Books I Would Love To See As Movies

[mery]

I was reading an article yesterday that 3 of my favorite books are going to be made into movies. The books I am speaking of are The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. It seems Lionsgate had the foresight to see this could be the next Twilight (blockbuster) for the younger generation. If you haven't read these books yet, I highly recommend them. The are in order: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

There are many other books I would love to see made into movies. Two of my favorites are:

Daemon and Freedom by Daniel Suarez

The Gunslinger Series by Steven King (this would please me to no end)


Anyone else have favorite books that you think should be made into movies?

[ShogunRua]

I was reading an article yesterday that 3 of my favorite books are going to be made into movies. The books I am speaking of are The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. It seems Lionsgate had the foresight to see this could be the next Twilight (blockbuster) for the younger generation. If you haven't read these books yet, I highly recommend them.

I recommend people read "Battle Royale" by Koushun Takami instead, which "The Hunger Games" series shamelessly plagiarized from. I'm still not sure why they haven't been sued to death, as they literally copied everything from the original Japanese novel.

The Gunslinger Series by Steven King (this would please me to no end)

You mean The Dark Tower series by Stephen King? There's already an entire Wikipedia page devoted to the upcoming, massive television and film adaptations, directed and produced by Ron Howard;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_T ... adaptation

Personally, having read the books and considering them the greatest adventure epic ever written, I think adapting them into cinematic form will result in failure, far below the novels. It's too long, too dependent on internal descriptions of mindset and emotion, fantastical ideas regarding telepathies and parallel time-travel, etc.

I certainly don't mind people trying, but don't believe it will work.

Anyone else have favorite books that you think should be made into movies?

Most really good books would make for good, if marginally inferior movies. There are a few (possible) exceptions, like the Dark Tower series above. The most interesting one for me is the upcoming "Norwegian Wood" film, based on the Murakami classic. I think that's possible to adapt, although it's fiendishly difficult.

[mery]

I think if done right, they could do the Dark Tower Series very well (brain fart on the name in my first post). It could be epic if there was enough time and energy put into it. Sometimes when Mr. Kings books are made into movies, it's hit or miss. Some examples are as follows:

Hits
The Stand
The Mist (I'm on the fence on this one)
The Shining
Christine

Misses
Thinner
Desperation
1408

This is just a small list of the great Steven Kings movies but you never know what you are going to get until you watch them.

In regards the the Hunger Series - I have never read the books that they could have been plagiarized from but in reality is there ANY books that haven't been done yet? I am not sure if I agree with you until I read Battle Royale.


Another book I hope they will make into a movie is The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I think it could be a major action Science Fiction film, which we need more of!

[filmfreak88]

I was reading an article yesterday that 3 of my favorite books are going to be made into movies. The books I am speaking of are The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.

The Hunger Games series are your favorite books? Seriously? I know it's hugely popular right now so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I read the first book and I HATED it. I was expecting something gritty and engaging from its dystopian premise. Sad to say, I was sorely disappointed and extremely puzzled by the mostly positive reviews this series has been getting. The writing is terribly juvenile and the characters are predictably bland. The dystopian/oppressive society isn't atmospheric enough to be properly convincing and the plot feels contrived from start to finish. Sorry, I know you loved it. And it appears I'm in the minority so I don't know..

[ShogunRua]

Sorry, I know you loved it. And it appears I'm in the minority so I don't know..

No, you really aren't. Most of its fans are the same idiot teenage girls that love "Twilight" and have read perhaps two dozen books in their life. Most people that I have talked to about the series outside of that demographic (either guys, people who read regularly, or woman over the age of 22) thought "Hunger Games" was pretty bad.

Do yourself a huge, huge favor and read "Battle Royale", which the series shamelessly attempted a crappy imitation of.

In regards the the Hunger Series - I have never read the books that they could have been plagiarized from but in reality is there ANY books that haven't been done yet? I am not sure if I agree with you until I read Battle Royale.

