What Fantasy Book/Series Would Make a Good Movie?

With the sucess of the LotR trilogy you have to think that Hollywood will try to cash in and will end up turning out at least a couple of fantasy movies over the next few years. Which book or series do you think would make a good movie or would you just like to see? For me,

Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay.
The Scar - China Mieville
Stardust - Neil Gaiman

If they could do Raymond E. Fiest's Riftwar Saga in 3 movies, I think that could make for an excellent trilogy.

I've also read rumors for awhile now that Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles could make it to the big screen. The rights for the movie were bought anyway, and I remember one of the authors hinting that something might come of it. If done well this could also make a fun trilogy of movies.

Eddings stuff would make a good miniseries. Cinema? definitely not though.

Jordan''s stuff is better than Eddings but Jordan hasnt and I dont believe he knows how to finish the Wheel of Time series.

Hmm, that may be the reason for his latest book. I havent read it yet but I think its a mini prequel to the Wheel of Time. If its a self contained compact story it may be very ""filmable"".

Terry Prachett?

Elfstones of Shannara would be pretty good. That''s the only one of Brooks'' (that I''ve read) that had some originality to it, and I think would translate well to screen.

There''s alot of Fritz Lieber''s stuff that I''d love to see on screen, not sure which tale of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser I''d pick.

I agree about the Feist books making a good trilogy. He''s got a very cinematic flair to his writing.

Ursula K LeGuin''s Earthsea books could make for some interesting viewing, but I think it''d be too disjoint for most people.

David Wingrove''s Chung Kuo series would make for a great series.

Actually Scifi is doing an Earthsea minseries I believe; at least they optioned it. Not sure who is attached to star.

I''d like to see Edding''s Elenium series (the first three books)done as a miniseries or couple of movies; as badly written as parts of it are (I hate rereading things when I''m old enough to catch the sloppy stuff). That series had a small enough scale I could see it being done well.

Speaking of Neil Gaiman, a Showtime production of American Gods might not be bad either....

Elric....

I have a half written screenplay of it lying around somewhere in my data files..

Would make an awesome set of movies.. some of the theories would go a bit over most peoples heads but it could be hollywood''d up very effectively..

I think the Night''s Dawn trilogy by Peter F! Hamilton would rawk. Gritty. Cool tech. Boobs. What else do you need?

the A Man of his Word books, by Dave Duncan, would be good, I think.

Maybe not, still solid fantasy though.

The Reluctant Swordsman might be a good movie. It has the action, humor, and interesting setting to do pretty well. The rather weak ending is also quite reminiscent of Hollywood.

I would say LeGuin. It would be arty enough to attract a mass audience.

I still maintain that Elfstones of Shannara is perfect for an action-adventure anime along the lines of Ninja Scroll. Demons? Young hero filled with anger and angst and a hidden power that he cannot fully control? Young attractive girl becomes a tree? It''s got anime written all over it. Just imagine Wil grunting unintelligibly every time he has to use the Elfstones, his whole body shaking, and then the burst of power...

Er, on second thought, maybe it''s perfect for that other kind of Japanese animated movie.

I second the Elric saga and add the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.

Okay, you folks are probably going to think that I''m crazy here, but just consider how advanced our special effects have become, and here''s my idea:

How''s about a children''s movie (or movies) using Brian Jacques'' Redwall books? I''d love to see a well-done ""Martin the Warrior.""

As for more adult fare... it''s tough to say what would make for good movies. Frankly, most movie-makers would have dumbed-down fantasy books far too much in the past. Hopefully, the Rings movies have paved the way for more ""serious"" fantasy books to be done properly in film form.

There are too many that would make good movies if done right to really list here. But that''s the caveat: they''d have to be done right!

The Weis/Hickman Dragonlance series would make an awesome two trilogys

Agreed on Dragon Lance Chronicles, as long as no-one from the D&D movie has anything to do with it.

Another series of books I wouldn''t mind seeing on the bigscreen is the Death Gate Cycle, also by Weis and Hickman. It''d be difficult to fit them into a single trilogy though. The first four books would probably be better shot as four separate films, with the fifth film covering the last three books (or maybe a fifth and sixth film for the last three books, so as not to skip too much of the plot?)

