Does the fate rest with Eragon? (WoT Movie)

[Guest cwestervelt]

Biggest thing you are missing would be that people don't won't watch bad movies. Sure, a bad movie may pull in a decent haul its first weekend, but it won't put up the kind of numbers we have seen for all the movies I mentioned in my first post. Studio execs aren't going to shill out the big bucks to create films without making sure they are good. (At least, that's the idea.)

 

People don't want to watch bad movies true. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop the studios from making them. Check out the budgets for a lot of movies. Many of them are such that as long as they have a decent openning week, that is all that matters. They will make up the rest when it comes out on video. Look at the rash of movies, especially the "horror" (read extreme graphic violence), that end up on DVD within about 2 months of their release in theaters because no one watched them after that first weekend.

[Ord]

I don't want to see a WOT movie. There's no way a 2 or 3+ hour movie could do it justice. And I think I would hate to see it as a Mini series. It would look and feel cheesy. Now I would like to to see WOT animaited, not as anime (I do like anime but I don't think the whole face changing and what not would fit in WOT). I think an Animaited series would be great, they could do everything from the books with out a problem.

[Daetirion]

OT i know

 

Eragon is a good book IMHO

 

however, with main enemies being Urgals (described v similar to Trollocs, closer to Trollocs then goblins) and a Shade (doesnt really need the bracket.....)

 

other than that its fairly standard for Fantasy novels

 

much better than the latest Eddings novels.....

[Incubate]

i'm several days late in but...

 

I believe in a "Go see the movie to support the Movie" idea

 

WoT would make one heck of a long movie, and any Mini series would be horrible...

 

and to AcE,

It's not the fact that he grew up on a farm that i was getting at,

It's the fact that he grew up on a farm protected by a river and so far out in the middle of nowhere that they really don't belong to a country...

 

Lots of main characters in lots of great stories grew up on farms...

[Asajin]

looking at the posters and all of Eragon i think its gonna be horrible. I mean the main character had his hair died blonde and styled. Which male in a fantasy setting wud have that. Anyway i agree with Incubate that there were an amazing number ofideaa's taken from WoT and i thought it was a bit childish but i read it and intend to continue reading it nonetheless

 

Back on topic regarding a WoT movvie i think that EotW, TGH N DSR cud be done but the rest just have too many sub-plots. But still i hope for the entire series turning into films. Maybe they cud split a few of the books into parts. That would be sweet. 15-16 3-hour long WoT movies.

[Arbathon AlSoar]

I was thinking the same thing Asajin...2-3 movies per book

 

except for maybe *Like what was said earlier* EotW

 

..that could be 1 movie

[Guest Chaldkydri]

If wheel of time was made into a movie i would freak out. They i would go into a state of fear. CAn you imagine how they would chop up the book??

And a mini-series?!

That might work... Unless they try to get away from the book and or hire horrible actors.

[Inara]

i was watching a docco on tv today, and it was talking about how TV is superior to movies when it comes to character development, and i agree with it.

one particular phrase that stood out was when they described the 'story' of successful tv series as a tapestry of characters'individual stories.

this is how i see the book (TWOT). it follows the individual stories of significant people surrounding an event, ie the rebirth of the dragon.

this is why i think tv would work sooooo much better than a movie, if someone can pitch it to a cable channel, then the ratings wouldnt really matter, as long as the execs like it.

HBO seems decent (from what i know...never actually having watched it)

[Arbathon AlSoar]

That is true....but nobody has made a tv show out of books before

[Jorik Alarin]

Hello all, as far as the idea of transforming the WoT series into a movie.....the first 3 maybe...but after DR i see no real way of selling the series to the studios. the first three would make a good movie trilogy. Having said that my opinion is to make the series an animated series, not talking the inyuasha or dragon ballz style anime, but a serious anime epic. I beleive that the books could really be turned into the vehicle that brings anime to main stream american audience.

[kbundy]

As far as the book comparison goes, I stand bhy what I replied in the other Eragon comparison.

 

As far as the film, I don't care one way or the other, but it had better be good. I prefer watching long marathons to a once a night show. Make each several hours, denote a weekend, and show them all. In fact, I actually prefer to buy the dvds and watch when I have time. That and tivo are time savers.

