Which Peter Jackson film was based on Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones?

Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones was based on Alice Sebold’s novel The Lovely Bones.

The 2009 film follows Susie Salmon, a teenage girl who observes her family and the aftermath of her murder from an imagined afterlife. Saoirse Ronan plays Susie, while Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz portray her parents.

Jackson adapted the novel with screenwriters Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, his frequent collaborators. The production combines a grounded family drama with surreal visual environments representing Susie’s changing perspective after death.

The film is sometimes confused with Jackson’s earlier Heavenly Creatures because both involve young women, crime and New Zealand-associated filmmaking. They are separate productions: Heavenly Creatures dramatizes the Parker–Hulme murder case, while The Lovely Bones adapts Sebold’s American novel and is narrated through Susie’s posthumous viewpoint.