Is It Based on a Book?
Tribulations of a Chinaman in China book cover

Cover via Open Library

Movie · 1990

Is I Hired a Contract Killer based on a book?

Quick answer

Yes. I Hired a Contract Killer is based on the book Tribulations of a Chinaman in China by Jules Verne (1879).

Tribulations of a Chinaman in China is book 19 of the Voyages Extraordinaires series.

The movie was released in 1990.

The book behind I Hired a Contract Killer

Tribulations of a Chinaman in China cover

Tribulations of a Chinaman in China

by Jules Verne · first published 1879 · adventure fiction

Novel by Jules Verne.

Voyages Extraordinaires: books in order

  1. Cinq Semaines en ballon (1863)
  2. The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1864)
  3. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864)
  4. From the Earth to the Moon (1865)
  5. In Search of the Castaways (1864)
  6. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869)
  7. Around the Moon (1870)
  8. A Floating City (1871)
  9. The Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Russians in South Africa (1872)
  10. The Fur Country (1873)
  11. Around the World in Eighty Days (1872)
  12. The Mysterious Island (1888)
  13. The Survivors of the Chancellor (1875)
  14. Michael Strogoff (1876)
  15. Off on a Comet
  16. The Child of the Cavern (1877)
  17. Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen (1878)
  18. The Begum's Fortune (1879)
  19. Tribulations of a Chinaman in China (1879)
  20. The Steam House (1880)
  21. Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon (1881)
  22. Godfrey Morgan (1882)
  23. The Green Ray (1882)
  24. Kéraban the Inflexible (1883)
  25. The Vanished Diamond (1884)
  26. The Archipelago on Fire (1884)
  27. Mathias Sandorf (1885)
  28. The Lottery Ticket (1886)
  29. Robur the Conqueror (1886)
  30. Texar's Revenge, or, North Against South (1887)
  31. The Flight to France (1887)
  32. Two Years' Vacation (1888)
  33. Family Without a Name (1889)
  34. The Purchase of the North Pole (1889)
  35. César Cascabel (1890)
  36. Mistress Branican (1891)
  37. The Castle From Carpathians (1892)
  38. Claudius Bombarnac (1892)
  39. Foundling Mick (1893)
  40. Captain Antifer (1894)
  41. Propeller Island (1895)
  42. Facing the Flag (1896)
  43. Clovis Dardentor (1896)
  44. An Antarctic Mystery (1897)
  45. The Mighty Orinoco (1898)
  46. The Will of an Eccentric (1899)
  47. The Castaways of the Flag (1900)
  48. The Village in the Treetops (1901)
  49. The Sea Serpent (1901)
  50. The Kip Brothers (1902)
  51. Traveling Scholarships (1903)
  52. A Drama in Livonia (1904)
  53. Master of the World (1904)

Other adaptations of Tribulations of a Chinaman in China

Common questions

Is I Hired a Contract Killer based on a book?

Yes. I Hired a Contract Killer is based on the book Tribulations of a Chinaman in China by Jules Verne (1879).

Who wrote the book I Hired a Contract Killer is based on?

Tribulations of a Chinaman in China was written by Jules Verne and first published in 1879.

Is Tribulations of a Chinaman in China part of a series?

Yes, it is book 19 in the Voyages Extraordinaires series (16 books listed below in reading order).

Should I read the book before watching?

Start with Cinq Semaines en ballon, book 1 of Tribulations of a Chinaman in China. If you like knowing the full story and characters first, read it before you watch. Adaptations often change or cut plotlines, so the book is a different experience even if you've seen the movie.

More screen adaptations of Jules Verne's books

Facts from Wikidata (CC0). See also Wikipedia.