When you hear Wattpad, you probably think of 12 year olds writing fan fiction under their covers on their cracked iPhone screens, armed with questionable grammar, excessive ellipses, and characters who let out a deep breath they didn’t know they were holding. But in between all the dot dot dots and bad boy smirks, some of these stories actually slapped. So hard, in fact, that they landed publishing deals, got optioned for movies, made millions, and now here we are, watching billionaires spank interns in Dolby surround sound. Here are 7 steamy, ridiculous, and addictive films that started out as 2am Wattpad fan fics.
The Idea of You (2024)
The ultimate slow burn fan fic come to life, The Idea of You stars Anne Hathaway as a 40 something mom who enters into a whirlwind, hush-hush romance with Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of the world’s most famous boy band, August Moon, while chaperoning her teenage daughter to Coachella. Based on Robinne Lee’s 2017 bestseller of the same name, the steamy romance is widely speculated to be inspired by Harry Styles and the cultural phenomenon of boy bands. So while it might not exactly be of Wattpad origins, it does give off the same fan fiction fuelled fantasy energy.
A lot of the movie is predictably cheesy, and the ending won’t really shock you, but who’s watching this for the plot? The Idea of You is here to serve pop star thirst and the dream that a world-famous pop star could one day fall hopelessly in love with you among a glittering platter of Coachella wristbands, fancy five star hotel getaways, and secret meet cutes.
Through My Window (2022)
Who hasn’t dreamt of a devilishly attractive neighbour at some point in their teen years? It’s no wonder the boy-next-door trope is so timeless and why Ariana Godoy’s A Través de Mi Ventana (Through My Window) has had Wattpad readers in a chokehold, racking up over 400 million reads between its English adaptation and original Spanish version. After years of fans obsessing over the Wattpad pages, Netflix fulfilled the fantasy with a Spanish thirst trap starring Clara Galle and Julio Peña Fernández in Through My Window.
The story is as old as time: Raquel, the sincere girl next door, has spent years quietly obsessing over her brooding neighbour Ares. After years of pining (and some light Wi-Fi stalking), her fantasies start to blur with reality when he finally shows signs of interest. She’s all in; he only does flings. What follows is a spicy, emotionally intense romance where the drama is just as explosive as the passion. But this isn’t some PG high-school romance, it’s a full-blown, raging hormones fuelled rollercoaster, packed with angst and bad decisions. It became an instant global chart-topper for Netflix and gave way to two more sequels, Through My Window: Across the Sea and Through My Window: Looking at You.
Perfect Addiction (2023)
The title didn’t lie. Half boxing movie, half thirst-trap, Perfect Addiction is a hot and heavy movie about revenge, love, and very sweaty redemption. After getting her heart broken by her cheating boyfriend, Sienna does what any girl in her place would do, befriend her former boyfriend’s tattooed rival in the ring. Sparks of course fly as the two train together and bond over their mutual distaste for her ex.
Complete with locker room glances, loads of shirtless training montages, and enough body heat that could fog up your screen, Perfect Addiction is a racy, sports-themed, fan fic fantasy—best enjoyed for the spice, not the sports accuracy.
Float (2024)
With over 25 million reads under her Wattpad pen name “Toasted Bagels,” Kate Marchant’s hit summer romance, Float, feels like it was written with a film deal in mind. Waverly, a high-achieving teen with her whole life planned to the tee, finds herself in a whirlwind romance after crossing paths with Blake, the town heartthrob and a carefree, laid-back lifeguard who’s everything she’s not. Naturally, things happen, and the two enter into a summer romance filled with hidden feelings, personal trauma, and the ever-present threat of summer ending.
It’s all very The Summer I Turned Pretty meets A Walk To Remember (minus the medical drama or sibling love triangle). Although Float is not as steamy as its other Wattpad cousins, it’s got Robbie Amell shirtless, dreamy coastlines, and enough emotional dialogue to satisfy your soft romance cravings.
50 Shades of Grey (2015)
The one fan fic turned erotic novel turned movie even your aunt has heard of, 50 Shades of Grey is the fan fic movie that made fan fic movies mainstream. Based on a Twilight fan fiction written by E. L. James under the pen name Snowqueens Icedragons, this story quickly gained a cult following online and was eventually penned down as an original novel with vampires swapped out for grey ties, blindfolds, and contracts. While the internet is still divided over whether it’s a guilty pleasure or just plain guilty, 50 Shades of Grey definitely deserves credit for bringing the conversation about BDSM, sexual agency, and kink into the mainstream.
Starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan in their breakout roles as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, the story follows a shy literature student who gets swept away into a dangerous romance with a billionaire with a taste for control. It’s spicy, ridiculous, and somehow addictively bingeable. And if you like the first one, there’s more where that came from: Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed complete the trilogy, with escalating drama, increasingly implausible plots, and a whole lot more silk rope.
My Fault (2023)
Based on Mercedes Ron’s bestselling Wattpad trilogy, My Fault is the ultimate forbidden love fantasy revved up with fast cars, scandal, and secret pasts. The movie follows Noah, a 17-year-old girl who’s uprooted from her house and forced to live with her mother in her new wealthy husband’s mansion. There she meets Nick, a cocky, tattooed, fast driving teenager who has his bad boy energy turned up to 100. Naturally, sparks fly, kicking off a steamy forbidden romance, filled with the kind of heat, chaos, and tension that you can only expect from a Wattpad story.
While it’s not technically a fan fic, it’s one of the most successful original stories to come out of Wattpad, and it shares the same fan fic spirited energy. Imagine if Cruel Intentions had more horsepower, hotter tempers, and Spanish flair, that’s My Fault for you.
After (2019)
The viral Wattpad behemoth that kickstarted a wildly successful film franchise with over five movies, After is what started it all. Inspired by One Direction, Harry Styles is swapped out by Hardin Scott, a more brooding, bad boy version of the star who enters into a steamy but controversial romance with Tessa Young, a sheltered, straight laced college freshman.
It’s your ultimate bad boy meets good girl fantasy, except the bad boy is a walking red flag, with only his looks and brooding charm as his redeeming qualities. It’s all very messy, very chaotic, and very steamy, and stars Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Tessa and Hardin, whose on-again-off-again romance has enough going on to reel you in for the next five films.
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