# Why haven't these books been made into movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [July 22, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036 "2020-07-22T17:23:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/142 "2020-08-04T21:56:29Z")
> [@vislor](#): > > I’m also surprised that there has been no DND series. I don’t think the dark elf would play well now. There is still plenty of material to use. What I don’t know is if original creators would get too much and that’s why they don’t? I can’t see why a series couldn’t last as long as Hercules or Xena did. I keep hearing about a movie or series so maybe it’s in development heck. There was a D&D movie. It was fractally bad. It was a low-budget movie that didn’t use what budget it had well and it didn’t actually have much to do with D&D. There were two direct-to-video D&D movies that followed - the first was a semi-sequel to the theatrical movie. They still weren’t _good_ movies, but at least they were recognizably D&D. A _Dragonlance_ movie in some form has been in development hell since the 80s. A direct-to-video animated movie was finally released, and it was not good. It was at least recognizably _Dragonlance_. And of course, there was the “classic” _Dungeons & Dragons_ Saturday morning animated series in the 80s. I think a movie/TV adaptation of D&D runs into a few problems. For one thing, D&D is a broad game brand. There are a _lot_ of D&D worlds and stories and characters, but there’s no single D&D world/story/set of characters, the way there is for, say, Tolkien’s works. Closely related to that, it’s a high concept that is hard to actually summarize as a high concept. I mean, it’s dungeons and dragons, but…what do you do with that? Old school D&D is about exploring fantastical dungeons and slaying dragons, but that’s not much of a plot. Newer D&D settings/stories/characters can get more involved, but often lose or at least de-emphasize the dungeons and/or the dragons. It’s _really_ hard to briefly summarize to an outsider what Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Planescape, Dark Sun, and the Forgotten Realms have in common. Finally, D&D and video games and fantasy fiction in general have had so much interacting feedback that at this point, there have actually been a _lot_ of D&D movies and TV shows made, under other labels. At the same time, a D&D movie or TV show would probably feel cliched and derivative to general audiences. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/143 "2020-08-05T00:30:53Z")
The Riverworld series by Philip José Farmer has been mentioned. It has been adapted twice, once in 2003 and one in 2010. I think the books are great. It appears (although I haven’t seen either one myself) that the adaptations are terrible. Both adaptations even changed who the hero was. For what it’s worth, I think that idea that great books make great movies (or miniseries or whatever) is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Bacon\_Cheeseburger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ebca7d/32.png) [@Bacon\_Cheeseburger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bacon_Cheeseburger)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/144 "2020-08-05T00:42:36Z")
Anything by Vonnegut. That has already been done Also Not a popular author here, but Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. There was a low budget ( straight to video) attempt at a trilogy that I don’t think ever got finished. And at least the first two were horrible. So has never quite been made into a movie. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2020, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/145 "2020-08-05T01:44:22Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The Riverworld series by Philip José Farmer has been mentioned. It has been adapted twice, once in 2003 and one in 2010. I think the books are great. It appears (although I haven’t seen either one myself) that the adaptations are terrible. Both adaptations even changed who the hero was. For what it’s worth, I think that idea that great books make great movies (or miniseries or whatever) is wrong. Worse-it made the hero [Richard F Burton] a villian. I think it would be cool to have him meet his actor namesake, go buddy-buddy to take down some evil asshole. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2020, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/146 "2020-08-05T08:05:05Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > A _Dragonlance_ movie in some form has been in development hell since the 80s. I think if anyone is to seriously give D&D a go as a movie or series, they have to look at things like _Dragonlance_ that show how it can be done. It’s hard to reduce the complexity and wide variety of gameplay of a role-playing game as old as D&D to something easily consumable, but _Dragonlance_ managed it (as did a few spin-offs and other variants like _Forgotten Realms_). Not that they should copy it exactly, nor expect a following like _Lord of the Rings_, but it at least shows how to take the tropes of the game, such as the multi-race troupe of adventurers, dragons and kobolds and orcs etc, treasure hunting and trap avoidance, and tie it into a grand epic adventure that can sustain a franchise while also be consumed in bite-size episodes if necessary. Every attempt so far has failed to get the balance right, and then they give up on it as too hard, but it really isn’t. They just have to empty themselves of preconceptions. They tried to make the _Sword Of Truth_ a series, with rather limp results. Same with _Shannara_. Next up will be _Wheel Of Time_ (I do not have high hopes, they’re taking forever to get their act together for that). But in the right hands any of them could have been great. I think there’s a space for D&D if it’s given to the right creative team. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2020, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/147 "2020-08-05T09:46:44Z")
My favourite police comedy was **Bakersfield P.D**. from the early 1990s. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/148 "2020-08-12T16:30:33Z")
_Fear Nothing_ and _Seize the Night_, by Dean R Koontz (who really needs to get his butt in gear and finish the third book in the series!). ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/149 "2020-08-12T21:52:08Z")
