Books I Want to See At The Cinema

This time I'm going to let you know what books I want to see at the cinema that haven't been adapted yet.

Artemis Fowl

I don't know how Hollywood has missed this one. It's a really popular series of books written by Eoin Colfer about a genius kid, who discovers a whole new world of fairies, trolls, goblins and magic and decides to kidnap a fairy and ask for ransom. He demands to be paid in gold. The struggle between the two sides is really great and will translate well on the screen. That's how the story begins and book by book everything changes and it will be really fun to watch.

Skulduggery Pleasant

Again a really great series of books written by Derek Landy. The plot involves a girl, who inherits her uncle's fortune when he dies, a writer who everybody thinks is a bit crazy because he writes about magic and walking, talking skeletons and magical creatures. The protagonist will soon find out that everything is real and there is a secret magical society that protects common people (Muggles :P) from evil sorcerers and villains that have a magic touch. The discovery of this secret world inside our common world becomes possible when the main character, Stephanie, meets one of her uncle's closest friend, Skulduggery Pleasant, a talking skeleton and a magician and the greatest detective of the magical world. This book series could also become an awesome TV series. Like a procedural with magic elements and of course a bigger picture with great villains.

The Dirty Streets of Heaven

This book is written by Tad Williams and is completely different from the previous ones. First of all it's just one book, second of all it's an action thriller and lastly it's about a battle between heaven and hell!! The battle for a dead person's soul between heaven and hell is fought on earth. Each side sends a representative and they fight in court" over custody of the soul. We follow the story of Bobby Dollar representative of Heaven on Earth, an angel who everyday tries to take people's souls in heaven by defending them in "court", until the day a soul goes missing and (forgive my pun) all hell breaks loose. An awesome plot for an action thriller and something we haven't seen yet.

Remake These Book Movies (Part 2)

Last time I revealed the first part of my list of book movies that should be remade. Let's just get on with the list.

Percy Jackson

A few years back Hollywood made an attempt to find the next Harry Potter franchise. They believed the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan would be just that. So, they completely changed the plot, putting themselves into a tight corner. The fan base was annoyed and they actually couldn't make the second movie (although they did!!) because they changed every key element of the first book.

Why they should remake it: As I mentioned, the film was a total disaster, having set a different path from what people actually wanted. We deserve a true adaptation of the book. If the movie is able to make money remains to be seen, but it will certainly have a better chance by feeding its already big fan base.

His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman)

For those of you who don't know the title, the movie Golden Compass was the first book of this trilogy. It was a well made film with a complicated plot. The movie had great visual effects, managed to win an Oscar and also had a great cast.

Why they should remake it: Philip Pullman's books are a great trilogy and the first movie effort was mildly successful. All they need is a simpler script and audiences will come back for more. It's certain we need more good fantasy movies.


My last suggestion is a movie that wasn't advertised very much, but was actually good. It had a small budget and I believe, with a bigger budget they could make something great. Maybe a TV series is more appropriate, because of the richness and length of the books.

The Saga of Darren Shaun (Cirque du Freak)

Many people may not know this book series, but It's one of my favorite. They are about vampires (not the sparkly ones! ....this joke is getting old) and a boy, who becomes one after an encounter with a travelling freak show. The series has 12 books in total, not counting the spin-offs.

Why they should remake it: The first attempt was never fully advertised and didn't have the budget it needed and despite all this, it managed to capture the feel of the books. I really want to see what they could make if this was a blockbuster. And I really want to see them continue the story, because they made only one film. Maybe the books could become a great TV series, who knows?

These are my picks. I really want them to make all these movies again, but this time, in the right way. If you have any other movies that should be remade the comments below are waiting for you.

My next blog will be about books I want to see on the silver screen Till next time!!

Remake These Book Films (Part 1)

As I mentioned in my previous blog, in this one I will choose some movies based on novels that need to be remade and I also decided to add books I want to be made as movies. But before I get to that, I've been reading lots of comments on the web about movies that are based on books and I would like to add some stuff I didn't mention in my previous blog. People on the comment sections in various forum are debating saying movies have to be their own thing and they mustn't be connected to the book they came from. On the one hand, I agree, book movies must have coherent plots, meaning you mustn't have read the book in order to follow the plot, but on the other hand, the movie, I believe, must follow the book's plot as truthfully as possible. If not, then why do you use the book in the first place. Just write something original. You would not take Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and put him in the future with spaceships and make him a bounty hunter solving mysteries and catching waned men, wait, that's awesome, I would watch that movie!! Let's see now, another example...Hollywood filmed the true life story of a doctor nicknamed "Patch" Adams and hollywoodized (is this a wrod?) it. Even the real "Patch" Adams was offended and dismissed the movie entirely. As did Rick Riordan when he saw what they did with his character, Percy Jackson. This just means that you have to respect the source material, but you also have to make a movie that doesn't need a friend who has read the books, in order to understand what the hell is going on.

Let's continue to our main course. Films from books that need to be remade.

I Am Number Four

Following the success of the Twilight franchise Hollywood was looking for the next best thing, so they took every young adult book series and made a movie for the silver screen. One of those was I Am Number Four. The only problem was that they tried to pass it off as a twilight-like love story to follow the trend and that was their biggest mistake. The movie flopped and was completely forgotten, failing to attract the book fans, but also the demographic they aimed for.

Why they should remake it: Making every movie a twilight clone isn't the right move. They didn't give it a fighting chance. The books could become a series of great sci-fi movies with a lot of action. It is true the first book has some teen romance, but by emphasizing on that you lose sight of the big picture, which is the grand scale battle of an alien race fighting alongside humans to defeat the alien race of the Magadorians, who want to conquer and eventually suck the life of planet Earth. Needless to say all hell breaks loose. Superpowers, hand to hand combat, bloody fights,death and destruction. Make the movie the right way and let it find its target audience. No one will be disappointed.

