Fantasy Books into Movies!

[kater]

Eurytus is right, Gemmell's books would work better in film form... I'd love to see Legend on the big screen, like the Alamo but with swords! They are often self contained and say if you started off with Legend and it was successful then you could go on to the King Beyond the Gate.

A key issue in book to movie translations is rights, David Gemmell has been offered several chances to make films from his books but the studios wanted character rights signed over. This means you could get a Waylander 5, a Legend 3, or subversions of the stories and characters developed by DG, in essence whatever the studio deemed financially viable and profitable. Needless to say Mr Gemmell, class act that he is, has turned them all away.

 

[JamesL]

A key issue in book to movie translations is rights, David Gemmell has been offered several chances to make films from his books but the studios wanted character rights signed over. This means you could get a Waylander 5, a Legend 3, or subversions of the stories and characters developed by DG, in essence whatever the studio deemed financially viable and profitable. Needless to say Mr Gemmell, class act that he is, has turned them all away.

He's totally right too as well. Film people can be sneaky. Gemmell himself told of one poor fellow - can't remember his name - who signed over his characters to a film company. This company then made a dreadful film, causing the author much annoyance and disappointment. Not content with that, the film company then made 2 sequels, both just as bad. For the poor author, it was like dying 1000 deaths every time a new film came out. Each time he would be forced to watch his own creations being shot to pieces by a terrible plot, script, etc...

Surely a fate worse than death for any writer.

 

[cgw]

Based on Hollywood's predisposition to making sequels, I would be shocked if The Hobbit were not made.
I can take or leave movie versions of books. I may watch a movie version of a book I've read out of curiosity (when it comes on TV).
LOTR was near the top of the list in quality. Dune is at the bottom of the same list. IMO the worst movie I’ve seen in terms of expectation.

 

[Wulfa_Jones]

kater - did not know that... a bit of a shame really that the Hollywood machine is like that because they are the only people who can fund such large scale films.
As for Waylander 5... Gemmell did milk that character a little to much I mean Hero in the Shadows was one push to far for the character as far as I was concerned.

 

[saintjon]

Eurytus you have made my day telling me that they're making a movie for Lions.

 

[Sheets]

Here's a press release from about a year ago regarding Kane. Crossing my fingers really hard that this turns out well (if it ever gets made at all).

Lauren Moews' Tonic Films Acquires Rights to Karl Edward Wagner's Tome 'Death Angel's Shadow'

Moews to Raise 'KANE' in 2005 as Tonic Films' Follow-Up to Horror Hit 'Cabin Fever'

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Producer Lauren Moews' Tonic Films has acquired "Death Angel's Shadow," a collection of three short stories which features fantasy author Karl Edward Wagner's immortal anti-hero KANE. The deal was brokered by Moews for Tonic Films and by the Intellectual Property Group on behalf of the Pimlico Agency of New York.

Moews has green-lit a film based upon "Reflections for the Winter of My Soul," which is the first of three short stories comprising "Death Angel's Shadow." The other two short stories, "Cold Light" and "Mirage," are waiting in the wings to be developed into a possible KANE franchise for Tonic Films.

"The character of KANE is the embodiment of evil you cannot help but root for. KANE is the perfect anti-hero and 'Death Angel's Shadow' has all the makings of an enormously successful horror franchise," says Moews. "As one reviewer said, 'KANE is to most fantasy as Jack the Ripper is to Disney characters,'" adds Moews.

Karl Edward Wagner's anti-hero KANE will finally take the leap off the pages of "Death Angel's Shadow" and onto the big screen more than 30 years after its first printing. Wagner is credited by many with creating the "dark fantasy" genre in literature. "Death Angel's Shadow" features KANE, the Gothic anti-hero, an immortal who treks his world in three short stories where he encounters the werewolf's lair, the vampire's nest and ultimately the death angel's shadow.

In November 2003 Moews was nominated for the Producer's Award for outstanding achievement for a body of work by the IFP, with the winner to be announced at the 2004 Independent Spirit Awards on February 28th. Most recently, she produced the acclaimed indie horror film "Cabin Fever" which was released by Lions Gate and was their biggest hit of the year, grossing $22 million domestically.

Tonic Films was formed in 1999 by Lauren Moews and Dean Masserman. Tonic Films is a motion picture production company committed to producing innovative low budget stories to compete with studio theatrical releases. Tonic Films is also developing cutting-edge television programming for network and cable broadcast.

CONTACT: David Roberson of Roberson Public Relations, +1-323-969-9014, [email protected] , for Lauren Moews' Tonic Films


Copyright 2004 PRNewswire
Issued: 02/10/2004 11:15 PM GMT

 

[Khallandra]

Lions of Al-Rassen? That would be interesting, I have also heard of the Chain of Dogs movie too.

Narnia is a definate though Morcock's would be interesting...

 

[ikonetic]

I have read on a website that Jordan sold the rights to WOT to somebody but how someting this long and involved can be made into a film is beyond me.and though I would love to see the Amber series done I'm not sure that it's possible either so I'll cast a vote for ZELAZNEY'S "JACK OF SHADOWS"

 

[Grendel]

Watchmen would work best as an HBO series.

I couldn't agree more and said the exact same thing when I heard there was a movie in the works.

But to contribute to the thread, I took a break from heavy fantasy to re-read The Prydain Chronicles (hadn't read them since Jr High *mumbles something about 20* years ago) and there were MANY parts that I could imagine on screen.
The dialogue in that was so fluid and powerful at times. The stories were tight and without alot of fluff.
I think they could be made cheaply too.
I know they made The Black Cauldron into a throw-away Disney film way back when.

 

[Lowrent]

I think Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is a great work but I am not sure it would work as a movie, or even a series of movies. One of the key features of the books are their slow measured pace. Many people find this puts them off but for me it is one of the attractions.

Additionally quite a bit of the book is concerned with the internal thoughts of characters, something incredibly difficult to translate into film....

Good point, I don't know how the're going to do this with Runelords either, almost everything in the book is explained through narrative, not sure how it will translate onto screen.

 

[Fangora]

they are making the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe finally!!! I read the books by C.S. Lewis so many times! The costume people from Lord of the Rings are doing the costumes and make-up and so on for it. I can't wait, it's coming out fairly soon!