What Fantasy Stories would Work as a Live Action or Animated Adaptation?

[Thaluikhain]

D&D and Warhammer are easy enough to fix. Have a handful of chsrecters with diverse skillsets that bounce off eachother sych as with the cast of Avengers and go from there. That is essentialy orphen and slauyllyers ina nut shell

I'm more into 40k than Fantasy, but isn't it all grimdark? Wouldn't a Warhammer adaptation just be Game of Thrones with more rape and torture?

Yes. Or no. The grimdarkness varies between author in extent and form. You might get someone who wants to be all rape and torture, or you might get someone who wants to be about cities dying of plague and famine before the zombies eat them. Or you might get heroes hitting orcs.

 

[Abomination]

Animated 40k would be great if they're willing to go full system spanning romps with a Space Marine chapter, or perhaps a Fireflyesque ship to allow a way of encountering more than just one race of xenos.

Obviously the upcoming Witcher series has promise, I hope it sets a tone and encourages more D&Dlike series.

 

[Cicada 5]

I hate to be negative, but not everyone's niche favorite. The ones that would be successful... are the ones everybody's heard of. I've seen it over and over again as Hollywood scrambles to find the rights to stories because they are all out of original ideas. Examples:

HBO gets the license for A Song of Ice and Fire. Several other outlets start rooting around for fantasy to adapt... and fail to even start or hang after a season or 2. Twilight makes 400 million at the box office. Studios start rooting around for the several less popular similar series to adapt... and True Blood does OK-ish, otherwise no other huge successes. Child battle royales never manage to cash in on the success of The Hunger Games. Nobody manages a massive shared world franchise after Marvel nails it with the MCU...

This goes on and on. Unless someone has licensed the actual "next big thing" the imitations or niche appeal similar works... just don't do well. So back to the original question, what would be some good adapted fantasy? Lord of the Rings... works. Worked, it was a massive success. A Song of Ice and Fire... popular well-known books, and an adaptation success. That's the level of notoriety something has to have to manage success. So for things that haven't been made yet... Maybe Elder Scrolls (video game, historically terrible adaptations though.) Maybe Wheel of Time (but I doubt it.) Maybe Eddings' Belgariad (comfortable and familiar as the story structure is setting its appeal as broad as possible, I still don't see it on that level as being enough for a successful adaptation.) I'm not sure fantasy has anything left with enough appeal.

Remember, studios adapting things for films or tv shows DON'T WANT to make something with niche appeal. They don't want to make cult classics with a small, but very loyal fanbase. They don't want some of the money... they want ALL of the money. There's few fantasy series left that have that brand recognition that guarantees a studio a good ROI, as much as I'd want to see more fantasy adaptations... I just doubt we'll get them.

There are tons of successful franchises based on books or comics most or no one has heard of.

 

[Agema]

You can adapt literally anything successfully. You just need a good enough writer/director/producer, and willingness to vigorously alter the source material.

On the other hand, a lot of fantasy is so gruellingly mediocre that there's no particular reason to adapt it. "Big Name" appeal is probably more valuable than anything else as it's likely to establish a ready-made viewer base to build on. I can safely say if someone is intent on adapting stuff like Robert Jordan or Brandon Sanderson etc. then I'll more likely override my general genre loyalty to skip it.

Not so much fantasy, but some more recently SF seems to me to have been written deliberately designed to be film adaptation friendly. Given that SF&F is overwhelmingly mid-list literature, adaptations will be many authors' best chance of a proper payday.

 

[Kyrian007]

There are tons of successful franchises based on books or comics most or no one has heard of.

Maybe successful, as in they had some niche appeal or a cult following and made some money. But again, that's not what studios want these days. They obviously don't want Percy Jackson, as Fox pulled that series after a 2nd movie that performed only at failure-moderate levels after failing to cash in on a nearly-post Harry Potter audience like they were hoping to. I'd personally like to see studios try more of those "moderate success" movies or shows (especially fantasy.) It just isn't happening these days sadly. Like the people here wanting to see Warhammer in something. It just doesn't have the built-in appeal to be successful enough to make "ALL the money" so I doubt it will ever happen on a large scale. But if there are tons of recent successful fantasy franchises based on more obscure books or comics... name a few. I guess Hellboy kind of qualifies, but it was more of a cult hit than a true blockbuster success... and it only got one sequel before they stopped making them. I'm already predicting the reboot next year will perform at the failure - moderate level, I guess we'll see though. I'd be pretty happy if it took off again. Netflix's The Witcher... I hope it has great success, but I'm afraid as expensive as it will be to produce it probably won't be the huge breakaway success it would need to be to get more than a season or 2.

