Every Pride & Prejudice Movie Adaptation Ranked

Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice is among her most iconic, which means it’s a favorite for movie adaptations. Released in 1813, the story of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy is the grandmother of the enemies-to-lovers trope, which means countless movies have been born thanks to the ideas behind Pride and Prejudice. Then, there are those based directly on the novel, featuring, at the very least, two prideful and prejudiced characters who fall in love and live happily ever after.

Of course, there have been a variety of Pride and Prejudice TV adaptations as well, the most notable being the 1995 BBC series. This six-episode miniseries is often considered the best of the best, and this leaves little room for other projects to have their time to shine. However, various Pride and Prejudice movies, the oldest of which goes all the way back to 1940, deserve a look under the microscope as well. Each brings something new to the table, whether that be a Hallmark-style Christmas theme or some zombie antagonists.

12

Pride And Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy

Released in 2003

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Pride and Prejudice

PG

Romance

Comedy

Release Date

December 5, 2003

Runtime

104 Minutes

Director

Andrew Black

Writers

Jane Austen, Anne K. Black, Katherine Brim, Jason Faller

Producers

Jason Faller

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Kam Heskin

    Elizabeth Bennet

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Orlando Seale

    Will Darcy

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Benjamin Gourley

    Charles Bingley

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Lucila Solá

    Jane Vasquez

Pride and Prejudice (2003) is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel. Directed by Andrew Black, the film reimagines the story in a contemporary setting, following Elizabeth Bennet as she navigates family pressures and romantic entanglements. Starring Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale, the film retains the central themes of love and social class, translating them into today’s context. The 2003 adaptation provides a fresh take on Austen’s enduring literature.

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This modern take on Pride and Prejudice is, as the title suggests, all about the comedy, which makes it a good deal of fun to watch. Since Elizabeth is a college student with a bubbly group of roommates (instead of sisters), it could be a more relatable version of the tale than traditional period adaptations, but it also loses something as a result. The type of comedy in Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy is pretty outrageous, which means the subtle wit of Jane Austen’s novel is nowhere to be seen.

The movie might have worked better as a looser adaptation as there are many aspects of the original story that are included in a haphazard way, making for a rushed and messy execution all together.

Austen fans will likely have a lot of fun seeing the different ways the story is adapted for a modern setting, with some of them being quite clever reimaginings. However, the movie might have worked better as a looser adaptation as there are many aspects of the original story that are included in a haphazard way, making for a rushed and messy execution all together.

11

Christmas At Pemberley Manor

Released in 2018

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Christmas at Pemberley Manor

TV-G

Romance

Comedy

Release Date

October 27, 2018

Runtime

86 Minutes

Director

Colin Theys

Writers

Rick Garman, Jane Austen

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Jessica Lowndes

    Elizabeth Bennett

  • Headshot Of Michael Rady

    Michael Rady

    William Darcy

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Ben Estus

    Travis

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Maddie McCormick

    Jane Lucas

Christmas at Pemberley Manor is a festive romantic drama directed by Colin Theys. The film stars Jessica Lowndes and Michael Rady, where an event planner is sent to a small town to coordinate a holiday festival. Upon arrival, she meets a wealthy estate owner, and their differing views on the holiday spirit lead to unexpected connections and a magical celebration.

Main Genre

Romance

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Hallmark’s Christmas At Pemberley Manor follows event planner Elizabeth Bennet as she tries to convince a snobby Christmas-hater, William Darcy, to let her use his massive home to host a holiday party. Not surprisingly, the magic of the season helps these seeming enemies melt for each other and form a connection. The undertones of Austen’s story are there, but Christmas at Pemberley Manor is more Hallmark in its plot than anything else.

The familiar names and inside jokes incorporated from Pride and Prejudice serve to make this film stand out as a fun nod to Austen, but it can’t hold up to more genuine adaptations. Hallmark Christmas movie fans often know what they are getting and this one delivers those festive rom-com feels without breaking any new ground. Likewise, for those that aren’t fans of these movies, the same flaws are still there.

10

Unleashing Mr. Darcy

Released in 2016

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Unleashing Mr. Darcy

TV-G

Romance

Drama

Release Date

January 23, 2016

Runtime

84 Minutes

Director

David Winning

Writers

Teena Booth, Teri Wilson

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Cindy Busby

    Elizabeth Scott

  • Headshot Of Ryan Paevey

    Ryan Paevey

    Donovan Darcy

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Elizabeth McLaughlin

    Gabrielle Barrow

  • Headshot Of Frances Fisher In The Los Angeles special screening of 'Common Ground'

    Frances Fisher

    Violet Darcy

Unleashing Mr. Darcy, directed by David Winning, follows Elizabeth as she enters her dog in a prestigious New York show. Amidst the competition, she encounters the seemingly aloof judge, Donovan Darcy. Their interactions are fraught with misunderstandings, complicating their growing attraction.

