Sword and Sorcery( fantasy) popularity

[inisideguy]

So I was thinking about this. For as popular as the Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and even the Hobbit have been why hasn't Hollywood adapted more of these stories to the big and small screen? I mean if Hollywood is good at nothing else its bandwagon stuff. Look at the superhero genre or many others. I just find it curious. Especially during this massive Game of Thrones popularity. Its not like there is not tons of material to draw from.

[Vakanai]

My dream would be a film series for The Wheel of Time. Apparently there either is or will be a show, but honestly the TV series or miniseries format for high fantasy doesn't excite me as much as getting some proper films would. Never watched Game of Thrones.

A film version of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy would be excellent.

[Innocent Bystander]

A D&D livestream just set a record $11 million to make an animated series on Kickstarter. Dungeons and Dragons is ridiculously popular, in Hollywood and in general. I think there's definitely a market, and I'm surprised we haven't seen more announcements (is Joe Mangianello still making the D&D movie?). Then again, the reboot of Conan bombed.

[C_Miller]

They're not cheap to make. That's probably the main deterrent. And because they're expensive, Hollywood probably doesn't want to take the massive risk on something that's not necessarily a sure thing. Kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. LotR and GoT took forever to find a home. I think a lot of people forget that.

[Killerbee911]

Hollywood has cycles For example had Beastmaster, Conan, Red Sonja, Master of Universe, etc in the 80s. We got Clash of Titans, Lotor, Hobbit in 2000s. We have Game of Thrones now everyone is looking for the next property that will be the next game of thrones. Amazon has Wheels of Time and Lotor shows being made, Netflix has the Witcher, HBO has Game of thrones Prequels. Stuff like the The Kingkiller chronicles,The Ruin of Kings, Shadow and Bone, The Dark Tower, Conan and more are in various stages of pre production. So yeah it is happening but as mention Fantasy like Superhero genre isn't cheap.

[TriggerWarning]

My dream would be a film series for The Wheel of Time. Apparently there either is or will be a show, but honestly the TV series or miniseries format for high fantasy doesn't excite me as much as getting some proper films would. Never watched Game of Thrones.

There was a horrific pilot episode done a few years ago that is available on youtube if you want to subject yourself to it. It was cobbled together so that the rights didn't expire. Neither Harriet Douglas (Robert Jordan's wife, editor, and owner of his estate) nor Brandon Sanderson (who wrote the last few books) were aware of it until after it aired.

Amazon now has the rights and is working on a TV series. I'm not going to hold my breath of it being good though as they will have to cut so much to make it manageable for TV.

[TriggerWarning]

So I was thinking about this. For as popular as the Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and even the Hobbit have been why hasn't Hollywood adapted more of these stories to the big and small screen? I mean if Hollywood is good at nothing else its bandwagon stuff. Look at the superhero genre or many others. I just find it curious. Especially during this massive Game of Thrones popularity. Its not like there is not tons of material to draw from.

They have been milking it for all its worth for years now.

Legend of the Seeker was a TV series based off the Sword of Truth novels by Terry Goodkind.

The Shanarra Chronicles was based off Terry Brooks Shanarra series.

They made a Dark Tower, by Stephen King, movie and a series is still in the works.

Wheel of Time is in development.

Witcher is in development.

Brandon Sanderson has said he's had preliminary meetings about a possible adaption of his Mistborn series though its a LONG ways from actually being greenlit.

[Digifiend]

A D&D livestream just set a record $11 million to make an animated series on Kickstarter. Dungeons and Dragons is ridiculously popular, in Hollywood and in general. I think there's definitely a market, and I'm surprised we haven't seen more announcements (is Joe Mangianello still making the D&D movie?). Then again, the reboot of Conan bombed.

Series is definitely the way to go with D&D. The 80s cartoon wasn't faithful and the movie was a definite failure. Yet if they went with something like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights (both previously adapted as PC games which received sequels) instead of just a generic fantasy plot, they might see more success. And that requires longform format so you have time to get to know and develop the characters.

[jetengine]

LOTR set the bar very high so alot of people say "whats the point ?"

[AndrewCrossett]

A film version of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy would be excellent.

Hell, yes. Otherland too.

I can make a looooong list of fantasy literature that would make for great television. (We really need long form storytelling to do justice to epics like this... the Dark Tower should have been a series right from the beginning, following the actual books. That's the story that people wanted to see.)

Legend of the Seeker was pretty good, although it took a while to get there. Cara really saved it in season 2.

I liked season 1 of The Shannara Chronicles better than most people, but then they went freestyling with season 2 and I lost interest.

The one where Hollywood is really missing the boat is Roger Zelazny's Amber books. It's just tailor made for a TV series. You can add in as many side-trek storylines as you want, with as many original characters as you want, and still keep the book series as the core of the story. It's a screenwriter's dream.

Then we have Conan, and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, and Michael Moorcock's Elric. Pern, Earthsea, Xanth, Prydain. Not to mention Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms.

I'm surprised there isn't a feeding frenzy for this stuff in the wake of Game of Thrones. They would all be expensive to make, yes, but they also have fanbases comparable in size to Song of Ice and Fire.

[Madam-Shogun-Assassin]

A lot of stuff is in development now, but during the initial popularity of GoT things was kinda bare. And when they were making fantasy stuff it was the usual Harry Potter type stuff. What I'm really hoping for is more gritty space opera military science fiction stuff.

[Powerboy]

So I was thinking about this. For as popular as the Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and even the Hobbit have been why hasn't Hollywood adapted more of these stories to the big and small screen? I mean if Hollywood is good at nothing else its bandwagon stuff. Look at the superhero genre or many others. I just find it curious. Especially during this massive Game of Thrones popularity. Its not like there is not tons of material to draw from.

I don't exactly think of LotR as "Swords and Sorcery". Traditionally, S&S was a slang term for fantasy stuff that was basically garbage. There was even a movie called "The Sword and the Sorcerer" that was the very poster child for that genre.

But there is indeed a lot of high quality fantasy. Granted it is expensive but, with the success of LotR, I am surprised nobody has even taken a serious shot at it. Although she considered her work to be science fiction, I would love to see McCaffrey's Dragon Riders made into a good movie.

[Jackalope89]

My dream would be a film series for The Wheel of Time. Apparently there either is or will be a show, but honestly the TV series or miniseries format for high fantasy doesn't excite me as much as getting some proper films would. Never watched Game of Thrones.

A film version of the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy would be excellent.

As said, Wheel of Time is in development. Rights were purchased by Sony. And Uta Briesewitz, so far, is directing the first 3 episodes (had like 29 credits for first 3 seasons of The Wire). In fact, it seems like filming is being done, at least in part, in Eastern Europe right now.

[Vakanai]

Hell, yes. Otherland too.

I can make a looooong list of fantasy literature that would make for great television. (We really need long form storytelling to do justice to epics like this...

Disagree, it really depends on the story. Lord of the Rings would have gained nothing from being a TV series for example. People seem obsessed with TV these days, but depending on the story I still think film is the best medium for getting the real sense of epicness I associate with high fantasy.

As said, Wheel of Time is in development. Rights were purchased by Sony. And Uta Briesewitz, so far, is directing the first 3 episodes (had like 29 credits for first 3 seasons of The Wire). In fact, it seems like filming is being done, at least in part, in Eastern Europe right now.

I'm really not feeling excited for this. Shame considering how much I loved reading the books.

[Hypestyle]

Marvel should explore what it can do with Weird World and its related characters. Also folks like Arkon, Thundra, etc.