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I think John Ringo's Troy Rising series would make a great movie trilogy.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Goliath wrote:


Also agree with Artemis Fowl, and would put forwards a continuation of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series.

Hitchhikers suffered from some really dodgy casting choices. Mos Def as Ford? Really?

Plus it has to live up to the standard of the books and radio show. Which the first film failed to do. It was too Hollywoodised, lacked the insanity and random direction of the original works, in my opinion.

i thought the casting was pretty good, with mos def and sam rockwell really standing out in their respective roles. sometimes the last person you's expect to be able to do it is the best one for the part.

 Paradigm wrote:

gorgon wrote:Well, if we're talking the fantasy genre, I can't fathom why no one's done anything with Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, especially in the wake of Harry Potter. It got a horrible Disney treatment (The Black Cauldron) back in the '80s (pre-Little Mermaid, when Disney was still making bad animated films), but that can't possibly have made the whole franchise toxic.

Those books are well-written (a couple of them won Newberry Awards, IIRC), aimed right at that pre-teen/teen audience, and fantasy seems hot as hell right now. I don't get it, unless someone is just sitting on the rights for whatever reason.

Actually, that's a great idea. I remember really liking those books, and I'd much rather see those done to a good standard that have Peter Jackson milk even more films out of Middle Earth (Calling it now, The Silmarilion will be announced by 2016).

Thanks for reminding me I need to re-read those!

I re-read them several years back, wondering if they held up (fantasy usually does, but you never really know with stuff from your childhood, right?). And they're still really good! They're aimed at a teen audience, but there's a lot of good growing up/coming of age/developing the right values stuff in the series that still works as well as it did when they were written.

For whatever reason, I feel like those books have been overlooked in recent years, even as publishers are rushing out all kinds of mediocre genre stuff to throw at that age group. I can't understand why they're not pushing the books more and a movie forward.

My previous post got me thinking, and a Google search uncovered that Disney *apparently* still has the rights to the series. They flat-out butchered the source material in the animated film, but that was a long time ago and the trend now is for more faithful adaptations that can be strung out into movie franchises. I think they're perfect for that. The books are on the short side, making them easily adapted into 2-hour films. They have appealing characters with a good mix of action and humor, etc. And IIRC, only the last book involves and requires large-scale battles, etc. Massive budgets shouldn't be required. I really don't get it.

I'm pretty sure I just don't like movie adaptations any more. Unless it is a super simple, straightforward plot it will be ruined by Hollywood because they are convinced (somewhat correctly) that people can't wrap their heads around anything complex. Plus if we are talking a book that exceeds 400 or so pages - pretty much every book I read - cutting it down to a 100 minute movie means skipping a lot.

I am much more a fan of miniseries. Three to five two hour episodes is just about perfect for a fairly good sized book; it's enough time to get to know the characters, have a nice plot with time for twists and stuff to not seem rushed, and then it's over and you don't have to worry about them trying to drag things out into a full series.

 gorgon wrote:

 Paradigm wrote:

gorgon wrote:Well, if we're talking the fantasy genre, I can't fathom why no one's done anything with Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, especially in the wake of Harry Potter. It got a horrible Disney treatment (The Black Cauldron) back in the '80s (pre-Little Mermaid, when Disney was still making bad animated films), but that can't possibly have made the whole franchise toxic.

Those books are well-written (a couple of them won Newberry Awards, IIRC), aimed right at that pre-teen/teen audience, and fantasy seems hot as hell right now. I don't get it, unless someone is just sitting on the rights for whatever reason.

Actually, that's a great idea. I remember really liking those books, and I'd much rather see those done to a good standard that have Peter Jackson milk even more films out of Middle Earth (Calling it now, The Silmarilion will be announced by 2016).

Thanks for reminding me I need to re-read those!

I re-read them several years back, wondering if they held up (fantasy usually does, but you never really know with stuff from your childhood, right?). And they're still really good! They're aimed at a teen audience, but there's a lot of good growing up/coming of age/developing the right values stuff in the series that still works as well as it did when they were written.

