# The Why isn't this Book a Movie Already Thread? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686 "2017-03-21T14:23:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/61 "2017-03-21T23:16:47Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Preach it! Tom Cruise+Lovecraftian Universe=doesn’t compute. At all. > > His probably best story, “The Color Out Of Space”, would also make a great movie, if it wasn’t unfilmable by premise ;). Huh, just[checked wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colour_Out_of_Space)and that shows what I know: it’s been adapted three times for the movies. The latest one, “Die Farbe”, pulls if off exactly the way I thought would be the only possible way to be at least approximately true to the story: > [@](#): > > It is shot mainly in black and white, the exception being the “Colour” itself. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/62 "2017-03-22T00:14:35Z")
The _Laundry Files_ series by Charles Stross. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/63 "2017-03-22T00:50:19Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > For a series, **Callahan’s Cross Time Saloon** or the **Stainless Steel Rat**! > [@pohjonen](#): > > Lucifer’s Hammer. That reminds me - time to read it again. > [@](#): > > The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.\* > [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I’d love to see a series of movies based on the \*Retief \*books. Or even a television series. > [@](#): > > Just Asking Questions;20082322]Ringworld. > > For other classic sci fi with the same issues, there could be movies of > > Childhood’s End > Rendezvous with Rama I’m the Stainless Steel Rat and I approve of all of the above. Probably approve of most of the rest, too. I’d add Eric Flints’ “1632” series, probably better as a min-series/series, but West Virginians in 1632 Germany, with Richelieu, Wallenstein, and Gustavus Aldophus could be something good. Supposed to be an English company working on it. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/64 "2017-03-22T00:51:49Z")
Mistborn trilogy from Brandon Sanderson. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/65 "2017-03-22T01:02:14Z")
John Varley’s “Titan” trilogy should be doable now with CGI. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/66 "2017-03-22T01:11:51Z")
I’m reading Donna Tartt’s **The Goldfinch** which reminds me how much I loved **The Secret History.** It wouldn’t be action-packed, but it could be a good character piece with the right actors and directors. Something arty, but not too far up its own ass. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/67 "2017-03-22T01:28:06Z")
I’d like to see\* [Dream Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Park)\* by Larry Niven and Steve Barnes get a movie treatment. Also Tim Power’s [The Anubis Gates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anubis_Gates). ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/68 "2017-03-22T04:27:02Z")
Bridge of Birds, by Hughart. Get the people who did Kubo and the Two Strings to do it. H. P. Lovecraft could be a great source, but you can’t take it seriously. Yes the hero confronts his fears, but H. P. Lovecraft was afraid of _everything_! Foreigners. The countryside. Mold. And nobody’s making that sort of comedy these days. ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/69 "2017-03-22T06:53:30Z")
> [@pmwgreen](#): > > Bridge of Birds, by Hughart. Get the people who did Kubo and the Two Strings to do it. > > H. P. Lovecraft could be a great source, but you can’t take it seriously. Yes the hero confronts his fears, but H. P. Lovecraft was afraid of _everything_! Foreigners. The countryside. Mold. And nobody’s making that sort of comedy these days. Ooh, I came in here to say “Bridge of Birds” Stross’s Laundry Files pretty much are Lovecraft with humor, and I’d really like to see that done, too. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/70 "2017-03-22T08:05:44Z")
_Dragonlance_. Technically a subset of _Dungeons and Dragons_, there was an animated movie but that is utterly awful. It could easily be a cheese-fest, rather than a serious effort like _GoT_ or _LOTR_, though maybe that wouldn’t matter. We really should have more movies made each year, I miss the over-saturation of classic fantasy movies of the 80s. I would also like to see _The Stainless Steel Rat_. And _The Ballad of Halo Jones_, which is technically not a book. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/71 "2017-03-22T14:21:33Z")
Second idea, “Elementary, My Dear Groucho” starring Jon Stewart as Groucho Marx. More timely today than ever. If you did “Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody” would it use the decline and fall of Will Cuppy as the framing device? Sort of “All That Jazz”? Or maybe with Terry Gilliam directing? ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/72 "2017-03-22T15:13:11Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > I know the usual blah blah blah involves “someone already owns the rights and are sitting on them” crap Yup. I just found out that’s the reason David Jerrold’s The Man Who Folded Himself hasn’t seen any action. I think this introspective time travel novel with some controversial content could make a really cool indie film or Netflix mini series, especially given how well Orphan Black has done having the same actor multiple times in the same scene, though it might help to star open minded triplets. But despite having three buyers lines up, the same holder keeps renewing but doing nothing with it. Some other rime travel novels ripe for the making are The Green Futures of Tycho, Replay, and Timefall which is also a rollicking jungle adventure. At least they finally did By His Bootstraps. