A few weeks ago I wrote about children's books that would make great movies, after which I received a flurry of e-mails from people expressing their horror at some of the current adaptations of their favorite childhood tales. I understand -- I've spent twenty years working in children's theater, film and television, and there are times when I look at children's fantasy adaptations and just shake my head. Let's talk about some of the common missteps Hollywood makes in bringing these books to life.

Combining multiple books into a single movie
I don't really understand why Hollywood does this. They find a fantastic property like, say, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), and then cram several of the books into a single movie. The problem is that the plot has to be so compressed that you lose almost all character development. Sure the movie is fast-paced, but why should you care? The same thing happens with The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) although somewhat more successfully. The difference could be that in Spiderwick, the scope remains confined to a single family in a single house, which means there's still time for character development. In Unfortunate Events, the sheer range of characters from the multiple scenic locations deprives any one of them from getting enough screen time.

Continue reading "Mary Robinette Kowal - The Five Most Common Mistakes When Adaptating Children's Fantasy" »

• The special effects team of Zack Snyder's execrable (but pretty) 300 has joined the Conan crew. As a huge Robert E. Howard fan, I can only hope the latter movie is exponentially better than the former.

• Whether we like it or not, Ridley Scott is directing a Monopoly movie. But here's an interesting tidbit you might not have heard: It's set in alternate universes.

• As predicted from the exact second that it first came on the air, Fox has sabotaged and canceled Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. If it makes you feel better, Joss promises a significant ending.

• Reacquaint yourself with the artist and designer whose amazing imagination inspired the look of Star Trek.

Continue reading "Daily Scan for 11.13.09 - Fox Cancels Dollhouse, Scott's Monopoly Is SciFi " »

I was forwarded this New York Times article on James Cameron's scifi flick Avatar, and how the production and marketing of the movie will likely cost a staggering half-billion dollars. The friend who forwarded it to me wrote, "is this film ever going to make its money back?" Sure, it could, and probably will.

Some of the answers are in the article itself: First, the half-billion under discussion is not being fronted by a single studio (in this case, 20th Century Fox); it's the entire outlay of cash, which includes funds from two other movie companies that between them are covering 60 percent of the production costs. It also includes advertising deals where one company basically uses Avatar properties while promoting their own goods; the article notes Panasonic using Avatar clips as part of a $25 million effort to push its own home theater lines.

To be clear, Fox isn't getting off cheaply; when all is said and done it's going to be on the hook for at least a couple hundred million dollars in production and marketing costs. If the flick fails, it will hurt. But there's a difference between being on the hook for a half a billion, and being on the hook for half that.

Beyond that, there are other factors to consider.

Continue reading "John Scalzi - Four Reasons Why Avatar Is Too Big to Fail" »

• Although it was rumored strongly that J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof -- the two guys behind Lost -- would adapt Stephen King's The Dark Tower for television, Abrams himself says he's now out of the picture.

• It now looks very, very likely that the Black Cat will play a significant part in Spider-Man 4, and may be played by Rachel McAdams.

• It's long past due, but Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, has finally made his way into the Television Hall of Fame.

• Isaac Asimov was a computer user, and he certainly loved the TRS-80.

• Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame and The Box infamy says he'd love to do a sitcom that takes place in Jabba the Hutt's palace.

Continue reading "Daily Scan for 11.12.09 - Abrams Is Out of Dark Tower, Black Cat Is In Spider-Man" »

Every comic book geek knows that Wednesday is the most important day of the week because that's when the new issues hit the stores. Well, this Wednesday, AMCtv.com is is in sync with that venerable day. We hereby announce the launch of The Prisoner online graphic novel, an exclusive story set in the world of the AMC miniseries (premiering Sun., Nov. 15 at 8PM | 7C). Chapter 1, "Book One: As the Air, Invulnerable," follows protagonist Rebecca as she searches San Fran for her missing sister. You can check out Chapter 2 immediately following the miniseries finale on Tue., Nov. 17. A new issue -- there will be ten in all -- comes out every week thereafter. And the best part? It's totally free. Gentlemen, start your mouth-breathing!

Click here to see Chapter 1 of The Prisoner graphic novel.

