| 100% | BARBEROFSEVILLE | 15 | Opera based on a play by Pierre Beaumarchais, with "The" |
| 50% | OTELLO | 6 | Opera based on a Shakespeare play |
| 49% | PATCH | 5 | ___ Adams, character based on a real-life doctor who was played by Robin Williams in the eponymous 1998 film |
| 49% | OTELLO | 6 | Verdi opera based on a Shakespeare play |
| 49% | OTELLO | 6 | Verdi opera based on a Shakespearean play |
| 49% | LOVEYOU | 7 | "P.S. I ___," film based on a novel which shares its title with a 1962 song by The Beatles: 2 wds. |
| 48% | RIGOLETTO | 9 | Verdi's opera based on a Victor Hugo play |
| 48% | ERNANI | 6 | 1844 Verdi opera based on a Victor Hugo play |
| 47% | DELLA | 5 | With 37-Across, "Touched by an Angel" actress who played a landlady on "Chico and the Man" |
| 45% | ADO | 3 | "Much ___ About Nothing," 1901 opera based on the Shakespeare play |
| 45% | GLORIASTEINEM | 13 | Feminist journalist played by 15-Across and Alicia Vikander in a 2020 biopic based on the memoir "My Life on the Road" (2 wds.) |
| 45% | FARGO | 5 | TV series based on a 1996 film by the Coen brothers |
| 44% | ROPE | 4 | 1948 Alfred Hitchcock film thriller based on a stage play by Patrick Hamilton |
| 44% | FATHER | 6 | Play based on a Clarence Day novel: Life With __ |
| 43% | IRONGIANT | 9 | 1999 animated tearjerker based on a Ted Hughes story, with The |
| 42% | SKATE | 5 | A sport played on the ice; rhymes with plate |
| 42% | SEX | 3 | ___ on the Beach, cocktail with a vodka base |
| 42% | LARONDE | 7 | 1964 Roger Vadim film drama starring Jane Fonda based on a stage play by Arthur Schnitzler |
| 42% | THEFIRM | 7 | American legal thriller film based on a John Grisham novel by the same name: 2 wds. |
| 42% | WATUSI | 6 | 1960s novelty dance based on a song by the Orlons |
| 42% | XFILES | 6 | 1998 film thriller based on a TV series, with "The" |
| 42% | THEPHANTOMOF | 12 | Musical based on a French novel, "___ the Opera" is the longest-running show on Broadway: 3 wds. |
| 42% | NOMADLAND | 9 | Best Picture winner based on a book with the subtitle Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century |
| 41% | LATOSCA | 7 | 1887 play on which a 1900 opera is based |
| 41% | WIZ | 3 | 1974 musical based on a 1900 novel, with "The" |
| 41% | BEWITCHED | 9 | 2005 American romantic comedy film based on a TV show of the same name directed by Nora Ephron |
| 41% | AMYFISHER | 9 | Role played by Drew Barrymore in a 1993 TV movie based on real life |