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Stephen King's Greatest Film and TV Adaptations, Ranked!

Since Stephen King's 1974 debut with Carrie, the author has long been one of the most recognizable names in horror and science fiction.

Since Stephen King's 1974 debut with Carrie, the author has long been one of the most recognizable names in horror and science fiction.

Two years later, director Brian De Palma directed the film adaptation, which went on to earn two Academy Award nominations. Since then, King's expansive body of work has been adapted into more than 100 films and TV series. While many of them -- The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me and Misery, to name a few -- have been commercially successful and critically beloved, there have also have been a number of critically-derided adaptations that didn't exact capture the spirit of the source material.

And though King's work has been continuously adapted over the past 40 years, Hulu seemingly kicked off a resurgence of interest with 2016's 11.22.63 starring James Franco and Chris Cooper. This year, Spike TV followed with The Mist and AT&T's Audience network is taking on Mr. Mercedes with David E. Kelley writing and Jack Bender directing. Meanwhile, Netflix is producing film versions of Gerald's Game and the short story, 1922. In theaters, the long-awaited adaptation of The Dark Tower starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey arrives in August and Pennywise marks his return with It: Part 1 – The Losers' Club in September with a reported sequel, It Part 2: Pennywise, slated for 2018. And Hulu will bring King's prolific multiverse to TV in 2018 with the J.J. Abrams-produced Castle Rock starring Sissy Spacek -- the actress who helped start it all -- and Andre Holland.

So, with the many film and TV adaptations arriving in 2017 alone, it's time to look back at King's best screen adaptations, ranked from just OK to the life-changing.

Click through the gallery below to see which of King's movies have stood the test of time:

And then check out our ranking of the horror master's greatest TV shows and limited series:

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