Books to Movies --> what should be next?

[farntfar]

I would also love to seem someone finally do the rest of the Narnia books as films!!

The trouble with Narnia, Laura, is that the last 2 books, The horse and his boy, and the last battle, have a very well defined set of baddies from Calormen, who have a very Arabic feel about them, (in an old "Sinbad" or "1001 nights' kind of way.) even if their god was called Tash or something.(It's a jong time since I read them.)

I really don't know enough about Lewis to say if he was actually against Islam, though he was very clearly pro-Christianity. (see Screwtape, the Space Trilogy etc and his life in general)

But either they'd have to make the Calormenes look different from their book description or risk a lot of backlash. The books have been done successfully on radio.

 

[OHB]

Ender's Game was made into a movie--and a pretty good one at that. For some reason, it's sequels were never adapted into films. I kept waiting for Hollywood to continue the series, but they never did.

 

[picklematrix]

Ender's Game was made into a movie--and a pretty good one at that. For some reason, it's sequels were never adapted into films. I kept waiting for Hollywood to continue the series, but they never did.

I don't think Enders game quite broke even, unfortunately. Its production budget was 110 million, and it's box office 125 million, so if you take into account the marketing budget, it was likely not profitable for the studio.
I also liked the film, and would have liked a sequel or two, but sadly not quite enough people bought tickets when all is said and done.

 

[HareBrain]

even if their god was called Tash or something.(It's a jong time since I read them.)

He was: a vulture-headed being with four arms. As a child, I found Pauline Baynes's drawing in The Last Battle really scary. As an adult, I find Lewis's idea that a stable monotheistic culture would worship what seems like a minor death deity an insult to the intelligence.

 

[Vince W]

Un Lun Dun. This could be a major film given the correct treatment and producers.

 

[OHB]

I don't think Enders game quite broke even, unfortunately. Its production budget was 110 million, and it's box office 125 million, so if you take into account the marketing budget, it was likely not profitable for the studio.
I also liked the film, and would have liked a sequel or two, but sadly not quite enough people bought tickets when all is said and done.

That's a shame. It's strange that it didn't do well considering the fan base that the books have. They're even required reading in some military academies.

 

[Boaz]

Has anyone seen "The Court Jester" with Danny Kaye? I love that silly stuff!

I love The Court Jester. One of my favorite comedies.... but can anyone do the Jester Giacomo/Hawkins like Kaye? I cringe at Carell, Farrell, Stiller, or Carey trying to do it.

What about the Dragon Riders of Pern? I just want to see some dragons...

Female lead, dragons, sci-fi... Hollywood should eat it up. If you include the sex, I think HBO would love it.

- Ecclesiastes (from Bibble)
- Daniel (from Bibble)

You'd need a director with great vision to pull off Ecclesiastes. It's the semi-random musings of King Solomon (traditionally credited to Solomon though the author is never named). I could imagine it as a series of twenty minute religious/philosophical/moral lessons... Daniel would be better. There are some strong narratives regarding the lion's den, the fiery furnace, the writing on the wall and the visions/revelations of Daniel could be very trippy. I think the narratives of Abram/Abraham, Joseph, and Elijah could/would be fun on the big screen. If you want to see something different from scripture... chase down a copy of Dean Jones' one man play, Saint John in Exile. I saw it on VHS, that's how old it is.

Personally, I've never seen a movie made from a book I've read that was perfectly done. There's always one thing missing or everything done wrong. The Fellowship of the Ring is the best I've ever seen while The Two Towers is the worst.

So what literature would I like to see made into a movie?

Nonfiction: Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose... The Peace Child by Don Richardson... the stories of Jephthah and Ehud from The Book of Judges in The Bible...

Fiction: Everything from Joe Abercrombie, but especially The Heroes and Red Country... A Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis... The People of the Black Circle and Beyond the Black River by Robert E. Howard... The Odyssey by Homer... Ilium by Dan Simmons... Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin... Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King...

Edit: Regarding The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle, I never thought they were anti-Arab, but they are undeniably pro-Christian. In The Horse, Aravis is noble, brave, and conscientious... and her story in the grand Calormene style is glorified. And it may come just at the end, but in The Last Battle, Emeth's interaction with Aslan reveals the universality of Christianity.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I love The Court Jester. One of my favorite comedies.... but can anyone do the Jester Giacomo/Hawkins like Kaye? I cringe at Carell, Farrell, Stiller, or Carey trying to do it.