 

[Saint of M]

There are tons of successful franchises based on books or comics most or no one has heard of.

Maybe successful, as in they had some niche appeal or a cult following and made some money. But again, that's not what studios want these days. They obviously don't want Percy Jackson, as Fox pulled that series after a 2nd movie that performed only at failure-moderate levels after failing to cash in on a nearly-post Harry Potter audience like they were hoping to. I'd personally like to see studios try more of those "moderate success" movies or shows (especially fantasy.) It just isn't happening these days sadly. Like the people here wanting to see Warhammer in something. It just doesn't have the built-in appeal to be successful enough to make "ALL the money" so I doubt it will ever happen on a large scale. But if there are tons of recent successful fantasy franchises based on more obscure books or comics... name a few. I guess Hellboy kind of qualifies, but it was more of a cult hit than a true blockbuster success... and it only got one sequel before they stopped making them. I'm already predicting the reboot next year will perform at the failure - moderate level, I guess we'll see though. I'd be pretty happy if it took off again. Netflix's The Witcher... I hope it has great success, but I'm afraid as expensive as it will be to produce it probably won't be the huge breakaway success it would need to be to get more than a season or 2.

Hollywood has always had this problem to be honest. They takes something that works, flood the market with it, and keep at it till long after it stopped paying the bills. It happend to epics, it happened to musicals, it happened to westerns, it happend to disaster movies, it happened to the brainless actioners of the 80's, and soon enough it will happen to comic to the Marvel Cinimatic universe. Or when they do get a hold of something that is good, often times they change to the point where its almost unreconizable from the origional (4Kids editing of anime levels at times) which does little to get the already built in fanbase you were trying to exploit unhappy.

Percy Jackson to me kinda felt like it was trying too much at once. It upped the age of the charecters so they wouldn't have to deal with child actors, but didn't make them feel like teenagers either.

Granted, I would like to see Terry Pratchet's Reaper Man put to film. Death of Rats was adorable.

 

[Baffle]

I'd like to see the Robin Hobb world put into film (apart from the books about Fat Neville, they dragged and he whinged a lot), with a focus (obviously) on the Fitz and Fool series, though Liveships would be cool too. I think mini-series would be better than one film.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Does anyone else remember the Redwall books? I know there was a cartoon series but I would love to see a full movie of at least the first book.

 

[Saint of M]

Does anyone else remember the Redwall books? I know there was a cartoon series but I would love to see a full movie of at least the first book.

Mostly by reputation. The cartoon was on netflix for a while and I watched a few episodes there. Pretty interesting idea: Disny Anthramorphic woodland critters playing acting as defenders on a castle seige. Heck they have a massive venimous snake playing the fricken devil who eats people on a regular basis. That Sounds Awesome. Asmodius commands you to make this soooooooo! Come to Asmodius!

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You do realize that 9 times out of 10 adaptations like the kind you're talking about turn out horribly.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

The Colder comic series could use an animated series.

Alternatively an animated feature and adaptation of Changeling: the Lost wouldn't be bad.

 

[Cicada 5]

There are tons of successful franchises based on books or comics most or no one has heard of.

Maybe successful, as in they had some niche appeal or a cult following and made some money. But again, that's not what studios want these days. They obviously don't want Percy Jackson, as Fox pulled that series after a 2nd movie that performed only at failure-moderate levels after failing to cash in on a nearly-post Harry Potter audience like they were hoping to. I'd personally like to see studios try more of those "moderate success" movies or shows (especially fantasy.) It just isn't happening these days sadly. Like the people here wanting to see Warhammer in something. It just doesn't have the built-in appeal to be successful enough to make "ALL the money" so I doubt it will ever happen on a large scale. But if there are tons of recent successful fantasy franchises based on more obscure books or comics... name a few. I guess Hellboy kind of qualifies, but it was more of a cult hit than a true blockbuster success... and it only got one sequel before they stopped making them. I'm already predicting the reboot next year will perform at the failure - moderate level, I guess we'll see though. I'd be pretty happy if it took off again. Netflix's The Witcher... I hope it has great success, but I'm afraid as expensive as it will be to produce it probably won't be the huge breakaway success it would need to be to get more than a season or 2.

The majority of the MCU films and t.v. shows are about characters almost nobody knew about or was interested in. You also have the Witcher games that are based on novels few people know of and is now getting a Netflix series. Castlevania also got a Netflix show.

 

[Trunkage]

I heard Wheel of Time is being made too.
That makes me happy.