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Another Hallmark movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Unleashing Mr. Darcy makes the titular character the modern judge of a dog show rather than a pompous lord. The movie follows Elizabeth Scott (Cindy Busby) as she seeks out a new purpose in life and jumps at the chance to enter her beloved dog in a professional show while also pursuing some romantic opportunities of her own.

Ultimately, it was cute and entertaining for a Hallmark movie but less so as a Pride and Prejudice adaptation.

It’s certainly a unique premise that gets the more traditional story rolling, but it’s not enough to earn this film many points. Unleashing Mr. Darcy‘s Elizabeth was almost too mean in this adaptation, and the characters had little chemistry until nearly the very end. The premise also makes it hard to get too invested in the romance, as the whole movie feels like it should be taking itself less seriously. Ultimately, it was cute and entertaining for a Hallmark movie but less so as a Pride and Prejudice adaptation.

9

Pride, Prejudice & Mistletoe

Released in 2018

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Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe

TV-PG

Romance

TV Movie

Release Date

December 23, 2018

Runtime

83 minutes

Director

Don McBrearty

Writers

Melissa de la Cruz, Nina Weinman

Producers

Amy Krell, Brad Krevoy, Lacey Chabert, Michael Shepard, Amanda Phillips, David Anselmo, Sean Buckley, Eric Jarboe, Jimmy Townsend, Marc Dassas, Vince Balzano, W. Michael Beard, Susie Belzberg Krevoy

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Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe is a romantic drama following Darcy, an ambitious entrepreneur who returns to her hometown for Christmas. While organizing a charity event with former rival Luke, she reassesses her priorities, navigates family dynamics, and explores the possibility of romance.

Main Genre

Romance

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Pride, Prejudice & Mistletoe earns Hallmark a few points by being its most unique (and least ridiculous) adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The twist in this version is that Darcy is a successful businesswoman, while “Luke” Bennet is the boy she miraculously falls in love with.

Aside from the parallels between these gender-bent characters and those from Pride and Prejudice, however, there aren’t many other similarities within the plot. It is an ideal Hallmark Christmas movie for fans of the genre as it hits on a lot of the tropes that have proven so successful, including the work-obsessed woman finding happiness in a small town. However, as a Pride and Prejudice adaptation, it leaves a lot to be desired.

8

Austenland

Released In 2013

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Austenland

PG-13

Comedy

Romance

Release Date

August 15, 2013

Runtime

97 minutes

Director

Jerusha Hess

Writers

Jerusha Hess, Shannon Hale

Producers

Gina Mingacci, Robert Fernandez, Stephenie Meyer

Cast

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  • headshot Of Keri Russell

    Keri Russell

    Mr. Henry Nobley

  • Headshot Of JJ Feild In The `The Peripheral` LA Premiere

    JJ Feild

    Jane Hayes

  • Headshot of Jennifer Coolidge In The 96th Academy Awards Vanity Fair Party

    Jennifer Coolidge

    Martin

  • Headshot Of Bret McKenzie

    Bret McKenzie

    Miss Elizabeth Charming

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Austenland is one of several loose adaptations of Pride and Prejudice that capture a lot of the elements of the original novel. Fans of Austen’s book should especially have fun with this rom-com as it deals directly with the fandom. Keri Russell stars in Austenland as Jane, a modern woman who is obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, which leads her to sign up for a unique getaway to a role-playing retreat that immerses her in the world of Jane Austen’s story.

Russell is very charming and fun in the lead role, a young woman who, like Elizabeth Bennet, does not have luck in the romantic field. Of course, she finds herself in a love triangle while at the retreat, but in a fun twist, she is torn between the role-playing Mr. Darcy character and a more realistic love interest who could help to pull her out of the fantasy world. The movie is elevated by a strong supporting cast, including Flight of the Conchords‘ Bret McKenzie and Jennifer Coolidge.

