Why Hollywood loves PK Dick?

PDK makes for good film making Blade Runner and Total Recall comes to mind.(y)
 
If they do UBIK I would like to see Paul Verhoeven produce and direct it and Ed Newmeyer site the script. They would do a very good job.
 
Adam Stubbings said:
But do movie audiences like him? What was the last film based on his work that grossed BIG?
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Audience might know some of them PKD is a classic SF author but it doesnt help when the adapation is crappy or d-list stars. Its a hit big one or a decent one or classic overrated film like Bladerunner when the stars are Cruise, Matt Damon, Harrison Ford.

Grossing of SF films is really only about big stars are in it or not...
 
A lot of his stories play as paranoid thrillers (a popular Hollywood genre) and Reality is not what you think and they take place in a recognizable, near-future. (easier for the audience.)
 
dask said:
Didn't Minority Report do pretty well profit wise?
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Yes it did. Of course have the box office power and success of Tom Cruise and of Steven Spielberg helps too. :)
 
This is a very old thread which I wasn't following, but just received a "like" from today. I'd say that the questions asked here are still relevant since a BladeRunner sequel is ready for release in 2017. So yes, audiences still like him at the box office, or, at least, they like Hollywood's version. There are a number of stories that haven't made it to screen.
BAYLOR said:
If they do UBIK I would like to see Paul Verhoeven produce and direct it and Ed Newmeyer site the script. They would do a very good job.
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Is UBIK too weird even for Hollywood? Or, too close to the truth?

Then there are all those 'Days of Perky Pat' stories set in a nuclear bunker with people lost in alternative realities. 13 years ago, when I started this thread, I'd have said that they were too old fashioned and only worked in that cold-war, end-of-the-world era, but with the rise of Reality TV and stories of people so lost in MMORPG online games that they forget to eat or sleep, maybe Dick was just too soon.
 
Seems like most PKD films don't make much money, but a few like 2049, Paycheck and Running Man were reasonably profitable.

Michael Critchton has had more film adaptations and made the studies a lot more money. I would think he's the modern king of Hollywood SF adaptations.

All time is probably Jules Verne.
 
Vince W said:
Running Man was Stephen King.
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You are correct. I got my Arnolds messed up - Total Recall was a profitable PKD film.


According to Wikipedia, there have only been 12 film adaptations of PKD works (13 if you count 2049) so far and 3 TV shows.

I would imagine that pitching a PKD plot is a lot easier than most books.
 
Still waiting for an adaptation of 'beyond lies the wub'! Could be a disaster, but id be down for it.
 
BAYLOR said:
PDK makes for good film making Blade Runner and Total Recall comes to mind.(y)
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Total Recall stunk.
Blade Runner is strange, only parts* of DADOES is used, (Ridley Scott didn't even read the novel). Blade Runner is the 2nd best SF film I have ever seen (after 2001). The odd thing about BR is how it captures the 'Cyber-Punk-befroe-there-was-Cyber-Punk' on the pages of Galaxy Magazine. The Stars My Destination, Dick's short stories in Galaxy other authors. Galaxy was THE zine from 1950 to 1960. Caves of Steel, The Space Merchants, Stars My Destination, The Puppet Masters... editor H L Gold was on a roll. In a diffuse sort of way the world building in BR is straight from Galaxy , I guess Scott had read it?

*The VK machine session with Rachael and Deckard is right straight from the book!
 
Al Jackson said:
Total Recall stunk.
Blade Runner is strange, only parts* of DADOES is used, (Ridley Scott didn't even read the novel). Blade Runner is the 2nd best SF film I have ever seen (after 2001). The odd thing about BR is how it captures the 'Cyber-Punk-befroe-there-was-Cyber-Punk' on the pages of Galaxy Magazine. The Stars My Destination, Dick's short stories in Galaxy other authors. Galaxy was THE zine from 1950 to 1960. Caves of Steel, The Space Merchants, Stars My Destination, The Puppet Masters... editor H L Gold was on a roll. In a diffuse sort of way the world building in BR is straight from Galaxy , I guess Scott had read it?

*The VK machine session with Rachael and Deckard is right straight from the book!
Click to expand...

Blade Runner still looks pretty good and 20149 was a pretty good follow up

Im well aware that Total Recall is not even close to the story We Can Remember it For You Wholesale which I like way better then the film. But I still enjoy this film even though I hate what Verhoeven did to Starship Troopers.
 
I thought that I would bump (necropost) this thread.

The recent post on ranking your favourite PKD short stories got me wondering what Hollywood movies had been made based on his work. I have seen and enjoyed a lot, I think but there are some that I haven't been able to get, such as Radio Free Albemuth. (I'm thinking of having a bit of a PKD movie marathon.)

So, movie wise we have

Blade Runner
Total Recall
Minority Report
Paycheck
Screamers
A Scanner Darkly
Radio Free Albemuth.

What am I missing?

Edit;

Electric Dreams TV Anthology
 
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