, the film Adaptation stars Gregory Peck as lawyer Atticus Finch, who defends Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a Black man wrongly accused of the rape of a white woman. Set in Alamaba, the book — and film — explore themes of racism, racial injustice and inequality, class, and Southern life. While the book is a Pulizer Prize winner, the film was equally warmly received, taking home three Academy Awards — including Best Actor and Best Adaptated Screenplay — while also getting eight Academy Award nominations. Bonus points for a young Robert Duvall portraying neighborhood legend Boo Radley.

Showtimes:

• Friday, September 18: 3:50 PM ET
• Saturday, September 19: 1:40 PM ET

Sense & Sensibility (1995)

Adaptaing Jane Austen’s 1811 novel of the same name, 1995’s Ang Lee-directed Sense & Sensibility stars Emma Thompson as Elinor Dashwood along with Kate Winslet as Marianne, Elinor’s younger sister. Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant round out an all-star cast. The narrative follows the Dashwood sisters, who hail from an affluent English family, as they navigate challenges to their social status. As with other Austen works, Sense & Sensibility grapples with themes of gender and class. Notably, the book contrasts the sisters, with Elinor being the “sensible” sibling, while Marianne is “sensitive”.

Showtimes:

• Friday, September 18: 9:20 PM ET
• Saturday, September 19: 6:50 PM ET

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

2005’s Joe Wright-directed Pride and Prejudice ushers Jane Austen’s 1813 novel of the same name onto the big screen. Kiera Knightley headlines as Elizabeth Bennet, with Matthew Macfadyen portraying Mr. Darcy, her suitor. The story follows five sisters in an English family of landowners, meaning they’re wealthy. Wright’s adaptation leans into romanticism, and heavily deals with family dynamics.

Showtimes:

• Friday, September 18: 6:40 PM ET
• Sunday, September 20: 2 PM ET

M*A*S*H (1970)

M*A*S*H* may be best known as a film and a TV show, but it was adapted from the 1968 book written by Richard Hooker (a pseudonym for military surgeon H. Richard Hornberger), assisted by writer W.C. Heinz. The Robert Altman-directed 1970 movie focuses on a medical personnel unit during the Korean War, and is set at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (or M*A*S*H*). Its impressive cast includes Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt, Elliott Gould, Robert Duvall, and Sally Kellerman. Professional football player Fred Williamson made his theatrical debut in the movie. Two years after the film came out, the long-running TV series brought M*A*S*H* to the small screen, lasting from 1972 to 1983. Though set during the Korean War, the movie includes themes of the Vietnam War, which was contemporary to its release.

Showtimes:

• Friday, September 18: 4 PM ET
• Saturday, September 19: 4:30 PM ET

Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982)

Philip K. Dick’s writings formed the inspiration for a slew of movies and television shows, including Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle. But 1982’s Ridley Scott-directed Blade Runner May be the best — and best-known — of the bunch, which is high praise considering its competition. The film takes drastic departures from the source text, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and while both are excellent, the film’s creative changes benefit the big screen showcase. The post-apocalyptic neo-noir sci-fi film stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, who is hired to hunt down humanoid replicants, or robots. The Final Cut is the definitive version of the movie, making several improvements over the theatrical cut, including nixing Ford’s terrible voiceover. Visually stunning, and chock-full of thought-provoking themes about humanity, Blade Runner is a revolutionary science fiction film that inspired many movies to come.

Showtimes:

• Friday, September 19: 9:30 PM ET
• Saturday, September 19: 7 PM ET

The Shining (1980)

Stephen King’s 1977 novel The Shining sprang onto the big screen in 1980 with renowned director Stanley Kubrick at the helm. King famously, and arguably infamously, hated the movie, which took a drastically different approach to the book. Kubrick’s film makes a sort of collage out of the text, presenting events that could be interpreted as supernatural or insanity by framing the events of through the perspective of Jack Torrance (an incredible Jack Nicholson), who is hired to be the off-season caretaker for the Overlook Hotel. Snowned in with his wife Wendy (Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (Danny Lloyd), The Shining is an errie slow burn documenting Jack’s descent into madness.

Showtimes:

• Friday, September 18: 6:30 PM ET
• Sunday, September 20: 7:10 PM ET

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)

Helen Fielding’s 1996 novel of the same name springs to life on the big screen in 2001’s Sharon Maguire-directed romantic comedy Bridget Jones’s Diary. Fielding worked on the screeply alongside Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis, possibly contributing to its success. But the all-star cast, headlined by Renee Zellweger as the titular Bridget Jones, complemented by Colin Firth and Hugh Grant as her suitors. Jones is a 32-year-old single British woman who keeps a diary documenting her life, and comes across as a funny, charming, likeable, character.

Showtimes:

• Saturday, September 19: 4:50 PM ET
• Sunday, September 20: 2:10 PM ET

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Annie Proulx’s 1997 short story erupts and expands into an epic in the Ang Lee-directed 2005 Broke back Mountain. The neo-Western stars Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar and Jake Gyllenhaal as Jack Twist, two cowboys working for rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) in 1963 Wyoming. The character-driven film chronicles Twist and Del Mar’s budding friendship, which turns sexual, and follows their complex relationship with one another, themselves, and others. Since its debut, Brokeback Mountain has been heralded as a Hallmark of LGBTQ film.

Showtimes:

• Saturday, September 19: 9:30 PM ET
• Sunday, September 20: 4:20 PM ET

Big Fish (2003)

Author Daniel Wallace’s 1988 novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions blossoms to life on the silver screen in the Tim Burton-directed 2003 Big Fish. If centers on William Bloom (Billy Crudup), who attempts to parse fact and fiction in his father Edward’s (Ewan McGregor as young Edward, Albert Finney as senior Edward, Perry Walston as age 10 Edward) fantastical tales. There’s a Southern Gothic vibe and a delightful father-son dynamic.

Author Daniel Wallace, a North Carolina resident, will moderate a post-screening discussion after the Saturday, September 19 airing of Big Fish.

Showtimes:

• Saturday, September 19: 1:50 PM ET — with a post-show discussion moderated by author and NC resident Daniel Wallace
• Sunday, September 20: 2:20 PM ET