For whatever reason, I feel like those books have been overlooked in recent years, even as publishers are rushing out all kinds of mediocre genre stuff to throw at that age group. I can't understand why they're not pushing the books more and a movie forward.

My previous post got me thinking, and a Google search uncovered that Disney *apparently* still has the rights to the series. They flat-out butchered the source material in the animated film, but that was a long time ago and the trend now is for more faithful adaptations that can be strung out into movie franchises. I think they're perfect for that. The books are on the short side, making them easily adapted into 2-hour films. They have appealing characters with a good mix of action and humor, etc. And IIRC, only the last book involves and requires large-scale battles, etc. Massive budgets shouldn't be required. I really don't get it.

To be honest, I can easily see it filling the gap left by Narnia quite nicely, assuming they aren't going forward with the last 2 books (which is a shame, as those are 2 of my favourites). Other than LOTR/The Hobbit and a few indie films, there really hasn't been a good High Fantasy film in quite a while, aimed at kids/teens but watchable and enjoyable by adults as well (when it comes to fiction, there's not so much of a distinction as some like to think).

The characters are all pretty good, it is rather funny, and as you point out, it escalates quite nicely going from an adventurey sort of affair in the first couple (complete with the obligatory Pursuing Bad Guys, Princess Rescuing and Normal Guy Who Should Be King) into the war that builds up and culminates in the last book with some great set-piece battles.

Why are they not doing this?

Cable/Netflix series on The Dresden Files.

Well, since I have the comic books I'll count this... I'd love to see MGS done as a TV series.

But here's my idea. Rather than having an actor play snake and we film him crawling through airducts, sneaking around pistol whipping guys, etc.... We do a show like Ancient Aliens, where we have "experts" and "eyewitnesses" talking about various events throughout the series Certainly, you'd need some actors to play Campbell, Naomi, Otacon, Snake and the like, but I still think it'd be cool

Mortal Engines could be well done but the casting would have to be spot on for the old & young versions of the characters. His Dark Materials are another good choice but there's already the black stain of the initial attempt and the "The Church is pure Evil" elements would have to be toned down unless it wanted to tank at the box office

 Paradigm wrote:

 gorgon wrote:

 Paradigm wrote:

gorgon wrote:Well, if we're talking the fantasy genre, I can't fathom why no one's done anything with Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, especially in the wake of Harry Potter. It got a horrible Disney treatment (The Black Cauldron) back in the '80s (pre-Little Mermaid, when Disney was still making bad animated films), but that can't possibly have made the whole franchise toxic.

Those books are well-written (a couple of them won Newberry Awards, IIRC), aimed right at that pre-teen/teen audience, and fantasy seems hot as hell right now. I don't get it, unless someone is just sitting on the rights for whatever reason.

Actually, that's a great idea. I remember really liking those books, and I'd much rather see those done to a good standard that have Peter Jackson milk even more films out of Middle Earth (Calling it now, The Silmarilion will be announced by 2016).

Thanks for reminding me I need to re-read those!

I re-read them several years back, wondering if they held up (fantasy usually does, but you never really know with stuff from your childhood, right?). And they're still really good! They're aimed at a teen audience, but there's a lot of good growing up/coming of age/developing the right values stuff in the series that still works as well as it did when they were written.

For whatever reason, I feel like those books have been overlooked in recent years, even as publishers are rushing out all kinds of mediocre genre stuff to throw at that age group. I can't understand why they're not pushing the books more and a movie forward.

My previous post got me thinking, and a Google search uncovered that Disney *apparently* still has the rights to the series. They flat-out butchered the source material in the animated film, but that was a long time ago and the trend now is for more faithful adaptations that can be strung out into movie franchises. I think they're perfect for that. The books are on the short side, making them easily adapted into 2-hour films. They have appealing characters with a good mix of action and humor, etc. And IIRC, only the last book involves and requires large-scale battles, etc. Massive budgets shouldn't be required. I really don't get it.