[Crusher]

k ive read eragon and am in the middle of eldest (i stopped readin WoT needed a change for a bit) and im not tryin to criticise or anythin but here are my views

 

-urgals same as trollocs

i imagined them a bti different but still had same idea

 

-the "power"

completly different a man and woman use the same thing and everyone has the abbility to but only every say 1/100 people do (not includin the elves because they all use it)

 

-urghals attck village

in the first one ra'zac (wich look nothing like shades)

came and killed his father and destroyed his farm while saphira (his dragon) sorta "kidnapped" him.

in the second one (eldest) the empire comes and trys to take eragons brother (roran [i think thts his name]) but they dont let him and a battle occours

 

-the same strtin idea

a bit the same but i didnt care almost every single middeval fantasy strts off like tht

 

all writers look at eachothers writing and compliment it and this will never stop im thinkin tht it wasnt really paolini who in a way "copyd" jordan i believe tht jordan "copys" another writer, who "copyd" another writer and so on

 

as far as if WoT got made into movies ID FREAKIN LOVE IT!!! one example of this is tht i absaloutly HATED harry potter b4 i saw the movie and now its my 2nd fav series so this wud open to a whole new group of readers

it wud be slightly hard to make it into it though cuz thiers freakin 12 books in the series (1 comin)

[Slothman]

That is true....but nobody has made a tv show out of books before

 

erm wha?

 

Dune? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_miniseries

 

Shogun? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogun_(miniseries)

[Inara]

pride and prejudice!!!

 

the bbc series, one of my fav

[Covenant]

I've noticed influence from several authors including Jordan and Eddings. So what? He's a kid who's read a whole lotta fantasy and then started writing his own. Should it surprise us that he picked up a few other author's styles?

 

As for a WoT series...after seeing the work they put into the series about Rome, I'd have to say HBO is the one that should do it. They have the budget to spare, and I think they could really pull it off.

[Timewalker]

Also, Animorphs made it into a TV show (though not a very successful one at all). Anyways, I had an idea. A movie would work. For example: Say the first book would take a seven hour movie. Make two three hour movies. Then take the last hour, and add it to two hours on the second book. There's another three hour movie. Then take three hours in the second book, etc. It's not the best idea, but it is the only way they could make a movie without chopping it to hell.

[irriadal]

WoT would be awesome as some sort of 600 episode anime :)

 

Eargon seemed to follow starwars alot, but then again starwars is an example of arch-type fantasy.

 

Princess Sends off Key to Victory(R2D2/Egg)

Princess gets captured

Kid Gets it

Kid lives with reletives

kid gets

Kid meets disguised last of a mystical order

Kids familiy gets PWNT

Kid runs away, meets up with rogue(Han/Murtaugh)

Kid rescues princess

Disguised last of a mystical order gets killed

So on.

[Inara]

i agree legacyspy, but you wont find many who do. most of the posters here seem to think that anime is a medium for children thanks to pokemon and dragonball z.

 

i think it would be the perfect medium for such a complex story arc. there are thousands of characters and over 10 main story arcs that i think the more episodes the better. one season per book.

 

i can only dream

[MasterofBlades]

Let's assume, theoretically speaking...in an unrealistic world, that the Wheel of Time could be made into a theatrical release. Say, by New Line Cinema or Paramount or Warner Brothers or 21st Century Fox. Would those peope on this board still want it to be a mini-series? I think right now, a miniseries is the only possibility, but if I had had a choice I'd rather The Wheel of Time were in the movie theaters. Unfortunatley, Hollywood often ruins great books like these. Well, The Lord of the Rings is one of Hollywoods RARE good adaptations.

 

But let's say, , for imaginations sake, RJ's series does become a theatrical release. I think it would be great, because than the most would be made of all the special effects and CGI, which is integeral to the story. We need to have decent special effects, which a mini-series COULD possibly not have the budget for to do effectively.

Would it be rated R? Rated PG-13? Would the content in these novels be too strong for a mini-series---for television censors? It's pretty obvious it won't be PG or G or NC-17.

Honestly, I think these novels feel more like a hard PG-13, for the most part. But sometimes ocassionally, they could also be rated R. These books have no profanity. The sexual content (and sometimes ocassional nudity) is more or less PG-13 level.

Sometimes, the violence can occasionally be graphic enough for an R rating, especially during the climactic battlescene in Lord of Chaos. some myrdraal decapitation scenes can be quite messy too. Perrin torturing and maiming that Aiel in CoT. Could there be a censorship issue, if it becomes a mini-series?

Than there are the actors and actresses. I think for the most park, mostly unknowns and up and comers should fil the majority of the roles. But for maybe the 10 most main characters, it would be nice for some of the more well know actors to be in it.

Finally, the storyline, would have to connect with general audiences.

[Moridin_Naeblis]

I do see what some of you guys are saying about how there are similarities between Eragon and WoT, but you can't get angry at authors because things are similar.