7

Pride And Prejudice And Zombies

Released in 2016

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

PG-13

Action

Horror

Romance

ScreenRant logo

5/10

Release Date

February 5, 2016

Runtime

107 Minutes

Director

Burr Steers

Writers

Burr Steers

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Suki Waterhouse

    Suki Waterhouse

  • Headshot Of Jack Huston

    Jack Huston

Directed by Burr Steers, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies follows five sisters who face the pressure of marriage in 19th Century England, while zombies run the streets. The film is based on Seth Grahame-Smith’s novel, which itself parodies Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Lily James leads the film alongside Sam Riley, Jack Huston, and Bella Heathcote.

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is clearly a rather unique take on the classic story. The movie is actually based on the Seth Grahame-Smith parody novel of the same name. It imagines a zombie outbreak in the 19th century with the Bennet sisters trained as warriors to battle the growing evil. Lily James stars as Elizabeth, who finds herself torn between her duties as a warrior and her potential romance with the heroic Mr. Darcy.

Strange and over-the-top, the 2016 movie gets away with it by not pretending to be anything else.

Ultimately, it’s the juxtaposition between the two genres—both familiar yet entirely contradictory—that allowed this zombie-flick-meets-Jane-Austen to entertain well enough on its own. However, the book had more fun leaning into the tone of Austen’s novel to add to the absurdity of the entire thing. The film adaptation plays it more like a straight-forward zombie action movie, which is somewhat of a missed opportunity.

6

Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta

Released in 2019

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Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta

NR

Drama

Comedy

Romance

TV Movie

Release Date

June 1, 2019

Director

Rhonda Baraka

Writers

Tracy McMillan

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Jackée Harry

    Mrs. Bennet

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Reginald VelJohnson

    Reverend Bennet

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Tiffany Hines

    Lizzie Bennet

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Raney Branch

    Jane Bennet

Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel, set in contemporary Atlanta, where a self-help author seeks suitable husbands for her five unmarried daughters, blending elements of familial expectations and romantic pursuits in a culturally rich setting.

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Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta is another modernization of Austen’s novel, and this time, the story itself is pretty spot-on to the original. The film’s greatest asset is its authentic characters, brought to life by the all-black cast and the true-to-life dialogue. It deals with the family dynamic in a stronger way while also examining how such a romance story might play out differently in the modern world.

Watching Pride & Prejudice: Atlanta feels like sitting in on a real family, and that is certainly beyond many modern movie adaptations. Unfortunately, there’s something missing in the chemistry between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Regardless of such shortcomings, it serves as a great reminder of the universality of Austen’s original story and how it can be adapted with different cultures and experiences being reflected in the story.

5

Bride And Prejudice

Released in 2004

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Bride & Prejudice

PG-13

Comedy

Drama

Musical

Release Date

March 11, 2005

Runtime

122 Minutes

Director

Gurinder Chadha

Writers

Jane Austen, Paul Mayeda Berges, Gurinder Chadha

Cast

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Bride & Prejudice is a romantic drama inspired by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, directed by Gurinder Chadha. The film transports the classic story to modern-day India, featuring Aishwarya Rai as Lalita Bakshi, who navigates cultural differences and romantic entanglements. Martin Henderson stars as her suitor, Will Darcy, offering a cross-cultural twist on Austen’s enduring themes of love and societal expectations.

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This modernized Pride and Prejudice movie adaptation is unique in that it successfully justifies its own existence. Set predominantly in India, Bride and Prejudice is full of the colorful charm of Bollywood movies. However, rather than simply using this as a gimmicky backdrop for the same old Pride and Prejudice story, the plot uses Austen’s tale to explore concepts unique to this culture. Since Darcy is a wealthy American who comes to India, he is at first ignorant of these cultural nuances. However, as he falls in love with Lalita, he falls in love with her home as well.

Once again, it is a thrill to see this story playing out in the context of another culture while still maintaining certain elements that fans of the original story will be drawn to. It is also a terrific movie to help introduce audiences to Bollywood movies as it feels like a blending of the Hollywood and Bollywood aesthetics.

4

Fire Island

Released In 2022

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Fire Island

R

Romance

Comedy

ScreenRant logo

8/10

Release Date

June 3, 2022

Runtime

105 minutes

Director

Andrew Ahn

Writers

Joel Kim Booster

Cast

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    James Scully

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    Nick Adams

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Fire Island is not only a hilarious LGBTQ+ comedy but another clever retelling of Pride & Prejudice that shows the reliability of the story. The movie follows a group of gay best friends who head out on their annual beach trip together. However, things take a different turn when romance starts to seep into the group of single men and the aimless Noah (Joel Kim Booster) begins to rethink his outlook on relationships and his future.