To be honest, I can easily see it filling the gap left by Narnia quite nicely, assuming they aren't going forward with the last 2 books (which is a shame, as those are 2 of my favourites).

If you haven't read Taran Wanderer as an adult, you should. I now think it's the best book in the series. There's some real bittersweetness in that book that I don't think I fully appreciated as a kid. Or maybe it's better to say that I probably couldn't fully appreciate it until I lived long enough to have failed, been let down, tried to find myself, struggled with my integrity, etc.

Other than LOTR/The Hobbit and a few indie films, there really hasn't been a good High Fantasy film in quite a while, aimed at kids/teens but watchable and enjoyable by adults as well (when it comes to fiction, there's not so much of a distinction as some like to think).

The characters are all pretty good, it is rather funny, and as you point out, it escalates quite nicely going from an adventurey sort of affair in the first couple (complete with the obligatory Pursuing Bad Guys, Princess Rescuing and Normal Guy Who Should Be King) into the war that builds up and culminates in the last book with some great set-piece battles.

Why are they not doing this?

I've been telling people this for the past several years ever since Harry Potter got big. Hell, Eilonwy is even a pretty strong female character, considering when the books were written. It'd take very little tweaking to give it that strong female lead that everyone seems to crave these days.

I don't get it...other than the fact that the series isn't already a current smash with current teens. It's not the safest bet to the studio. But then look at Narnia...that series wasn't on any particular upsurge before the first movie hit the theaters. *shrug*

The BattleTech Triology by Michael Stackpole
Warrior: En Garde, Riposte and Coupe

Epic stuff just like

Matzlan Book of the Fallen - bit dificult but cool

Hollows Novels by Kim Harrison

Blood of Eden Novels by Julie Kagawa

lots more

I would like to see the Lovecraft books get made into a movie. That would be very interesting to see done.

 Asherian Command wrote:
I would like to see the Lovecraft books get made into a movie. That would be very interesting to see done.

Agreed be great to see well done - a few people have tried and not really got it right.....

The Dark Tower.
A WHFB film focusing on Chaos within the Old World.

 Mr Morden wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:
I would like to see the Lovecraft books get made into a movie. That would be very interesting to see done.

Agreed be great to see well done - a few people have tried and not really got it right.....

Yeah. It would be interesting to see it well done. I wish the guy who made Brazil was still able to do movies and could make it. Or the guy that made Clockwork Orange, to do a lovecraft story. Because lets face it, it would be an incredibly interesting movie.

I thought Silent Hill had some good Lovecraftian elements

 Mr Morden wrote:
I thought Silent Hill had some good Lovecraftian elements

Barely any. Silent Hill if I remember right started out as nothing more than a video game.

It has some elements, but only silent hill 2 and silent hill (the original) actually kept to what lovecraft actually is.

 Mr Morden wrote:
I thought Silent Hill had some good Lovecraftian elements

Watch the Silent Hill movies with Tool's 10,000 days playing in the background.

Perfect ambience tunes for those flick.

Iron Druid for modern fantasy

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:
I would like to see the Lovecraft books get made into a movie. That would be very interesting to see done.

Agreed be great to see well done - a few people have tried and not really got it right.....

Yeah. It would be interesting to see it well done. I wish the guy who made Brazil was still able to do movies and could make it. Or the guy that made Clockwork Orange, to do a lovecraft story. Because lets face it, it would be an incredibly interesting movie.

Kubrick's dead, you're 15 years late I'm afraid

Mortal Engines. My username and profile picture might mean something to those of you who have read the series.

The only problem with Mortal Engines, is that you need to find a perfect set of actors to play both the young and old versions of Hester and Tom. I don't have enough faith in any film studio to pull that off properly.

Dragonriders of Pern would certainly be an interesting adaptation and would likely draw in the older sci-fi crowd of the 70s and 80s.

I really loved the Mortal Engines series when I was younger, and even now wish they were made into films.

The Iron Druid Chronicles from Kevin Hearne.

Good stuff.