I agree. To remake that movie with anyone else in the starring role is certainly a cringe-worthy thought.

There is nothing about that movie that they could do better in a remake. It's a parody of the adventure movies of that era, and without some of the very actors (Basil Rathbone!) available to parody themselves, it just wouldn't work.

 

[Boaz]

Yes... Mr. Rathbone's impersonation of himself is wonderful.

 

[Alan Aspie]

You'd need a director with great vision to pull off Ecclesiastes. It's the semi-random musings of King Solomon (traditionally credited to Solomon though the author is never named).

You'd need a great screenwriter - producer - director - casting -team. And hopefully a team that lets writer to be an integrated part of the process - with a voice, not just ears.

Let's imagine....

Script - Andrew Klavan or Andrew Klavan or Andrew Klavan.
Director - Ron Howard or Robert Zemeckis or Mel Gibson
Producers - ??? (The same team that made Noah?)
Casting - ??? (Who have been casting Newsrooms or Game of Thrones first seasons?)

If I had to think the structure, I'd made it a flashback based narrative about lost and hardly managed inner fights of a great and wise king with lots of character flaws which have been mainly cured. His intellectual and moral last will.

Teller: Solomon. Listeners: various people who take care and seek opportunities near his death bed. And these listeners learning nothing from Solomons wisdom - not even paying attention to it. And these other folks around Solomon, they motives and agendas would be the co-arch(s) of the story. A double helix story structure that binds the flashbacks and "present", lost morale and gained morale, wisdom and being fool... together.

That kind of story would need to have a binary structure. A screenwriter would need a special kind of talent for humour + emotional + intellectual personal bind to Bibble. That's why Andrew Klavan to write it.

If writing and producing would need so called script doctor... Michael Hauge?

If it would be possible to cast Morgan Freeman to be Solomon, that would help writing and producing because he can make his characters alive in very multidimensional way. Even thinking Freeman as Solomon would help.

 

[farntfar]

I never thought they were anti-Arab

+
I'm sorry, Boaz. I didn't express myself very well.

I don't really think that ARE anti arab; merely that the descriptions of the Calormenes, and the drawings in the book itself would be taken as such if reproduced in film.

The turbans and pointed shoes and stuff in the pictures particularly (By Pauline Baynes. Thank you HB. I didn't know that) are quite caracatural and would certainly arouse complaints.

 

[Rodders]

I always thought that Iain M. Banks's Excession would make a pretty good space opera.

 

[Boaz]

@farntfar And I probably did not express myself fully... I'm not an expert on Arabic culture. Calormen (the Arab inspired country of Lewis' world) is definitely the enemy. If people think Lewis is anti-Arab... I'd understand.

@Alan Aspie Freeman is one of my faves... he could could do it. What if Gene Hackman would shave his head and come out from retirement?

Don't know Andrew Klavan, but he must be better than Cliff Clavin.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, you could always get rid of the Middle Eastern costumes from the illustrations and dress the characters some other way. (Though actually the turbans and such in Baynes's illustrations could just as easily be Indian I think.) But the Calormen dialogue often sounds like it is mimicking the Arabian Nights. (Although, to be fair, not all the stories in the Arabian Nights take place in Arab countries. Many of them take place much farther east. But they are filtered through an Arabic perspective.) Not that movies tend to be all that true to the dialogue of the books they are based on anyway. And vulture-headed Tash does not seem at all like something out of Arabic culture. More like a mix of deities from many cultures: Ancient Egyptian, Indian, South American, and so forth.

So I think that The Horse and His Boy could be easily done, without offending anyone. The Last Battle might be too preachy for most modern audiences, though.

 

[Boaz]

The Last Battle might be too preachy for most modern audiences, though.

Oh, I completely agree! But with all due respect, from the advertisements that I see on TV... I think we could do with a bit of preaching. (This is my own preaching. Hmmmmm, I wish I were perfect.)

 

[Quisizyx]

Greets- There are a number of books/novels/series that I would think could make good movies. Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren could make an interesting surrealistic movie. Given the the length of the story, it would take a talented, gifted person and time to flail at it to keep the look and feel. To meet time constraints, deciding which character interactions to loose could be difficult. If not careful it could alter the story so drastically as to make it virtually unrecognizable. Then there are censorship issues as some scenes would be considered either violent or x-rated. I suspect it would be way to difficult to make the transition even if made into a series of movies or a mini-series.

