Based on nothing more scientific than a hunch or an impression, I feel there has been a shift towards more faithful adaptations, a greater focus on meeting the expectations of fans of the source material, or alienating them as little as possible anyway.
In artistic and specifically cinematic terms, I'm not convinced this is a positive move though, always supposing it is actually happening. Personally, I think it's a mistake to approach two different media, which operate on different levels and engage the audience in very different ways, as though they were essentially interchangeable.
My gut feeling is that it tends to result in books written with a screen adaptation in mind, which can dilute the story at birth, and something which is more troubling is the development of movies that are compromised in pacing and structure by the obligation to seek textual fidelity above all.


Colin