Movie Books you hope to see become movies

[Asgardian]

I'm a big fan of Stephen Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever.

There are 3 series, 3 books in each of the 1st 2 series & 4 books in the 3rd series. The final book in the 3rd series has not yet been completed.

These are epic fantasy books along similar lines to Lord of the rings.

The basic story is about Thomas Covenant, a leper, who is transported to a land where health and illness can be seen, felt, consumed. It's a land where good vs bad is obvious, until the introduction of Covenant who blurs the lines, plus he possesses his white gold wedding ring. In the land white gold is "wild magic", supreme over most anything. Lord Foul, the despiser, wants to eliminate the lords of the land, but he mainly wants the white gold to break the arch of time so he can take his revenge on the Creator.

There are lords, wild horses, various types of people, all of whom are filled with earthpower, to some degree, there are evil ur-viles, cavewrights, evil spawn.

Would take lots of money to do the story properly.

E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series is being talked about as a Ron Howard production, with J. Michael Straczynski scripting. There are reports a 2nd script has been submitted & is liked, but the truth of it I do not know. The scope & scale of the Lensman series is huge, involving different galaxies, other dimensions, more alien forms than you could poke a stick at, drug running, piracy, culture vs culture, echelon above echelon of bad aliens and a lens that is individual to each wearer, and can only be worn by that individual wearer. The lens is an instrument of the mind, as the mind improves, so does the lens and so does its capabilities.

This too would take bucket loads of money, but it is listed in IMDB as in production, so it may happen

Other suggestions

Gaea trilogy
Foundation Trilogy

 

[Hodgepodge]

Thomas Covenant was pretty good, it was very similar to the Man Rides Through duology in that it took an underachiever from our world and made him/her a hero in the other.

I would like to see Necroscope become a movie, but I doubt they'd make a good job of it. It's just too extreme for cinema.

The only one I hope they do is the Wheel of Time series. It needs an easily digestable version because the author probably went 5 or 6 books too long.

 

[Interceptor]

The Takeshi Kovacs books ('Altered Carbon', 'Broken Angels' and 'Woken Furies') by Richard K. Morgan.

According to the wiki entry for Altered Carbon the film rights were sold and development started in 2007, but there seems to be no sign of it since.

 

[Andre]

I wouldn't mind seeing the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant as movies. Unfortunately if it was you could see they'd change it quite a bit. A depressed leper who ends up raping his guide in the world doesn't fit neatly into the hero / evil divide for movies.

Another fantasy book is the one I'd really like to see made into a big budget movie - Magician. It has the classic good versus evil, with plenty of action sequences around the battles and the chick appeal element of the Caraline with Pug / Roland, Pug with Katala, Tomas / Elf Queen and Arutha / Anita love interests.

 

[Cthublhu]

I would like to see Necroscope become a movie, but I doubt they'd make a good job of it. It's just too extreme for cinema.

Over on the bookclub page I just recommended Necroscope to someone. Awesome series!

I don't think it would translate to a movie though. Too much of the action is going on in Harry's head for it to work well.

 

[Tex_21]

Love to see someone do a really good version of the Picture of Doriay Gray. However, if made it would probably turn into a pile of crap like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, so I'm not sure I would really want it.

FWIW, Johnny Depp could pull off Gray.

 

[Groggyk]

Magician by Ray Feist would make an awesome movie with the right director & budget.

Somebody like a Guilermo Del Toro.

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

The Winter of Frankie Machine - Don Winslow De Niro is meant to star in this movie, was very excited by the prospect of seeing this great novel transferred to celluloid. The term in development shits me. If they take any longer Bobby D will be too ****in' old. Hurry up you pricks.

Would have included Cogan's Trade by the brilliant George V. Higgins, but it's been made (starring Brad Pitt in the title role with a quality ensemble cast) and hopefully released this year.

Surely with the advent of CGI, somebody could re-make "Dune"

 

[Mego Red]

I thought CELL would make a good film - I know it was optioned, but it seems to have gotten nowhere.

 

[silverscope]

The Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks.

 

[Jabso]

I know two movies have been made of it and the 1984 one was pretty good but I would love to see a modern take on Nineteen Eighty Four.

 

[Fade to Gray]

Agree with the above re: Magician being a great movie idea.

Another good one would be Legend by David Gemmell. If I ever come across a spare $20 or $30 Million, I will turn it into a movie.

 

[muttley45]

"by reason of insanity" by steven smith

best serial killer book i have ever read,would make an awesome movie,

 

[thecatattack]

On The Road and it is.

 

[fitzmantle]

Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami.
Tristessa by Jack Kerouac. (apparently it is with Ed Norton)

 

[moistie]

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. Johnny Depp owns (owned... not sure) the rights to this and was trying to get it made. Unfortunately the last I'd heard it had fallen in a heap. It's a f***ing awesome story and I think Johnny Depp could do it justice if he could get it made.

