Summary Short films serve as a platform for emerging writers and directors to showcase their skills and break into the movie industry.
Short films allow filmmakers to experiment with creative instincts on a lower budget and can inspire feature-length adaptations.
Many successful movies, including Pixels and The Babadook , started as short films, highlighting the potential impact of short films on the film industry.
Many successful movies started out as short films, some of which were always intended to serve as previews of their eventual feature-length adaptation. A short film can allow writers and directors to establish their skills and help them break into the movie industry, essentially functioning as cinematic calling cards. This has proven successful in the careers of Jennifer Kent, Andy Muschietti, and Paul Thomas Anderson.
Short films can also let filmmakers experiment with their creative instincts, often on a much lower budget. Nowadays, it is easier for new directors to create short films and upload their work onto online platforms like YouTube and Vimeo. There are also plenty of short films that inspire feature-length movies simply for the sake of expanding on the original story. Whatever the reason for the adaptation, these movies all began with an idea first presented in the short film format.
Related: 10 Awesome Short Films By Major Movie Directors
9 Pixels (2015)
Based On The Animated Short Film Pixels (2010)
Pixels is a science fiction comedy that stars Adam Sandler as Sam, a former video game champion, tasked with fighting alien invaders that mistook Earth’s classic video game data as a challenge. Sam recruits his old video game arcade friends, including the current President of the United States (Steve James), plus his former rival (Peter Dinklage), in the battle to save the world. While the 2015 feature received mostly negative reviews and ranks very low among Chris Columbus movies, it performed well at the box office and is actually a fun, nostalgia-driven watch.
The movie is loosely adapted from a 2010 French animated short film, also titled Pixels, created by Patrick Jean. The original two-minute film sees New York City taken over by famous video game characters such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Frogger, ultimately transforming Earth into a giant pixel cube. The film won the Annecy Cristal Award for Best Short Film at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
8 The Babadook (2014)
Based On The Short Film Monster (2005)
This psychological horror film sees a single mother, Amelia (Essie Davis), traumatized by the death of her husband and being forced to deal with the erratic behavior of her son (Noah Wiseman). After reading a pop-up book called Mister Babadook, their lives are slowly upended as they are stalked by the mysterious title creature. Amelia finds herself in a tough battle, both physically and mentally as she fights to gain control over her son’s behavior and the monster that has invaded her life.
Jennifer Kent made her feature directorial debut with The Babadook, adapting her own short film Monster, which was screened at multiple film festivals in 2005 and 2006. Kent turned the 10-minute short into The Babadook because she wanted to create a story that allows audiences to learn about facing up to their inner demons and struggles with mental health. While the short won a number of awards in its own right, The Babadook became a phenomenon when it debuted in 2015 and has since been regarded as one of the scariest movies of all time.
7 Fatal Attraction (1987)
Based On The Short Film Diversion (1980)
Fatal Attraction follows married businessman Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) as he enters into a brief fling with an attractive editor, Alex Forrest (Glenn Close). This proves to be a mistake when she becomes dangerously obsessed with him and will stop at nothing to have him all to herself. Ultimately, though, the characters’ fates in Fatal Attraction’s ending are up for debate on whether they’re deserved.
In 1980, writer and director James Dearden created Diversion, a 50-minute short film that examines the consequences of an extra-marital affair. Following its success, he was commissioned by Paramount to expand on his short, and he wrote the screenplay for Fatal Attraction, which Adrian Lynne directed. Supposedly, the studio tried to destroy all copies of Diversion in order to have it completely replaced by their adaptation. Despite them not succeeding, the feature topped the worldwide box office chart in 1987, and it was nominated for six Academy Awards, including a Best Adapted Screenplay nod for Dearden. In 2023, a TV series based on the feature premiered to mostly negative reviews.
6 Frankenweenie (2012)
Based On The Live-Action Short Frankenweenie (1984)
The story of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has inspired many different adaptations, both faithful and loose, including this animated feature from Disney. Frankenweenie sees a young Victor Frankenstein who enjoys experimenting with science and uses electricity to resurrect his beloved dog Sparky. Victor’s experiment proves successful, but his undead pet causes havoc in his neighborhood and soon other children follow the boy’s example and start resurrecting their own dead animals, with frightening consequences.
Related: What Kind Of Dog Is Sparky In Frankenweenie
Director Tim Burton adapted the black-and-white animated feature from his own 1984 live-action short of the same name. The earlier 29-minute version proved controversial, and Burton was fired from Disney as the studio felt it was too frightening for viewers. Despite the controversy, Disney later rehired Burton to helm an animated version, which proved critically successful and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.