I suppose it's just a crazy coincidence that "Battle Royale", a major international bestseller, came out in 1999, and spawned two massively popular movies and a comic series in the early 2000s...and then "The Hunger Games" was released in 2008, less than a decade later, with the exact same plot (a killing competition between high school students set up by an evil, corrupt militaristic government), exact same attempts at characters and relationships, and a virtually identical setting?

As for "The Dark Tower" series, it's unlike any of the other Stephen King novels you mentioned, since it relies little on horror or suspense, and more on cerebral descriptions, and a crazy series of events where King writes himself and our real world into the main quest.

Beyond that, it's way too long. Off the top of my head, it's 4-5 times longer than "The Lord of the Rings", and way more happens per page.

[MmzHrrdb]

I'd like to see a film adaptation of Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn. There have been plans for Edward Norton to direct, write, and star in a film adaptation (which makes me extremely excited, because he's my favorite actor), but it seems like the project is on hold.

I also wouldn't mind seeing a new adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. I know many people are going to say: how can you remake that movie when James Dean was so good? Well for those who have read the great novel, they know that the 1950s film covered probably less than 1/3 of the story and left out on of the biggest characters in the novel (Lee). Supposedly, a new adaptation is scheduled to be directed by Tom Hooper (whose films I haven't seen), but other than that I haven't heard too much information. I hope the cast they pick is good though.

Other than that I can't think of too much more. I don't read as much as I used to because I have to read textbooks for College and after that I don't much feel like reading, but when I'm on break I'll probably read a novel or 2.

[omgfridge]

Favorite novel is Ender's Game so i guess that but I can't see any justice coming of it. Would have to have one hell of a visionary director.

[TheDenizen]

Let's not discuss bad Stephen King adapatations without mentioning the abomination that is Maximum Overdrive

My favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut, and his books are written in a style that is pretty difficult to adapt to film. the only decent film adaptation of his work is Slaughterhouse Five, and that is just an ok film that doesn't quite capture the magic of the book, one I consider one of Vonnegut's weaker efforts. By all accounts, the only two other adaptations of his novels I know of, "Harrison Bergeron" and "Breakfast of Champions" are both considered total failures. To be honest, I'd rather Hollywood just left him alone.

I'm also very fond of Cormac McCarthy, his best book (and my favorite) by far is the sickeningly brutal western "Blood Meridian". Supposedly after the successes of adapations of McCarthy's The Road and No Country for Old Men, a film adaptation of Blood Meridian is in early stages of development. I'm torn because if handled correctly, it has the potential to be the greatest thing ever...but if they fuck it up, I will be pretty pissed. Casting will be essential for that one, if they don't get exactly the right people to play The Kid and The Judge it will be dead in the water.

Much riper for cinematic adaptation are graphic novels. Seeing how awesome of a job was done with stuff like Watchmen/Sin City and The Walking Dead series, I'd love to see someone take a serious crack at adapting either Neil Gaiman's Sandman series or Garth Ennis' Preacher series. Both of them are absolutely fantastic books/comics and would be incredibly well suited to a weekly series (though a film/film series would be even better).

[by Devol]

Daniel Clowes's "Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron"
Lynch?
Gilliam?
Jonze?
Penny Marshall?

[mwgerb]

Favorite novel is Ender's Game so i guess that but I can't see any justice coming of it. Would have to have one hell of a visionary director.

I actually went in this thread just to mention that film. I remember I was obsessively following the last attempt, although after Poseidon, I'm glad they didn't go with Wolfgang Petersen. I used to hope that James Cameron might direct it, since some mo-cap could be very helpful to making the movie, but OSC apparently hates Cameron after The Abyss, and has claimed that Cameron will never direct an adaptation of any of his works. At least I know that Orson really cares about his book and won't see it made unless it's made right.

While I wait for another decade to go by, I guess I just have to fantasize to this