Noah’s romance with the seemingly stuck-up Will (Conrad Ricamora) is a terrific reimagining of the Elizabeth and Darcy dynamic.

The film clearly has its own story and messages to tell, focusing on friendship in a bigger way than any of the other adaptations. However, Noah’s romance with the seemingly stuck-up Will (Conrad Ricamora) is a terrific reimagining of the Elizabeth and Darcy dynamic. Saturday Night Live breakout star Bowen Yang also has a great supporting role, filling the Jane Bennet part of the original story.

3

Pride And Prejudice

Released in 1940

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Pride and Prejudice

Approved

Romance

Drama

Release Date

July 26, 1940

Runtime

118 Minutes

Director

Robert Z. Leonard

Writers

Aldous Huxley, Jane Murfin, Jane Austen, Helen Jerome

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Greer Garson

    Elizabeth Bennet

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Laurence Olivier

    Mr. Darcy

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Mary Boland

    Mrs. Bennet

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Edna May Oliver

    Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Pride and Prejudice (1940) is a romantic drama film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, based on Jane Austen’s classic novel. The film stars Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet and Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy. Set in early 19th-century England, it explores the themes of love, social standing, and misunderstanding as Elizabeth navigates her relationship with the enigmatic Mr. Darcy amidst societal expectations.

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The 1940 movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is technically the second of its kind, with another having released just for TV in 1938. However, as the oldest that is still available to watch, this excellent movie gets a couple of extra points. It obviously lacks the advanced filming of the better-known 1995 miniseries and 2005 movie, but Pride and Prejudice (1940) still managed to capture all the charm of Austen’s novel.

The BBC’s 1938 TV movie Pride and Prejudice is considered a lost film and was, therefore, excluded from this ranking.

Purists of Jane Austen’s novel should be warned that this version of the story does take some liberties with the text. However, some of the new additions are actually interesting and help the movie stand out as a unique adaptation. Both for nostalgia’s sake and the unique and charming scenes added to this film, it has an impressive 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

2

Bridget Jones’s Diary

Released In 2001

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Bridget Jones’s Diary

PG-13

Comedy

Drama

Romance

ScreenRant logo

8/10

7.8/10

Release Date

April 13, 2001

Runtime

97 Minutes

Director

Sharon Maguire

Writers

Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies, Richard Curtis

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Renée Zellweger

    Renée Zellweger

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Gemma Jones

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Despite the popularity of the movie, there are many people who don’t realize that Bridget Jones’s Diary is actually a loose adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. Renée Zellweger earned an Oscar nomination for her winning performance in the lead role as Bridget Jones, a woman who keeps a diary of her attempts to change her life for the better. As she sets out on this journey, she finds herself in the middle of a love triangle with two men, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth).

The fact that Firth is playing another Darcy role following his iconic turn in the BBC miniseries from the 1990s will thrill many fans. While the rom-com is not a beat-for-beat retelling of the story the way some adaptations have been, it instead captures the spirit of Austen’s story while succeeding as its own thing. The movie went on to spawn three Bridget Jones sequels, including the most recent Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

1

Pride & Prejudice

Released in 2005

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Pride & Prejudice

Release Date

November 23, 2005

Runtime

2h 9m

Director

Joe Wright

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Keira Knightley

    Keira Knightley

  • Matthew Macfadyen Profile Picture

    Matthew Macfadyen

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Brenda Blethyn

  • Headshot Of Rosamund Pike In The 77th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs)

    Rosamund Pike

Pride & Prejudice is a 2005 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel, directed by Joe Wright. The story follows Elizabeth Bennet, played by Keira Knightley, as she navigates societal pressures, family expectations, and romantic entanglements in early 19th-century England. Matthew Macfadyen stars as the enigmatic Mr. Darcy, whose evolving relationship with Elizabeth highlights themes of love, class, and misunderstanding.

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Though the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries often takes the cake overall, the 2005 Pride & Prejudice is easily the best movie adaptation. Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen have the best chemistry as Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy of any other Pride and Prejudice movie. Additionally, Pride & Prejudice (2005) is exquisitely filmed.

The frequent use of “golden hour” lighting, the artistic close-ups, Mr. Darcy’s tell-tale flex of the hand—this movie has it all. Of course, there are a few changes from Jane Austen’s book, but the wit and romance were perfectly accounted for. It was also a smash with critics and during awards season. It ended up being nominated for four Oscars, including one for Knightley for Best Actress, making her the only actor to date to receive an Oscar nomination for playing Elizabeth Bennet.

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