I wouldnt call my self a writer but i do hope to be one someday, and I find it hard sometimes not to have things that are similar to other authors work. Even I have things in my stroy that a lot of people would say is too similar to RJ or Paolini to be a coincedince. Especially things like orcs or trollocs or urghals, which is something nearly every fantasy book has and is hard to avoid not having sometimes. Other things are the same.

Personaly I love the Eragon books and I will be going to see the movie. I havent looked into it to much but I do hope it's good.

As for a movie of WoT, it would be way to long and I would be happy with the books being split up to make the movies have resonable time legnths, or a TV series would be just as good. Not a miniseries though.

[MasterofBlades]

As for a movie of WoT, it would be way to long and I would be happy with the books being split up to make the movies have resonable time legnths, or a TV series would be just as good. Not a miniseries though.

 

But wouldn't a TV series, like a mini-series, have budget problems regarding the CGI and special effects? These books have quite a big world, with lots of big battlescenes, channeling effects with the One Power, custom designs for all the countries and the Aes Sedai and Wise Ones and Ashaman, etc. They all would require a heavy amount of special effects using CGI. A theatrical release would do the best job in that area. As for length problem, why not just add the extra scenes on the DVD. Lots of movies do that now, anyway. The Lord of the Rings on DVD had about another hour added to the already 3 1/2 hour long theatrical release.

[Kadere]

I think HBO could do it as a tv series. They love pouring money into things (i.e. Deadwood, Rome) The only reason I'm hesitant about a TV series is that shows RARELY last 12 seasons, and the actors wouls age dramatially more then their characters. The only thing you could do would be animation, and I'd MUCH rather see this in live action.

 

I got to agree with MasterofBlades about extended additions, that would really be necassary with this series.

 

Another thing about length though, is the fact that SO much of these books is description, or unnecessary side plots. It could move much faster in a film, probably get in under 4 hours nicely.

[MasterofBlades]

I think HBO could do it as a tv series. They love pouring money into things (i.e. Deadwood, Rome) The only reason I'm hesitant about a TV series is that shows RARELY last 12 seasons, and the actors wouls age dramatially more then their characters. The only thing you could do would be animation, and I'd MUCH rather see this in live action.

 

I got to agree with MasterofBlades about extended additions, that would really be necassary with this series.

 

Another thing about length though, is the fact that SO much of these books is description, or unnecessary side plots. It could move much faster in a film, probably get in under 4 hours nicely.

 

Kadere:

 

Extended additions be soooo sweet. If all the filler, and the unnecessary decriptive details in every one of these books were removed, then the novels would be short enough for a 4 hour film . Just use 1 hour of that as deleted scenes on the DVD, and then you have a 3 hour long film. And now, with the new HD-DVD, I think we'll be seeing more possibilities for this to happen.

A PG-13 adaptation would fit this film well, for intense epic battle scenes, and frightening images.

[rochaid]

i'm with incubate...i thought eragon was acceptable(barely)but that eldest was terrible,it just wasn't good

[omnilynx]

I'm afraid there's no way the WoT series could fit into a movie, or even a trilogy. Normal movies are generally equivalent to short stories, or perhaps novellas. Even an ordinary novel makes an epic movie.

 

Think of the Lord of the Rings movies. Each book translated to an epic 3-4 hour movie, and they still had to cut parts. And J.R.R. Tolkien is just as known for long descriptive passages, etc., as RJ is. So we can expect each book to produce a movie at least as long as that, if they're going to stay faithful to the books. So we're talking about a 12+ movie series, with each movie being 3+ hours long.

 

No producer is gonna go for that. The best we can hope for is a trilogy, with some serious cutting going on. Either they'd take some small portion of the storyline, maybe three or four books, or they'd cut the plot down to the bare essentials and take out most of the minor characters. I'm not sure I'd want that, even to see it come to the big screen. And I'm not sure the audience would want it.

 

As for a TV series or miniseries, that would work better with the length. But the low-budget problem that's been raised is very real; this is not a series that can get away with bad effects or acting. And the quality level it would need is bigger than even the big-budget shows today. So although a TV series would be better than a movie in my opinion, it's still not there.

 

As strange as it is, I think the best medium for the series may actually be an animated series. I don't think any of the styles in vogue today would do it well, but the anime industry is probably the closest to what's needed. It produces long series for mature adults, and they're fairly high-quality. The Japanese and anime culture would have to be stripped, though. Perhaps a special consulting company could be brought in to do character development and animation style. But I think it could be done, and it's perhaps the only medium that could provide the effects necessary over the length of the series.