General note - Malazan is bad, and your taste is bad.

*nothing is said but a single tear is shed*

But seriously, even though I love them, I find the first half of every book a tangled mess and while the back half coalesces into clarity, some events are stupendously incredible

 

[Hawki]

A Song of Ice and Fire... popular well-known books, and an adaptation success.

Wait, had anyone actually heard of the books before the show?

I mean, obviously some would, but I've never got the sense they were that well known beforehand.

Maybe Wheel of Time (but I doubt it.)

While I don't get why, WoT is quite popular, or at least well known. Before the show, I'd argue far more well known than A Song of Ice and Fire.

True Blood does OK-ish

True Blood got seven seasons, think that's more than just "ok-ish."

Child battle royales never manage to cash in on the success of The Hunger Games.

...such as?

I can think of YA books, sure (though I'd argue the YA phase actually has its roots in Harry Potter), but apart from Hunger Games and Battle Royale, I can't think of any actual battle royale books with children.

Does anyone else remember the Redwall books?

Yep.

...what? Said I remembered them, never said I read them.

I heard Wheel of Time is being made too.
That makes me happy.

Personal thoughts on WoT aside, I'm kind of left asking:

-Is it really a good idea for Amazon to produce both the Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time series when they're so similar (yes, WoT does start to establish its own identity after its first book, but still, similarities remain)?

-Considering that Moiraine has been listed as the main protagonist for season 1, are we going to go through the whole "feminist agenda!" outcry, along with the whole "finally, a strong female character in fantasy!" from the other extreme? Because already I'm seeing elements of that.

-This is a series of 13 books. Even if you cut out/compress some of them...well, good luck with that.

 

[Villain Protagonist]

Here I'm just waiting for a proper live action version of The Dresden Files.

 

[Trunkage]

I heard Wheel of Time is being made too.
That makes me happy.

Personal thoughts on WoT aside, I'm kind of left asking:

-Is it really a good idea for Amazon to produce both the Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time series when they're so similar (yes, WoT does start to establish its own identity after its first book, but still, similarities remain)?

-Considering that Moiraine has been listed as the main protagonist for season 1, are we going to go through the whole "feminist agenda!" outcry, along with the whole "finally, a strong female character in fantasy!" from the other extreme? Because already I'm seeing elements of that.

-This is a series of 13 books. Even if you cut out/compress some of them...well, good luck with that.

1. Yeah, book 1 is more LotR but ends up like political sections of ASOIAF. So it could be bad in that way, too.
2. It depends if they focus on the arrogance of Aes Sedai etc, like the books. Generally, it was a bunch of arrogant pricks via for power, irrelevant of gender.
3. I don't even know how you could compress, it's such a sprawling story covering most countries, including another continent. And there is a lot of bloat during 9 and 10. A lot of it coming down to jumping to too many events across too much space. But my favourite part of the whole series, Egwene's 'torture' is in there and you need to let that breath to provide appropriate context. Even if you cut the number of main characters down, there would still be too much

 

[Kyrian007]

The majority of the MCU films and t.v. shows are about characters almost nobody knew about or was interested in. You also have the Witcher games that are based on novels few people know of and is now getting a Netflix series. Castlevania also got a Netflix show.

Maybe by the time they got to Ant-Man and Dr. Strange, but remember they launched with Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America. Outside of the major X-Men and Spiderman those were fairly big names in Marvel, they even had prior adaptations that built recognition with widely varying degrees of success. And when they got to Thor and then the lesser known ones and the tv shows... by then they were MCU. Instant recognition through association, not out of nowhere anymore.

I brought up The Witcher. I wish it success, but I'm saying because it isn't well known outside of gaming circles it will fail after a season or 2. I hope I'm wrong... but between not being particularly well known and some fanboys inevetabley crying about "it isn't witchery enough" or whatever, I'm betting I'm right. Castlevania may fare better being animated, and seeing how it lent its name to an entire genre of videogame it may have audience enough to carry it. I hope so, I'm enjoying it.

 

[Cicada 5]

The majority of the MCU films and t.v. shows are about characters almost nobody knew about or was interested in. You also have the Witcher games that are based on novels few people know of and is now getting a Netflix series. Castlevania also got a Netflix show.

Maybe by the time they got to Ant-Man and Dr. Strange, but remember they launched with Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America. Outside of the major X-Men and Spiderman those were fairly big names in Marvel, they even had prior adaptations that built recognition with widely varying degrees of success. And when they got to Thor and then the lesser known ones and the tv shows... by then they were MCU. Instant recognition through association, not out of nowhere anymore.

