Conan Relaunch, Wheel of Time Picked Up
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
Over on Zap2it.com, they have a couple interesting tidbits up. First, Lionsgate has hired Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain to help re-launch the Conan the Barbarian series. Conan, who was most famously portrayed by Arnold Schwartzenegger, is a rather popular character. The series started as a pulp series in the 30’s, which the article goes on to say the movie will stick closer to ala Batman Begins.
In additon, they are reporting that Universal has picked up the movie rights to the late Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. The series ran for 12 books, of which Jordan wrote 11 of them himself. He ended up passing away before finishing the 12th book. However, his wife picked someone to finish the series, who then used recorded notes from Robert to finish the story. The movie deal allows Universal to pull from all 12 books. NBC previously held the rights to create a mini-series on the first book.
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Good choices on behalf of the studios, I believe. Conan has seen a resurgence of popularity due to the recently launched Age of Conan MMO. Good time to take advantage of that for an attempted re-launch. Meanwhile, picking up the WoT series while the books are still fresh is probably a good choice. I definitely hope they end up making the entire series. Fantasy can be a little tough to read for some people. But WoT and A Song of Ice and Fire are two series that I believe would catch a lot of attention if they were made in a movie/television setting.
WoT are those books that I would always see on the book racks at Wallgreens or Tom Thumb and sometimes flipped through, but never bought.
@ Saberj, one small correction. R.J. did not pick Brandon Sanderson to finish the series. His wife and editor Harriet did after his death. R.J. did leave extensive notes and audio on what he didn’t finish himself for the final book. Plus he sat down with his wife and cousin and told them how the story would unfold.
This news is causing a lot of panic and joy at WoT fandom sites. I am really not sure how I feel about it. As a fan I have speculated long on who would play each character (even did a podcast on it) and how the story could be condensed. Half of me thinks it could turn out amazing, while the other half is petrified the movie/movies will be a joke. The WoT universe is so vast and the characters very deep, it will take some passionate people to make it great.
Eragorn was made by 20th Century Fox and everybody said it would be the next Harry Potter, but it was horrible. I love the Harry Potter movies (WB), but for what they are. They obviously have their flaws, but I am still happy with them. IMO, Peter Jackson did amazing with the LotR, so it can be done. The LotR movies are my favorite book to movie adaptations. They were done by New Line who is much smaller, and P.J. wasn’t very well known at all.
As for Conan I could be interested in that. Again, it depends on how it’s done. Funny, did it mention that Robert Jordan wrote a series of Conan books as well, lol.
I was happy when the ASoIaF rights went to HBO. The series couldn’t be done right as even 7 movies, IMO. Just because the books are so utterly packed with content. And even more importantly, nobody but HBO could pull off the TV series. It would be so neutered otherwise. So I can understand the fear in an announcement like this. Still, I don’t think that a bad property really ruins the legacy of what is there already. So if they try and fail, no big deal. But if they succeed, then there is so much more added value to that story.
I would have to say I am not in the least bit excited about WoT. I read through Path of Daggers and couldn’t read anymore. And now anytime I try to pick up the series again I get severely confused by knowing so much (but if I don’t read the first books again I know I will be lost and not be able to finish the 9th and beyond).