The novels by Heinlein considered juveniles such as Have Spacesuit - Will Travel, The Rolling Stones, and Star Beast would make decent movies without any of the issues that some more adult oriented novels present. Even tho not considered by him a juvenile Podkayne of Mars could also lend itself to conversion. My vote would be for The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Glory Road would be a close second. I don't think Stranger in a Strange Land could currently make the cut. Given the current divisive atmosphere I don't think it would get much traction or acceptance. The rampant intolerance extant now suggests to me that it wouldn't get much of an audience.

There are any number of authors and classic stories that could make a good movie. Vernor von Vinge's True Names would make an excellent movie. Given the current technology with 3D, virtual reality, and enhanced reality it seems singularly prophetic. More current and the same vein Neuromancer by William Gibson.

Silverberg has a number of novels that could be candidates for film. One I would like to see would be Book of Skulls. Larry Niven's Ringworld could be an excellent movie. It could suffer some due to the lack of knowledge about previous stories involving the Pak Protectors and Luois Gridley Wu.

There are so many novels by so many authors that could make interesting movies. It could be difficult to choose from the many quality popular stories. The interpretations can suffer severely due to lack of money, time, or talent. For example, Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny. The story was much better than the movie. In fact, the movie was a complete rewrite of the story and barely had any relationship to the novel. Starship Troopers movies fall into this abuse as well. Altho, Ellison's A Boy and His Dog didn't turn out too bad.

Unfortunately, there are entirely too many stories that would make good if not exceptionally excellent movies. There just aren't enough talented people, time, or money available to do one tenth of them. (SIGH)

With the twin first stage tail first landings of the Space X Falcon Heavy boosters it seems that Science Fiction stories are coming to life. It was such an iconic scene.

The light at the end of the tunnel is a bright sunny day with high wispy clouds floating in a blue sky and a gentle breeze blowing up a canyon that has...
a jumble of collapsed bridge in the bottom that used to connect the tunnel exit to the other side.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I don't really think that ARE anti arab; merely that the descriptions of the Calormenes, and the drawings in the book itself would be taken as such if reproduced in film.

The turbans and pointed shoes and stuff in the pictures particularly (By Pauline Baynes. Thank you HB. I didn't know that) are quite caracatural and would certainly arouse complaints.

Well, you could always get rid of the Middle Eastern costumes from the illustrations and dress the characters some other way.

A little OT-quickie: the above made me think of George Lucas's treatment of Asians, Carribean/Afr-Americans, Middle Eastern/Semitic people, and how he shamelessly (and unimaginatiely) used those stereotypes.

You have the Neimodians who are technical experts and seemingly obsessed with droids speaking in a Chinese-person-speaking-English accent because MATHS; Jar Jar Binks is more complex because whilst he can be characterised as the black stereotype of the 50s, the Gungan's, as a race, do not; Watto a palm-rubbing desert venor who has been painfully compared to Jewish folk; Hondo Ohnaka a charistmatic Middle-Eastern-sounding.....pirate; General Grievous also voiced with a Middle Eastern accent...If I think about it there are countless more. I can't recall who the Clones were compared to, but being as they're Maori I can't justify any generalisation on GL's behalf, though I do remember someone comparing them to Mexicans but that's a stretch for me.

So, you'd think someone as 'woke' as GL would have avoided those lazy and offensive comparisons, and if not, then someone in Haaaahlllllaywaaard would have 'ad a word with 'im.

pH

 

[Brian G Turner]

I always think all my writing would make for good films.

Actually, I've always believed that would happen. Maybe something will. Oops - need to get more writing done otherwise it can't happen!

 

[picklematrix]

Vernor Vinge's zones of thought books would make good visual media. A series might be better than movies to fit everything from the book in, but then that could be said of most medium to long novels, especially hard Sci fi. Movies based on thesewould still have a lot of potential.

The Reckoners by Brandon Sanderson might make a good blockbuster type movie series. It would be pretty difficult to screw it up too badly, it's one of those series that is screaming to be put on the big screen.

A foundation film might be good. I'm not a massive fan of Asimov, but in the right hands a good adaptation would be nice.

 

[BAYLOR]

Mythago Woods by Robert Holdstock. With the right director and producer, this would make a terrific film.