I’m not quite sure if _Game of Thrones_ has made it more, or less, possible to make a miniseries out of Lois McMaster Bujold’s Chalion novels. People unfamiliar with the series would see a quasi-medieval European setting with knights and castles, magic, and a religion based on a Father, Mother, Daughter, Son, and Bastard pantheon, and dismiss it as a GoT ripoff. Which is a shame, as the world of the Five Gods is thematically, stylistically, and tonally nothing like Martin’s work. On the other hand, the _Harry Potter_ movies didn’t stop 20th Century Fox from making _Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief_. I would love to see _The Curse of Chalion_ on a big screen. ( I’d _really_ love to see _Paladin of Souls_; can you imagine a swords-and-sorcery epic whose hero is a widowed, middle-aged grandmother?) The Penric and Desdemona novellas might be a good basis for a miniseries, or, stitched together, a feature-length movie; you could get a contiguous story line starting with “Penric’s Demon” and flowing right into “Penric’s Mission”, “Mira’s Last Dance”, and “Prisoners of Limbos”, the unifying thread being Penric and Nikys’ evolving relationship with the natural end point being their marriage. Casting it might be a fun exercise - I could see Caitriona Balfe as Ista. Liam Cunningham would be a great Cazaril, except he’s a bit too old - would make the romance with Betriz a bit squicky, unless she was aged up as well. But Cunningham has the necessary mixture of humility, competence, and threat for Caz. > [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I’d really like to see one of the big boys splash the cash and gives us an extended series of feature-length adaptations of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels. > “Master and Commander” was great as a one-off but the series demands to be given a bigger canvas and a lot more time to tell the full tale. > It would cost a sodding fortune and each book could be a six-part mini-series in its own rights but that sounds good to me. > Question is, Who could be youngish-maturish Jack? Who could be geeky Stephen? It would be really hard to top Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. Well, maybe not Crowe, for Jack Aubrey. But Paul Bettany was born to play Stephen Maturin. ---
**Author:** ![Shawn1767](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shawn1767](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shawn1767)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2020, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/150 "2020-08-13T00:04:50Z")
The one book I have been hoping they’d turn into a movie is “The Forge of God,” by Greg Bear. Of course, I’d want it to be faithful to the story and I think it’s probably closer to what a real invasion by aliens would be like for humans. The sequel novel, however, they wouldn’t need to make into a movie. Unless you wanted to bore people to death. Another one I’d like to see is a graphic novel: DC’s “Kingdom Come.” Maybe as a trilogy of movies, if done faithfully. ---
**Author:** ![catflea12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@catflea12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catflea12)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/151 "2020-08-16T00:04:48Z")
The Flashman series by George McDonald Frazier would be great if they did it right. There was one movie made in the 1970s, not very good, Roddy McDowell was not a good Flashman. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2020, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/152 "2020-08-16T00:11:08Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > _Fear Nothing_ and _Seize the Night_, by Dean R Koontz (who really needs to get his butt in gear and finish the third book in the series!). I don’t know if he’s up to it these days. He was always kinda middle-talent with the occasional good idea, but the last couple of things I read from him were pretty bad (though that was a few-several years ago). If he treats the Christopher Snow series like he did Odd Thomas, I’d rather not read it. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/153 "2020-08-22T23:54:06Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > _Fear Nothing_ and _Seize the Night_ , by Dean R Koontz Came here to post this, but so much of what made those two books work were Christopher Snow and his internal monolgue. (Perfectly matched by the audiobook narrator, try it!). But could you capture Christopher’s unique “damaged optimism” without two hours of voice-over? And now that I’m really thinking about it, I agree with **Face…** , I’d rather keep it to two brilliant books if the third one won’t be as good. Extrapolating from that, I’d rather not have a movie if it can’t be as good as the 2/3 Of A Trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/154 "2020-08-30T17:05:42Z")
It was Malcolm McDowell, not Roddy McDowell (who would have been way too old even then!) ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/155 "2020-08-30T19:35:51Z")
It’s essentially Indiana Jones in theme and flavor so that’s good, but not sure the pro imperial British Empire flavor would sell, nor the era and Indian history for American audiences. We already have Sharpe’s Rifles. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/156 "2020-08-30T20:20:40Z")
Isn’t the Flashman series a _parody_ of pro-British Empire literature? ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/157 "2020-08-30T21:05:44Z")
I’d like to see [the Ketty Jay](https://www.amazon.com/Retribution-Falls-Tales-Ketty-Book-ebook/dp/B004J4WM8Q) books turned into a series. Either a big budget HBO/Netflix type or a campy thing along the lines of Killjoys. ---
**Author:** ![catflea12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@catflea12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catflea12)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/158 "2020-08-30T23:06:04Z")
You’re right, my bad. Still, with the right actor, the Flashman series could be great. Any suggestions for British actors who would be good? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2020, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/159 "2020-08-30T23:49:09Z")
I’d enjoy seeing Fritz Leiber’s _Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser_ stories turned into a movie. Niven’s _Ringworld_ is another great idea that was mentioned upthread, but it might make a better TV series than a movie, just because it’s rather lacking in overall plot arc. As a TV series, it could draw from all of the _Known Space_ stories – although the Man-Kzin wars could easily be a movie or movie series of their own. As much as I love the _Stainless Steel Rat_ books, there would have to be a LOT of updating on the tech to make them work today. Things just aren’t as hackable as Harrison thought they would be. > [@steepone](#): > > I think Anne McCaffrey’s Dragon Rider books would make a great series of movies I quite agree. It would be interesting to see whether it would do better with the first trilogy turned into a movie and the second trilogy turned into another, or with the POVs intermingled and all six books made into a single movie or miniseries. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/160 "2020-08-31T00:20:36Z")
I like Raymond Feist’s books. There was talk of a TV series but that went nowhere. His books are similar to GOT but a lot more books. At least 20 . He just started a new series with 2 books so far. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036/161 "2020-08-31T15:50:48Z")
> [@Scoobysnax](#): > > It has been a while since I read it but I think that “The Practice Effect” by David Brin could make for an interesting mini series. It is a science fiction book set in a world where entropy runs in reverse. Using things makes them stronger and more efficient instead of worn out and broken. Rich people have their servants wear their clothes so that they get better. The wheel was never invented because the friction of a skid on a path can be practiced away. I remember reading that back in the ‘80s when I was a member of the Science Fiction Book Club. Great book! I remember the protagonist showing up with expedition gear that was supplied by the lowest bidder (or something like that) and was all pretty crappy. As he used it, the quality of the gear improved. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-havent-these-books-been-made-into-movies/916036.md?page=9)