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/73 "2017-03-22T16:13:34Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Any of Neal Stephenson’s books, especially _Snow Crash_ and _The Baroque Cycle_. I think _Reamde_ would be lots of fun, too. Also, Matthew Kneale’s _English Passengers_ and Susan Fromberg Schaeffer’s _Madness of a Seduced Woman_ could both be great films. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/74 "2017-03-22T16:30:29Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _Dragonlance_. Technically a subset of _Dungeons and Dragons_, there was an animated movie but that is utterly awful. I’m a little surprised that Dragonlance nor the Icewind Dale trilogy never got a proper treatment (that animated DL thing… bleagh) though that terrible generic D&D movie couldn’t have helped. Though if I was picking a Weis-Hickman work for a dream film, I’d go with the _Rose of the Prophet_ trilogy. Not just because I liked the story but, c’mon – Middle Eastern nomads saving the world with a gay cross-dressing Christian wizard? The internet’s head would explode! Sure, pseudo-Middle Eastern, pseudo-Christian, dressing as a woman under duress, etc. The comments sections and Facebook feeds care not for petty details… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/75 "2017-03-22T16:33:11Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > … > > At least they finally did By His Bootstraps. When? What format? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/76 "2017-03-22T16:37:48Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > When? What format? I think he’s mistakenly recalling the 2014 film **Predestination** , which is based on Heinlein’s _All you Zombies…"_, his other famous time-loop story. > **[Predestination (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination_(film))** > > Predestination is a 2014 Australian science fiction action-thriller film written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. The film stars Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, and Noah Taylor, and is based on the 1959 short story " '—All You Zombies—'" by Robert A. Heinlein. > In March 1975, an agent, while trying to stop a bombing in a public building in New York City, is caught in a gunfight. The bomb detonates causing severe burns to the agent. Someone unseen helps him grasp his time-travel device, wh... > **[Predestination (2014) ⭐ 7.4 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2397535/)** > > 1h 37m | R It’s a pretty good film, worth the watching, although not strictly completely faithful to the story. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/77 "2017-03-22T16:38:09Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > Ariel by Steven R Boyett- It has Post Apocalyptic landscapes, a unicorn with an utterly foul mouth and a peppermint candy fetish, a boyish hero who means well, Japanese swordsmanship, and some really kick ass villains. Plus magic. I’ll second this one- I absolutely love Ariel. Did you ever read _The Architect of Sleep_, by the same author? Even though it’s the first in a never-to-be-finished series, it’s still one of my favorite books. I’d love to see \*Jumper \*by Steven Gould be made into a movie. I heard rumors that a movie was made several years ago, but it clearly had to be based on some other book with the same title, 'cause that ain’t no \*Jumper \*I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/78 "2017-03-22T16:39:38Z")
> [@howye](#): > > Childhood’s End was done as a miniseries by SyFy in 2015. I found it to be …acceptable. There were changes but there simply had to be for the story to work. The overall plot was kept. “Acceptable” is about as far as I’d go. Excellent production values but speaking as someone who hadn’t gotten around to reading the book there was a lot of pointlessness and a lot of questions left unanswered. Deeply disappointing. Both **A Confederacy of Dunces** and **Dream Park** (and sequels) by all reports appear to be perpetually tied up in rights wrangling and development hell. The former could still make a decent movie (you’d probably have to cut the side story about the gay characters for time), but the current economics of Amazon/HBO/Netflix etc miniseries would probably suit **Dream Park** better than a film. Certainly special effects are more than good enough to make it work. You’d have to get some competent writers in to tidy up the sloppiness in the writing, but it shouldn’t be too hard. I’m still hoping to see Philip Reeve’s **Mortal Engines Quartet** books on big screen at some point (although they’d probably have to change it to **Infernal Devices** to avoid confusion with the “Mortal Instruments” gumph). I mean, come on - entire cities on wheels, chasing each other around a post-apocalyptic landscape? Who doesn’t want to see that? Also from Reeve: I want to see **Here Lies Arthur** , although that’s more a BBC TV miniseries than a film. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/79 "2017-03-22T16:52:43Z")
> [@pmwgreen](#): > > Bridge of Birds, by Hughart. Get the people who did Kubo and the Two Strings to do it. Yes, or the Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![Doubticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Doubticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubticus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686/80 "2017-03-22T18:04:19Z")
I love to see the Dark Elf books get some love, but only if it was given the proper treatment. Hey HBO, now that Game of Thrones is drawing to an end… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-why-isnt-this-book-a-movie-already-thread/782686.md?page=5)