What are the biggest differences between The Martian movie and the Andy Weir book it was adapted from? Outside of Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall, movies set on Mars are considered somewhat cursed from a box-office perspective. This was cemented in the early 2000s due to a run of back-to-back box-offices duds; Red Planet starring Val Kilmer, Brian De Palma's Mission To Mars and John Carpenter's Ghosts Of Mars. While the latter has attracted something of a cult in recent years, all three were notable bombs that turned studios off Mars-based movies.
John Carter flopping in 2012 did little for the red planet's box-office prospects either. The Martian helped reverse that in 2015, with this Ridley Scott directed adventure casting Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded on Mars. It was adapted from The Martian novel by Andy Weir, which was praised as both an exciting sci-fi adventure that was also - mostly - scientifically accurate. The film did a great job adapting Weir's book, and in addition to being one of Scott's best films in recent years, it was a sizable hit.
Of course, Ridley Scott's adaptation had to condense or cut events from the source material, so here are The Martian book vs movie differences. Off the bat, the first big difference is how they start, with the movie depicting the violent dust storm that separates main character Mark Watney (Matt Damon) from his crew, who take off when they believe him dead. The book instead depicts Watney just after he's left stranded and sums up his bleak situation, though the storm forms part of a flashback passage later in the book.
The Martian movie does an excellent job condensing the scientific jargon of the source material while making it entertaining thanks to Damon's witty explanations. While the film tended to look at the broad strokes of Watney solving issues with science, the book looked at the minutiae of how he solved them. The movie also put more focus on the NASA side of things, with most of the characters depicted remaining intact. Some notable persona tweaks include Sean Bean's flight director, who is more subdued in the film but kind of a jerk in the novel, while Kristen Wiig's The Martian character Annie Montrose is - sadly - less forthright and more of a background presence.
When it comes to The Martian book vs movie differences, the biggest change comes with the final passages. Entirely missing from the movie is Watney accidentally shorting out his communication equipment, meaning NASA can't warn him of the dust storm he's going to ride into on his way to Mars' Schiaparelli crater for rescue. The ever-resourceful Mark manages to find a way to ride around the storm, however; he also has to deal with his rover rolling over when he reaches Schiaparelli.
The Martian ending in book the book and movie feature Mark modifying the MAV so he can reach the Hermes crew. In the novel, his rescue is relatively straightforward as Beck (Sebastian Stan) grabs Watney and pulls him into the Hermes, but the film juices up the drama a little. Mark breaching his suit so he can "Iron Man" to the crew is a joke in the book that actually happens in the movie, while Jessica Chastain's Commander Lewis is the one who reaches out to grab him instead of Beck. The book ends after Watney's rescue, but the movie jumps ahead to Watney on Earth starting a new teaching job while talking about his time on the planet. The movie is ultimately quite faithful to Andy Weir's The Martain, with most of the additions or subtractions being smart ones for its big-screen adaptation.
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