 

[Kaladin Stormblessed]

Legend would be an awesome movie.

Would love to see Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Willaims. Or even War of the Flowers by him.

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

 

[eagleskickass]

My initial thoughts were for The Magician series by Raymond E Feist, glad to see I am not alone!

 

[Mobbs]

Chronicles of Thomas Covenant ... AND the Gap Series (both Donaldson).

Chronicles as a movie is discussed ad nauseum on Kevin's Watch forums.

 

[thetigerman]

Judge and Jury by James Patterson and Andrew Gross.
A real thriller of a book i just could'nt put down.
Would make a great movie with the right cast.

 

[thedevilsowne]

My initial thoughts were for The Magician series by Raymond E Feist, glad to see I am not alone!

Same again wonder why it hasn't been made into a film. There's so many crap fantasy movies made these days. I find it bizarre that The magician has not been made into a movie. Would like to see a Terry Brooks novel on the big screen also.

 

[Top2]

The Final Testament of the Holy Bible by James Frey.
What if the Messiah were alive today? Living in New York. Sleeping with men. Impregnating young women. Euthanizing the dying, and healing the sick. Defying the government, and condemning the holy.

If you met him, and he changed your life, would you believe?

This would make a great movie.

 

[Interceptor]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

In development: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/

 

[Cursed Cat]

I'm a big fan of Stephen Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever.

There are 3 series, 3 books in each of the 1st 2 series & 4 books in the 3rd series. The final book in the 3rd series has not yet been completed.

These are epic fantasy books along similar lines to Lord of the rings.

The basic story is about Thomas Covenant, a leper, who is transported to a land where health and illness can be seen, felt, consumed. It's a land where good vs bad is obvious, until the introduction of Covenant who blurs the lines, plus he possesses his white gold wedding ring. In the land white gold is "wild magic", supreme over most anything. Lord Foul, the despiser, wants to eliminate the lords of the land, but he mainly wants the white gold to break the arch of time so he can take his revenge on the Creator.

There are lords, wild horses, various types of people, all of whom are filled with earthpower, to some degree, there are evil ur-viles, cavewrights, evil spawn.

Would take lots of money to do the story properly.
E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series is being talked about as a Ron Howard production, with J. Michael Straczynski scripting. There are reports a 2nd script has been submitted & is liked, but the truth of it I do not know. The scope & scale of the Lensman series is huge, involving different galaxies, other dimensions, more alien forms than you could poke a stick at, drug running, piracy, culture vs culture, echelon above echelon of bad aliens and a lens that is individual to each wearer, and can only be worn by that individual wearer. The lens is an instrument of the mind, as the mind improves, so does the lens and so does its capabilities.

This too would take bucket loads of money, but it is listed in IMDB as in production, so it may happen

Other suggestions

Gaea trilogy
Foundation Trilogy

surprising to see another Donaldson fan on BF (over on the books board I have only ever come across one mention of him, and it wasn't a very flattering one !).

I too have been a massive fan of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever over the years - I fear the third chronicles are going off the rails somewhat, but that is another story ...

two things;

1) http://kevinswatch.ihugny.com/phpBB2/index.php?sid=68a5ae54e5461cd073cd208baf15da7a this site is great for all things Donaldson-related, particularly the Covenant books.

2) there was a bit of buzz between 2004-07 concerning the possibility of a Covenant film.
The rights were purchased and a developmental production company, Revelstone Pictures, was formed.
Donaldson himself seemed fairly excited around the time, and was quite open to being consulted by the writers and producers (he didn't want anything to do with the actual production however, as he was unwilling to countenance the kinds of compromises neccessary for adapting books to film).

John Orloff, who was key writer for Band of Brothers (a show I've never seen but have heard good things about), was one of the key players in the attempts to bring Covenant to the screen, he was to adapt the books into a screenplay.

Alas, Revelstone Pictures couldn't raise any studio interest.
They tried a few different approaches but after a few years it all dried up, leading Donaldson to release a press statement to his fans saying that it was dead in the water.

On balance I must say I'm not too sad that the production never got up n' running; once I started thinking about it I concluded that something like a HBO series would be better to explore and serve the complex narrative.

Of course Game of Thrones has since pulled off just that trick; adapting a looong, complex fantasy series into an exciting televisual experience.

 

[Cursed Cat]

Thomas Covenant was pretty good, it was very similar to the Man Rides Through duology in that it took an underachiever from our world and made him/her a hero in the other.

I would like to see Necroscope become a movie, but I doubt they'd make a good job of it. It's just too extreme for cinema.

The only one I hope they do is the Wheel of Time series. It needs an easily digestable version because the author probably went 5 or 6 books too long.

Covenant was a best-selling author in his world, hardly an underachiever - unbeliever, yes, underachiever, not really ..