# What Movies Would You Make If You Could



## JoanDrake (Sep 7, 2013)

You've just won the highest lottery ever run and are now worth several billion dollars. Thing is, it was run by the movie industry, and you are obligated to spend a lot of it on producing the Movie(s) of your dreams.

You can make from one to a several but they all must be one story or a continuous series, (like Game of Thrones).

You're not obligated to make money, but you will keep all the profits as well as suffer the losses. You can use another story, make up your own or recreate any movie or tv series more than 10 years old.


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## Jo Zebedee (Sep 7, 2013)

I'd be entirely nepotistic and use my own trilogy -- loads of people have told me it's very visual, and who doesn't want Dallas-in-space? 

If I was adapting an already published book, I think I'd quite like to do one of the Vorkosigan books, because if you got the first one right, there are loads of them, and they're really popular so there's already a fan base. Plus they're already standalones.


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## Mouse (Sep 7, 2013)

When I saw springs's name, I knew she'd answer exactly that! ^ 

Me. I'd make the Gambit film that Marvel should be making. Also, my own books, obviously.


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## HareBrain (Sep 7, 2013)

I'd make a lush uber-quality hand-drawn art-house animation of The Silmarillion.

Or, following springs's suggestion, Debbie-does-Dallas-in-space.


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## Boneman (Sep 7, 2013)

Flashman - the whole series... Without Malcolm McDowell, of course.


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## Jo Zebedee (Sep 7, 2013)

Mouse said:


> When I saw springs's name, I knew she'd answer exactly that! ^



Predictable me... but seriously, don't we all have that dream? I follow Joe Abercrombie's graphic novel telling of The Blade Itself with more than a little jealousy...



HareBrain said:


> Or, following springs's suggestion, Debbie-does-Dallas-in-space.



Triple x rated, then?


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## HareBrain (Sep 7, 2013)

springs said:


> Predictable me... but seriously, don't we all have that dream?



I'd like to see visual representations of some scenes from my book, but I'm not sure the whole thing would work as a film. (Though at least, for a change, the blatant product placement would be absolutely crucial to the plot.)


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## Phyrebrat (Sep 8, 2013)

Great question!

Mine would be _The Elementals_ by Michael McDowell. Not sure if that would be the kiss of death to my favourite ever book. I would have it directed by whoever it was that did the wonderful TV show _Carnivale_.

I'd like Angela Bassett as Odetta, but I think I'd like to have unknowns in the rest of the roles (possibly Reese Witherspoon as Leigh Savage, though). If it was 30 years ago I would have had Winona Ryder as the cynical child India, but I don't know who I could hire these days; child actors seem to be so weak at the moment - from the things I've seen lately, that is.

I'd want the SFX for the monsters to be by someone who doesn't do blam-boom-bang SFX - something very stylised and creepy-suggestive rather than fully lit, even-the-teeth-have-teeth SFX. 

Although I personally wouldn't touch him, I wish someone would start making H.P. Lovecraft's material. There's so little around and I adore his stuff. I don't know why Hollywood avoids him so much. 

pH


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## Montero (Sep 9, 2013)

Well either movie or maybe more a TV series as it can go into greater depth.  

I'd like

Lois McMaster Bujold's fantasies - especially the Chalion books.

Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane (I think the CGI is good enough now) and also Ladies of Madrigyn and sequels.

I would also like to do Barbara Hambly's vampire books - because they are not sparkly vampires and because the character detail and historical detail are wonderful.

Katherine Kerr - Polar City Blues and Polar City Nightmare.


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## Rodders (Sep 9, 2013)

A movie adaptation of Iain M. Banks' The Player Of Games and Greg Bear's The Forge of God. 

A Babylon 5 Movie. 

I'd try to get a series of movies based on 2000AD comic strips (including a Dredd Sequel) as i think they have as much (if not more) to offer as Marvel and DC. They just don't have the "Brand" power.


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## Kylara (Sep 9, 2013)

PERN and The Crystal Singer trilogy - I think they would work so well as films, very visual...also DRAGONS and I adore the crystal singer trilogy...I think I would also try and do Philip K Dick properly...


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## StormSeeker (Sep 9, 2013)

I would do an animated movie. Proper old school 2D Disney style. Oh, and if I could rope the Disney studio in I would! I'd contact the guys from the Little Mermaid / Lion King. Geniuses.


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## Vince W (Sep 11, 2013)

Dune. A proper three part adaptation.

Ringworld. And no, Tom Cruise would not be involved.

Rendezvous with Rama. I'd be please if it turned out as well as the BBC radio adaptation.


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## quantumtheif (Sep 11, 2013)

The  easiest, which is _mistborn the final empire_.


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## Glen (Sep 24, 2013)

A tone-linked “trilogy” of Barry Malzberg, maybe Destruction of the Temple, Underlay, Guernica Night. In that order. All art-house and understated, with the wicked humour bubbling through.