What would happen if we really could record what a person sees? Would dealers sell mind's eye memories like Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) does in Strange Days, or would editors make them into movie memorials like in The Final Cut? Thanks to a breakthrough by neurologists at the University of California, Berkeley, we're about to find out.

At last month's Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago, researcher Jack Gallant presented the results of an experiment in which a person's brain activity was used to recreate what the person was watching when the activity occurred. Researchers already use brain scans to reconstruct still images, but Gallant's ability to play back moving images takes us much closer to some freaky scifi scenarios.

Continue reading "Strange Days Are Here - Psychic Computers Now Record Your Memories" »

• Sam Rockwell says his character in Iron Man 2 is part Lex Luthor, and that he builds War Machine's armor.

• Guillermo del Toro says that in The Hobbit, we will follow Gandalf to the den of the Necromancer (otherwise known as Sauron), and see his epic fight.

• One of science fiction's most beloved board-gaming franchises, Warhammer 40,000 A.D., has finally been optioned by Hollywood. If they throw any sort of big budget at this, the rich mythos will carry the movie through just fine.

• io9 lists the ten best faux fake deaths in science fiction. "You have been, and always shall be, my friend!"

Continue reading "Daily Scan for 11.11.09 - Rockwell Talks Iron Man 2, Warhammer Gets Option" »

The recent news that Marvel will be spinning off one of Spider-Man 3's chief baddies, Venom, for his own movie stirs up troubling questions: Will Topher Grace reprise the role? Do fans really want to see Venom as an anti-hero? Most importantly, which character will be next? With Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and director Sam Raimi only signed on for one more installment, you can bet Marvel's looking for other ways to extend the franchise. So let's take a look at a few Spider-man characters who could carry their own movie.

Aunt May (Rosemary Harris)
Who: Peter Parker's beloved aunt and provider of home-spun wisdom and flapjacks
Supporting Cast: Peter, Uncle Ben (in flashbacks), obscure ear-wiggling comic book paramour Willie Lumpkin
How to spin her off: It's Murder, She Wrote meets the Marvel Universe when May turns amateur sleuth in order to learn Spider-Man's secret identity. Will she uncover Peter's secret and get her award-winning apple crumble ready in time for the neighborhood bake sale? And is that Stan Lee, reprising his role from Fantastic Four as May's mailman suitor Willie Lumpkin?

Continue reading "Venom Is Spider-Man's First Spin-Off. Who's Next?" »

• J.J. Abrams says that despite dire ratings, the attitude in the Fringe writer's room is optimistic, and Fox is being hugely (and uncharacteristically) supportive of their efforts.

• Smallville writer Bryan Q. Miller is taking over the reins writing D.C. Comics' latest Batgirl series.

• It's his first movie in close to 13 years, but James Cameron's Avatar already has a budget approaching half a billion dollars.

• Director Michael Doherty says he'd like another crack at the Jurassic Park franchise... as long as it isn't set on that damn island anymore.

• How will they make a movie out of Hasbro's Battleship? By adding aliens into the mix. That actually sounds to me like a pretty swell picture.

Continue reading "Daily Scan for 11.10.09 - Aliens Join Battleship Flick, Doherty Wants More Jurassic Park" »

The German-born master of Earth disasters Roland Emmerich discusses his latest apocalyptic flick, explains how he channeled Arnold Schwarzenegger, and shares his opinion on how the world will really end.

Q: What inspired you to tell a modern Noah's Ark tale?

A: I was always fascinated by the fact that God doesn't like what he created and sends a big flood. Why does God have to do that? In a way it's like the oldest story we have, because every culture in this world has a Noah's Ark story. So we asked ourselves what a modern Noah's Ark story would look like. There are two or three questions you have to ask yourself: One is, "How can it be that water covers the Earth?" There's not enough water. So you have to create a seismic event that makes that conceivable. Second, you have to ask, "Who is Noah and who is God?" And we came to the conclusion that Noah would be like the governments of the world, and God is science.

Q: At what point did you know you'd want it centered around the Mayan calendar?

Continue reading "2012 Director Roland Emmerich Swears He's Done With Disaster Flicks (Sort Of)" »