5 Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Based On The Short Film Peluca (2002)
Starring Jon Heder, Napoleon Dynamite follows a socially awkward teenager who lives with his dysfunctional family and must deal with being an outcast in high school and put up with his older brother’s obsession with an internet girlfriend. When a new kid named Pedro arrives at school, Napoleon finds himself helping him in the student election. The movie earned a ton of buzz at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and went on to become an immediate cult classic when released by Fox Searchlight Pictures that summer.
Before making his feature debut with Napoleon Dynamite, writer and director Jared Hess created the short film Peluca for an assignment at Brigham Young University. The nine-minute short, which also starred Jon Heder, was screened at the 2003 Slamdance Film Festival, after which Hess was convinced to expand its characters and create Napoleon Dynamite. The feature went on to inspire a cartoon and a video game.
Related: 10 Forgotten Cartoons Based On Iconic Movies
4 When a Stranger Calls (1979)
Based On The Short Film The Sitter (1977)
In this classic thriller, a teenager is babysitting when she finds herself harassed by a psychopathic killer on the phone. Seven years later, she finds herself terrorized again when the killer escapes from a mental hospital, determined to murder her. Upon release, When a Stranger Calls was praised for its acting and its story while its first 20 minutes continue to be regarded among the scariest opening scenes in horror movie history.
In 1977, Fred Walton and Steve Feke created The Sitter, a 22-minute short film inspired by an urban legend from the ’60s. It’s essentially just a near-shot-for-shot precursor to that opening sequence in When a Stranger Calls. During a one-week showing of the short film, two producers were so impressed that they commissioned it for a feature-length adaptation. The result was Walton’s feature directorial debut, which he co-wrote with Feke. While the same urban legend has inspired other shorts and features, When a Stranger Calls was itself remade in 2006 under the same name.
3 The Way He Looks (2014)
Based On The Short Film I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone (2010)
One of the best teen LGBTQ+ movies, the Brazilian coming-of-age film The Way He Looks focuses on Leonardo, a blind teenager who struggles with bullying at school and the desire to be independent. He lives with the frustration of his parents, who coddle him, and the belief that nobody will want to kiss him because of his disability. However, when new student Gabriel arrives at his school, everything begins to change for Leonardo.
After his short film I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone won the Iris Prize in 2011, Daniel Ribeiro decided to create a feature film that looked deeper into Leonardo and Gabriel’s relationship. With the original actors reprising their roles from the short, Ribeiro was able to establish The Way He Looks, focusing more on Leonardo’s search for independence. Critics called the feature an impressive expansion of the original 17-minute short, and the adaptation went on to win two awards at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival.
2 Mama (2013)
Based On The Short Film Mamá (2008)
The 2013 horror movie Mama, which marked the feature directorial debut of Andy Muschietti, is about two young girls who are discovered in a rural cabin five after the deaths of their parents. They are taken in by their uncle, but as they readjust to society with their new family, it’s discovered that they are being followed by a supernatural entity named Mama, which has attached itself to the girls. The feature received fairly positive reviews and became a hit at the box office, establishing Muschietti as a successful filmmaker and leading to his work helming the two-part adaptation of Stephen King’s IT.
Five years earlier, Muschietti had created a two-minute short film called Mamá. Largely shot in one take, it depicts two young girls trying to escape from a creature that they refer to as their mother. Guillermo del Toro was so impressed by the short, that he served as the executive producer for the 2013 feature film version.
1 Hard Eight (1996)
Based On The Short Film Cigarettes & Coffee (1993)
Paul Thomas Anderson’s feature directorial debut follows a down-on-his-luck gambler named John (John C. Reilly) as he becomes the protege of an older professional crapshooter (Philip Baker Hall). As John’s luck changes, he also becomes threatened by romance, violence, and blackmail. In addition to Reilly and Hall, the movie also features the eventual fellow PTA regulars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Melora Walters.
Related: Every Paul Thomas Anderson & Philip Seymour Hoffman Movie Ranked
Three years prior, Anderson made the short film Cigarettes & Coffee, which follows five characters connected through a $20 bill. The success of the 24-minute short convinced the filmmaker to expand on the story and create Hard Eight, which was initially titled Sydney. The decision wound up being a gamble that paid off for Anderson’s directing career while proving to be one of the best movies adapted from a short film.