Seventh Son (real title: The Spook's Apprentice)

Yes....this time they didn't even keep the book title. I don't even have to tell you if they got the book right. The movie was an awful attempt to create a franchise stepping on the success of darkening old kids fairy tales, like they did with Snow White and The Huntsman. To make things short, they failed, miserably. They believed so little in the movie that they even changed its original release date.

Why They Should Remake it: Here you have a Harry Potter-like book series, but a lot darker. Witches, assassin's, old gods, magic, ghosts, ghasts you name it. These books have everything. Nothing is what it seems. Nothing is just black or white. Strategy and knowledge is the key every Spook has to use. His weapons to defeat each creature of the dark. This has the makings of a great series of horror movies.

Eragon

One of the most anticipated movies turned out to be one of the biggest flops. Wooden acting, awful script. They butchered the story and destroyed the atmosphere the novels created.

Why They Should Remake it: People are looking for the next Lord of The Rings and Eragon can fill this void. Dragons, Elves, Dwarves, Magic, Epic Battles this movie could have everything. A great world to get immersed in and a great story of friendship, loyalty and defeating the odds. Did I mention it has dragons? And Epic battles?




This is the first part of the book films that Hollywood should remake. Look forward to the second part and my suggestions of book series they haven't yet tried to bring to the silver screen. Till next time...

From Novel to Fiction

Yes, this is the title I wanted. This goes out to all the books that have been made into films and have nothing to do with the books (yes, I am looking at you "Seventh Son" and Mr. Perseus Jackson). My point is: why would you take a beloved book series and make it something else? Why would you want to alienate everyone who has read the books and will definitely see the movie? Don't you want to make money? Don't you want to make a movie everyone likes? I mean 50.000.000 readers can't be wrong right? Harry Potter, The Lord of The Rings changed some stuff to be better on screen or to keep the film's duration to 3 hours, but they actually followed the story quite well. What happened then? People went to watch them and they made billions of dollars. Not bad right? How about "The Maze Runner"? Another book adaptation that was a sleeper hit in 2014. Why? Because it was well made and changed a few things while  keeping the overall plot intact. Even "The Hobbit" got a little bit of hate, because they changed....well....almost everything, but at least it was well made, so box office success.
And then, for every well made book adaptation or well made movie, you have about a dozen that, to put it lightly, sucked. Percy Jackson  what was that? Where was the plot? The book had one, so the book wasn't the problem. I watched "Seventh Son" when it came out and was surprised to see that the only things connecting it with the books, were the characters' names. Yes, just that. And I don't even want to mention "Eragon". What are the producers thinking? Why won't they follow the book? Isn't it easier to write a script from something that already exists and not just make things up? As the saying goes don't fix something if it ain't broke. Successful books are already successful, why change that? It's the reason they decided to make the damn movies. Just take what the author wrote and film it. But make the film only if you like the source material. Put some effort and love in the movie and you will be rewarded. Show the fans and the viewers that you care about them and don't use their love for something against them. Make the movie they want you to make, because if you actually liked it, you would want to make it as good as possible, and of course, as true to the source material as possible, cause that IS the first thing you liked, THE BOOK.

Sorry for my rant, but I have wanted to say these things for a long time. I have already seen a lot of my beloved books ruined on the silver screen. And I think this will be the subject of my next blog: Adaptations that should be remade. Till next time...

Disney Thoughts

I read about a week ago that Disney plans to revive its old TV series DuckTales and I remembered I had written an article about this, so I dug it up and decided to make it public.

I remember when I was a kid renting (yes renting) VHS tapes from video stores. I remember waking up real early every weekend to watch cartoons on TV. That was before the internet and when cartoons on TV were a lot different from what they are today. We also had comics, not the Marvel and DC comics, but comics inspired by Disney characters, Scrooge, Donald, Mickey, Goofy, we had these characters. We had short films with incredible stories starring those characters, which sometimes were shown before a feature Disney film. I tried to remember when was the last time I saw them animated and the last one I recall is the one named "The Three Musketeers" with Mickey, Goofy and Donald.
The truth is that everything Disney has built over the years could never be achieved without them. But, the truth is this multi-billion company has actually forgotten its roots. New generations think only about Disneyworld when they hear those names and that's really sad. Should they fade away? The answer is no. Disney hear me when I tell you to revive them. Make a movie about "The Life and Time of Scrooge McDuck", it's one of the best stories ever written. Make a film noir starring Mickey Detective. Use Marvel's studio expertise and create a movie about Phantom Duck. The fourth Indiana Jones had mixed reviews, show them how it's done with an Indiana Goofy of your own. Don't be afraid you won't be spoiling your characters' personas. They have to be remembered. People have to be reminded of them. They are part of cinema and comic history. Reviving DuckTales is a first step to remind people of the Golden Disney TV era, the 90s, when DuckTales, Rescue Rangers, Talespin, Gargoyles and Darkwing Duck were the most amazing shows on television. Why not revive them all? Why can't you make movies out of all of them? How awesome would a Gargoyles live action movie be?
Don't get me wrong, I love the movies Pixar is making and I can see the effort Disney Animation Studios are making producing box office hit after box office hit, I'm not saying Disney should stop making those, I'm just saying there are more movies they can make. Awesome movies. Easy marketable movies. Movies that can become the next box office hit easily. They have everything they need. Just do it. Revive them. Merchandise the heck out of them. As long as they make them. But take care of them. Don't create something half-assed. These characters are happy child memories. They shouldn't be forgotten.