What an awesome idea. Where do I buy a ticket for this lottery?

_And._.A remake of CE3K in which the aliens are bad guys and the angry Roy Neary saves the world.  His recurring catchphrase as he guns down the evil greys: "Who _are_ you people!"


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## Moonbat (Sep 26, 2013)

I would make 'Huntchester House' the follow up to my appalling debut 'The Beast of Bodmin' but with lots of money I could make it slightly better than appalling, so that would be nice.

I'd like to make a culture film, does it have to be a film, or can I do a TV series, then I could make a Sci-fi series based on an idea I have had for a Sci-fi series.

Or maybe I could pay Joss Whedon to make more firefly


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## Mith (Sep 27, 2013)

Interesting idea. Other than bringing my own story to the silver screen (I'd have to finish that first  ), I'd love to see Matt Stover's _Heroes Die_ brought to life.

A sci-fi/fantasy mix with great action scenes and characters you could love to hate. Possibly directed by Ridley Scott, with Russell Crowe as the lead, for that moodiness and brooding anger


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## finbaa (Oct 12, 2013)

a remake of It, or a biography of Darwin, featuring him being haunted by dinosaurs from Hell


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## Gumboot (Oct 15, 2013)

Well, there's a couple of dream projects I'd love to make;

Adaptations;
-_Gates of Fire_, Steven Pressfield's recounting of the Battle of Thermopylae
-_Catch-22_ by Joseph Heller (this has already been adapted, but it was in 1970 and film technology has come a long way since then)

Historical events;
-A film recounting the New Zealand Division's attack on Passchendaele on October 12, 1917
-A film recounting the Battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815
-A recounting of the heroic survival story of the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition

Fictional;
-A historic fantasy style story set in pre-European New Zealand, featuring elements of Maori mythology
-A "kiwi western" set during the Gold Rush era, 19th Century New Zealand

And of course, adaptations of my own fantasy fiction... but that goes without saying.


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## MattC (Oct 15, 2013)

Gumboot said:


> Well, there's a couple of dream projects I'd love to make;
> 
> Adaptations;
> -_Gates of Fire_, Steven Pressfield's recounting of the Battle of Thermopylae
> ...



Oh man - *Gates of Fire* is definitely up there. It's crying out to be made into a movie.

Other than my own books (mainly the yet unpublished *The Black Hours*) I'd have to say the sequel to Prometheus, a Bond script I co-wrote based on Brosnan's Bond, and two films based on Clive Barker's In the Hills and the Cities, and Down, Satan!
And probably a decent version of HG Well's War of the Worlds that is NOT set in modern day America (it's Victorian England people!!).


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## Huttman (Oct 15, 2013)

Serenity 2,3,4,5 & 6. 
As for T.V. series, Star Trek needs to boldly return to a cerebral minded show about exploration again. 
I think the Clone Wars series got vibro-axed too soon and deserves completion.


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## clovis-man (Oct 16, 2013)

Vince W said:


> Dune. A proper three part adaptation.
> 
> Ringworld. And no, Tom Cruise would not be involved.
> 
> Rendezvous with Rama. I'd be please if it turned out as well as the BBC radio adaptation.


 
The film rights to *Rendezvous With Rama* have been tied up for decades now and it doesn't look like it will ever happen. Pity.

A *Ringworld* film would certainly be intriguing. But it seems there have been abortive attempts there also.

This may be as close as we get:

Ringworld - Part 1 (re-edit) - YouTube

Rendezvous with Rama - YouTube


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## svalbard (Oct 16, 2013)

MattC said:


> Oh man - *Gates of Fire* is definitely up there. It's crying out to be made into a movie.
> 
> Other than my own books (mainly the yet unpublished *The Black Hours*) I'd have to say the sequel to Prometheus, a Bond script I co-wrote based on Brosnan's Bond, and two films based on Clive Barker's In the Hills and the Cities, and Down, Satan!
> And probably a decent version of HG Well's War of the Worlds that is NOT set in modern day America (it's Victorian England people!!).



Universal have the option on it. A script writer called David Self was hired to write it, Michael Mann was then brought on board. Both David and Michael had creative differances and the project, to qoute Steven Pressfield, 'now lies in development hell'. Unfortunately.


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## logan_run (Nov 14, 2013)

a  new version of the martian cronicles for th e theatre. a 2 hour movie.


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## Ice fyre (Nov 14, 2013)

Think I would like to make the Assasins apprentice by Robin Hobb, into a film or TV series like Game of thrones. With Game of thrones gathering such popularity and being such a complex series, it gives me hope that more fantasy and multi book series might just get adapted! We can but hope.