 Jihadin wrote:
Iron Druid for modern fantasy

 kronk wrote:
The Iron Druid Chronicles from Kevin Hearne.

Good stuff.

Wow, you guys liked those? I burned through the first three real quick and... they were pretty bad. How do you establish tension when the main character has killed like twelve gods singlehandedly? And really easily. Like, in a paragraph.




Plus Thor is awesome. Screw druids.

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 Asherian Command wrote:
I would like to see the Lovecraft books get made into a movie. That would be very interesting to see done.

Agreed be great to see well done - a few people have tried and not really got it right.....

Yeah. It would be interesting to see it well done. I wish the guy who made Brazil was still able to do movies and could make it. Or the guy that made Clockwork Orange, to do a lovecraft story. Because lets face it, it would be an incredibly interesting movie.

Kubrick's dead, you're 15 years late I'm afraid

However Terry Gilliam is still around and directing.

Alan Dean Foster's The Damned series. At one point I seriously started looking into how much it costs on average to buy the creative rights for a book series for exactly this purpose.

How this ISN'T a tv show or movie trilogy at this point, I cannot fathom.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Asherian Command wrote:
I would like to see the Lovecraft books get made into a movie. That would be very interesting to see done.

Most of Lovecraft's work wouldn't translate super-well on screen, I think. For all his wonderful imagination, the man had an immensely poor grasp of human interaction, and if I were to watch an entire film with people walking around talking to one another the way they do in a Lovecraft story, by the time I was done I'd be fighting down the urge to tear my face off like Geena Davis in Beetlejuice.

Kinda like I felt after the Silent Hill movie.

 Eldarain wrote:
The Dark Tower.

It's on its way, yeah? I heard they tapped Aaron Paul to play Eddie Dean.

 -Shrike- wrote:
Mortal Engines. My username and profile picture might mean something to those of you who have read the series.

The only problem with Mortal Engines, is that you need to find a perfect set of actors to play both the young and old versions of Hester and Tom. I don't have enough faith in any film studio to pull that off properly.

Indeed, the casting of such deep and well-written characters would be crucial. After recently reading them, my brother and I managed to come up with a list of actors for most of the supporting cast, but Tom and Hester would be quite hard to pull off. They'd need to be young, but not childish or inexperienced, and there are very few actors that fit in that bracket.

In all honesty, I'd almost rather them leave it alone than risk messing them up.

I thought I read that Disney was adapting the Artemis Fowl books into a movie.

While it isn't a novel, I'd like to see Tsutomu Nihei's Biomega adapted into a live action movie. Well, at least the first chunk of it when they're going through the Drone Plague. Post Drone Plague, it goes off the deep end and loses the horror aspect it was rocking prior. Up until the Drone Plague story line is concluded, the comic is dark, gritty, and has some downright horrifying imagery. Keep the atmosphere, the designs, and the action and you might just have one of the best zombie apocalypse movies ever made.

In the realm of actual books, I'd like to see the David Brin's Uplift War adapted (my Dad really wants to see a Startide Rising movie). With the technology they have today, and considering how the apes look in the upcoming Planet of the Apes movie, I think they could finally pull the Uplift War off really well.

Also, The Night Lands would make for an interesting movie, or possibly an anime.

Maybe adapt a few more of the Vampire Hunter D novels. I recall Pilgrimage of the Sacred and Profane being rather enjoyable. The world in those books has so much history and strangeness to it. There's all sorts of fun stuff you could have in a movie. Something like Tyrant's Stars or Fortress of the Elder God maybe.

Oh, and an accurate adaptation of All You Need Is Kill. The Hollywood one was good, yes, but I'd like to see it done without all of the needless changes.

Out of left field, and no one here has read it (most likely), The Norby Chronicles by Janet Asimov. It would be clean family fun. I read them as a kid and would love to see it on the big screen with my son.

 Jimsolo wrote:

 Eldarain wrote:
The Dark Tower.

It's on its way, yeah? I heard they tapped Aaron Paul to play Eddie Dean.

Perfect casting!