I brought up The Witcher. I wish it success, but I'm saying because it isn't well known outside of gaming circles it will fail after a season or 2. I hope I'm wrong... but between not being particularly well known and some fanboys inevetabley crying about "it isn't witchery enough" or whatever, I'm betting I'm right. Castlevania may fare better being animated, and seeing how it lent its name to an entire genre of videogame it may have audience enough to carry it. I hope so, I'm enjoying it.

Of those four, only the Incredible Hulk was really well known. None of the adaptations of Iron Man and Captain America were big hits and made them the pop culture juggernauts Spider-Man and the X-Men were. Hell, a lot of people expected the Iron Man and Captain America movies to fail (and the first Cap movie underperformed). Let's also not forget the first successful Marvel comic movie was about Blade, a character who had even less recognition than Iron Man and Captain America.

Online fanboys bitching about something is no indicator of whether or not it will be a success. These guys have been wrong too many times to count.

 

[Saint of M]

The majority of the MCU films and t.v. shows are about characters almost nobody knew about or was interested in. You also have the Witcher games that are based on novels few people know of and is now getting a Netflix series. Castlevania also got a Netflix show.

Maybe by the time they got to Ant-Man and Dr. Strange, but remember they launched with Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America. Outside of the major X-Men and Spiderman those were fairly big names in Marvel, they even had prior adaptations that built recognition with widely varying degrees of success. And when they got to Thor and then the lesser known ones and the tv shows... by then they were MCU. Instant recognition through association, not out of nowhere anymore.

I brought up The Witcher. I wish it success, but I'm saying because it isn't well known outside of gaming circles it will fail after a season or 2. I hope I'm wrong... but between not being particularly well known and some fanboys inevetabley crying about "it isn't witchery enough" or whatever, I'm betting I'm right. Castlevania may fare better being animated, and seeing how it lent its name to an entire genre of videogame it may have audience enough to carry it. I hope so, I'm enjoying it.

Of those four, only the Incredible Hulk was really well known. None of the adaptations of Iron Man and Captain America were big hits and made them the pop culture juggernauts Spider-Man and the X-Men were. Hell, a lot of people expected the Iron Man and Captain America movies to fail (and the first Cap movie underperformed). Let's also not forget the first successful Marvel comic movie was about Blade, a character who had even less recognition than Iron Man and Captain America.

Online fanboys bitching about something is no indicator of whether or not it will be a success. These guys have been wrong too many times to count.

Just going by hulk alone. He had a decent cartoon in the 90's, a few others earlier, and well beleoved TV series. The guy who did the MCU Hulk movie mostly got into it for his love of the show (which the opening and some of the song choicses, and featuring Lu Ferigno as an extra and the voice of hulk were be omages to it). That said he also looked to other places such as Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (turnign a car into a pair of punching bags) and buyign a stack of comics to get in touch with it more.

Iron man also had a good cartoon when I was growing up in the same time frame, as did Fantastic Four, and the X men. They also had several video games come out at that time as well, including the Marvel vs Capcop series.

The rest no one knew anything about. Guardians of the Galexy was so far out of left feild, this was literaly the first introduction of these charecters for most Marvel Fans.

And yes, I understand Stugeons law, post from the last page, but give me some variety out there. It can't be Dirty Dances with Dragons and Thore out there.

 

[Dalisclock]

2. Rat Queens: Its funny. Its almost like a Dungeouns and Dragons session with Seth Rogan as the DM and take four funniest women in the industry as the party members consisting of a hipster dwarven warrior, a sassy wizzard/sorceress, a aithiest cleric of a Cthule esk worshiping family (who still has powers, part of the joke), and a hyperactive halfling rouge that is largly on a diet of candy and drugs. They drink hard, swear hard, party hard, and fight hard. Seriously, the first few chapters are about them and the other guilds going on quests in penitence for taking a drunken brawl into the streets and acting like Raider Fans/Soccer hooligans. If they do this, they need to have Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphies in the background of that alone.

Spoiler

10. A Legend of Zelda Live Action Movie or TV show, or an animated movie or show: Nuff Said.

Spoiler

Rat Queens might work if they do it right though since it's essentially been rebooted I'm curious how they'd factor that in.

Legend of Zelda. I kinda sorta rememeber the animated adaptations from the 1990's(1980's) and yeah, I'm not holding my breath for this. I'm not even sure how they'd make it actually work.

I was hoping for a Dark Tower adaptation at one point but Hollywood apparently can't even handle that without screwing it up.