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## K. Riehl (Nov 19, 2013)

It's time to make the Amber novels by Roger Zelazny.  
To form reality out of chaos, and move yourself into any shadow of Amber that you can imagine. Action, intrigue, and droll one liners.


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## monsterchic (Jan 3, 2014)

The Castings trilogy by Pamela Freeman.  I love the books.


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## ZombieWife (Jan 21, 2014)

A Babylon 5 movie.  

A Wonder Woman movie done right (Thor'esque feel)


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## Foxbat (Jan 21, 2014)

I think I'd make Mark Helprin's *Winter's Tale*.


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## merritt (Jan 26, 2014)

I'd make a couple:

CGI /Action Film: man in the maze - Silverberg
Classic - R.U.R.


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## Mirannan (Jan 28, 2014)

Odd. I was going to make a thread on more or less this subject!

Some ideas from me, mostly oldies but goodies: First: I second Ringworld, although Hollywood might not manage the repeated smashing-in-the-face with the scale that Niven managed in print.

#2: Footfall. I think I can safely say that the launch of _Michael_ would be a history-making sequence - obviously in CGI! (God was knocking - and he wanted in BAD.)

#3: There have been at least two asteroid-collision movies with (IMHO) the better of the two, Deep Impact, being the less successful. But there ought to be room for one more; enter Lucifer's Hammer.

#4: Blish's Cities in Flight tetralogy ought to make some decent movies both for characterisation and spectacle.

#5: Lensman series would make great movies if Hollywood did it justice - which they probably wouldn't.

and finally #6: The Fountains of Paradise.


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## Liz Bent (Feb 2, 2014)

_Cosmos_ the novel by Carl Sagan was brilliant. _Cosmos_ the movie was horrible- they completely changed some major points in the film and the very best part of the book was removed entirely. 

I'd love to see the film remade properly. Hollywood seems to be remaking a lot of movies again and again, so maybe I'll get my wish someday.


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## Liz Bent (Feb 2, 2014)

Oh, and while I'm wishing, I wish someone would do nicely animated versions of pretty much all the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels.


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## psychotick (Feb 2, 2014)

Hi,

I' like to see a story about a hobbit and an evil genetically engineered sci fi villain who team up to solve crimes - Oh wait a minute that's Sherlock!

Cheers, Greg.


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## Foxbat (Feb 15, 2014)

Foxbat said:


> I think I'd make Mark Helprin's *Winter's Tale*.


 
Seems a bit arrogant to quote yourself but I've just found out about this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter's_Tale_(film)

Looks like it's going to happen after all.


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## highlad (Mar 5, 2014)

I would go on the forums... ask what movies others would make... steal their ideas... Profit.  MWUHAHAHAHA


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## The Bluestocking (Mar 27, 2014)

I'd adapt the "Thursday Next" series by Jasper Fforde as a HBO style series or a series of movies.

I'd also completely re-do the adaptation of Clarissa Clare's Mortal Instruments series - get it adapted, casted and scripted properly, like what they did with "Catching Fire" (which is a fine adaptation of the source material).


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## Ice fyre (Mar 27, 2014)

I think I would like to adapt the "Known Universe storys" by Larry Niven of which the Ringworld is but one. I think the humour of the storys would be fantastic. I would do it as a TV series first to introduce the settings and peoples. Would start with Protector, which kind of sets up the Ringworld. Then would do Belter storys, the first meeting between man and Kzin, the meeting of man and Pupeteer. While doing a couple of obscure short storys, maybe even telling the tale of the creature residing in the Smithonian in a Stasis field. After that maybe the Ringworld and beyond.


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## Vince W (Mar 27, 2014)

Ice fyre said:


> I think I would like to adapt the "Known Universe storys" by Larry Niven of which the Ringworld is but one. I think the humour of the storys would be fantastic. I would do it as a TV series first to introduce the settings and peoples. Would start with Protector, which kind of sets up the Ringworld. Then would do Belter storys, the first meeting between man and Kzin, the meeting of man and Pupeteer. While doing a couple of obscure short storys, maybe even telling the tale of the creature residing in the Smithonian in a Stasis field. After that maybe the Ringworld and beyond.



I concur. I would subscribe to a cable channel to see this.


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## GlasgowSpacer (Mar 30, 2014)

I'd probably make science fiction with a more mundane, everyday twist. Most sci fi stories nowadays in film, TV and games tend to revolve around larger than life heroes who make big, universe shaping choices and actions. While it's a perfectly valid type of story, I'd find it interesting to see things from the point of view of the everyday folks who have to scrape by and live in these universes. Basically something like the Commitments or Local Hero in a space opera setting.


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## RebeccaTheWrecker (Mar 30, 2014)

The_Bluestocking said:


> I'd adapt the "Thursday Next" series by Jasper Fforde as a HBO style series or a series of movies.