"mateo" wrote:

Terry Prachett?

That would be incredible! Plus there are so many good ones to chose from. If I remember correctly there was talk of a Reaperman movie some time ago, but Pratchett said that the studio that wanted to do it wasn''t very happy with a sympathetic Death character and subsequently wanted to change him. Thankfully that never happened. I''d rather have no Discworld movie than a poor Discworld movie.

What are the chances of Timothy Zahn''s Star Wars trilogy ever being filmed?

"Slick" wrote:

I second the Elric saga and add the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.

Xanth? Maybe the first few, but who would want to sit through two hours of puns?

Elric, on the other hand, would be great. Demon worship, angst-ridden anti-hero, betrayal, cousin-lovin''... um... yeah... maybe not.

A couple of the Discworld books have already been done as cartoons - generally well-received, too.

The problem with fantasy adaptations is that the SFX required to properly animate the various beasties is incredibly tough and expensive to do well. I think the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb, or the Empire trilogy from Feist and Wurtz, would work nicely, seeing as how they rely far more on human drama than creature action.

Mmmmmm, Elric could be FREAKIN'' AWESOME.

Although it would never happen I would like to see the Thomas Covenant saga done, I thought it was a great take on genre, a little something different.

Michael Moorcock''s books about the eternal champion would be great. Especially the books Elric and Corum.
Going into Dark Fantasy, a really good movie about a lovecraft book would be great (Beyond the Mountains of Madness?), or even better a movie series based on the Sorcerer of Salem series by Wolfgang Hohlbein, set in the Lovecraft universe as well (was this published in english even? Really good read for Cthulhu by Gaslight fans).

Other than that I must admit I do rather read SF stories. I really would like to see a movie in the Shadowrun universe. Or even better the Foundation series by Asimov.

I''ll second Elric, and a really good Lovecraftian movie would be aces.

coulda swore I heard something about Foundation but then it seems to have rumours every couple of years or so.

I guess I''ll go ahead and quintuple the Elric suggestion.

Ever read the Riddlemaster of Hed series? Would be very filmable, assuming they can make all the harping stuff sound cool.

I''d like to see King''s Dark Tower series in film.

I''d also love to see The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

Slick wrote:
I second the Elric saga and add the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.

Xanth? Maybe the first few, but who would want to sit through two hours of puns?

I quit reading the Xanth stuff around the time he started his 3rd generation of protagonists. It was reasonably entertaining, but his climax on the last page and two paragraphs to wrap up the story got really old.

Who the hell is Elric?

Anyway, Drizz''t ''s adventures could make for a kickass action movie, if they filmed his ""Prequel"" book, and maybe a trilogy if they got as far as Wulfgar and the rest of the guys. It would have the coolest two-handed swordfights, EVAR!

Who the hell is Elric?

Here you go.

Even though I''m not much of a movie fan anymore, I always wondered if the Chronicles of Amber would be a good set of movies. They aren''t perfect, but they were the first fantasy I ever read.

For the Elric movie wishers.

From CNN

This news story is a little old, and we may not hear anything more from it, but with the success of LotR I could see it happening.

Anyway, Drizz''t ''s adventures could make for a kickass action movie, if they filmed his ""Prequel"" book, and maybe a trilogy if they got as far as Wulfgar and the rest of the guys. It would have the coolest two-handed swordfights, EVAR!

Yeah, those would make for really fun movies. Theres so many books in that series to work with too.

Nobody has mentioned Anne McCaffrey''s Dragon books. With CGI looking as good as it does these days, don''t you think they''d be able to take a pretty decent stab at Pern? They could start with Dragonsong, since it''s a pretty good stand-alone story, short enough to make a good movie, with less dragons in it to have to animate. They''d have to do a lot of CGI for the fire lizards, though.

Part of me would love to see the Tales of Alvin Maker onscreen - but I''m afraid they''d never get it right. Orson Scott Card is too important to me for Hollywood to screw around with.