This is a brilliant answer because I was going to say I would adapt Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. It would be astoundingly difficult to figure out when to do colour and grey in the movie, and whether or not it should be narrated because Eddie is the funniest narrator of all time, but it would be amazing.


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## tijsraman (Mar 31, 2014)

The Anubis Gates (Tim Powers) would be an interesting project.
Hyperion (Dan Simmons).
Quest for the Future (A.E. van Vogt).
All books with a lot of fantastic switches.


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## Idoru (Apr 1, 2014)

I've always thought a Slaine film would be awesome. Not sure who would play him; maybe Michael Fassbender.


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## Flyerman11 (Apr 11, 2014)

The Caves of Steel

Excellent who-done-it, in a SciFi setting. As for the cast:
Lije - Graham McTavish
Daneel - Tom Hiddleston
Jessie - Ginnifer Goodwin
Commisioner Enderby - would have liked  - Philip Seymour Hoffman


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## Dark Energy (May 10, 2014)

I did make a sci-fi short film a year ago, and i'm currently working on the second.


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## Dave (Jun 2, 2014)

These are fantastic suggestions, but maybe you'll need more money!!!


Boneman said:


> Flashman - the whole series... Without Malcolm McDowell, of course.


I'm waiting for you to make this.


Rodders said:


> A movie adaptation of Iain M. Banks' The Player Of Games


Yes please, and "Use of Weapons" and "Against a Dark Background".


Vince W said:


> Dune. A proper three part adaptation.
> Ringworld. And no, Tom Cruise would not be involved.


'Dune' certainly needs an HBO style series. Personally, I'd skip 'Ringworld' but certainly have something else set earlier in the _Known Space_ universe. Maybe the 'Ringworld' prequels starting with 'Fleet of Worlds'.


Ice fyre said:


> I would start with Protector, which kind of sets up the Ringworld.


Same idea really, but the 'Worlds' books have extra information and parallel running stories.


Huttman said:


> Serenity 2,3,4,5 & 6.


I'll actually send you money to make these!


The_Bluestocking said:


> I'd adapt the "Thursday Next" series by Jasper Fforde as a HBO style series or a series of movies.


Yes, but I'd really like to see 'Shades of Grey' as a film. (And I want the sequel written and  published too, not some prequel he is writing.)


RebeccaTheWrecker said:


> This is a brilliant answer because I was going to say I would adapt Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde. It would be astoundingly difficult to figure out when to do colour and grey in the movie, and whether or not it should be narrated because Eddie is the funniest narrator of all time, but it would be amazing.


Rebecca, we must be soul mates!!


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## Teresa Edgerton (Jun 2, 2014)

Vince W said:


> Dune. A proper three part adaptation.



There was a three part mini-series on the Syfy channel a while back.  I don't know if it was any good (because I didn't see it), but it was close to five hours long, so there was room to do it justice.

I would like to make a better version of a favorite book that has already been made into a disappointing movie or miniseries.  For instance:

*Gormenghast
A Wizard of Earthsea
The Dark is Rising
Our Mutual Friend*

Or books that haven't yet been made into movies

*Lud-in-the-Mist
The Riddle-Master trilogy*
and on a lighter note, almost anything by Georgette Heyer


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## clovis-man (Jun 3, 2014)

Re *Dune*:



Teresa Edgerton said:


> There was a three part mini-series on the Syfy channel a while back.  I don't know if it was any good (because I didn't see it), but it was close to five hours long, so there was room to do it justice.


 
Fourteen years ago now. I not only saw it when it was broadcast, I got the DVD set. Suffice to say that the DVD version managed to squeeze in some HBO-like nudity and so forth. But that didn't save it.

Mind you, the SyFy version did make an attempt to follow the novel more faithfully than David Lynch's self-absorbed opus. However, that wasn't the source of my problem with it. More than most any SF story brought to the screen, this one relies on the strength of its characters. I'm afraid that was lacking.

So yes, I'd like to see a better film version, one in which the Fremen and the Sardaukar were more than cardboard cutouts and in which the mentat role was more fully explored, etc. But I don't think there's a realistic chance of it being done.


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## steelyglint (Jun 21, 2014)

1 - Heinlein's 'Stranger in a Strange Land'.

2 - Brin's whole 'Uplift' series.

3 - Alastair Reynolds's 'Century Rain'.

4 - Timothy Zahn's 'Spinneret'.

'Ringworld' would have been there, but too many other 'billionaires' in previous posts can see to that. As would the Strugatsky's 'Roadside Picnic' - as long as we could keep Andrei Tarkovsky as far away from it as possible.

.


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## Reivax26 (Jun 22, 2014)

I want to see Waylander by David Gemmell turned into a movie, with Liam Neeson playing the role of Waylander.


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## BAYLOR (Jun 29, 2014)

*Bloodstone *by Karl Edward Wagner , would make a terrific sumer film.


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