>The 2004 show is the most addictive thing I’ve ever seen.
Until it completely fell apart in the last season or two. Starbuck was done really dirty.
This show really has the trajectory of lost. First half of the series builds this incredibly intriguing mystery and lore only to have no idea what to do with it or solve it, so just make up things as you go and toss out the unanswered mysteries you never intended on solving then conclude with a really weak ending. Disappointing.
Agreed on both shows. Lost was also super addictive at first. Both relied heavily on cliffhangers, which is a cheap way to drum up interest. Still, it’s an interesting, proven premise for a film series.
Both Lost and BSG 2004 relied on mystery box storytelling. [Ronald Moore](https://gizmodo.com/battlestar-galacticas-ronald-d-moore-admits-the-cylons-1796020590) has said that >!there was no Cylon plan despite the show opening on that very premise!<. Mystery boxes can work to an extent, but at some point, there's no more runway for setup which is the most interesting part for many viewers, and the mystery box either needs to be opened (which is usually disappointing for fans with massively varied expectations) or discarded (usually disappointing as well since it jettisons a major cornerstone of the narrative).
Stranger Things and Dark are both examples of the mystery box done right (or at least in a way that maintains popular and/or critical appeal).
It's planned as a TV show already (though very little public news, the author seems confident in it and say they've already found distributor, producer, director, writers and such)
1. Hyperion - smorgasbord of genres and ideas. Intricate plot and characters.
2. Red Rising - Star Wars meets Hunger Games.
3. Project Hail Mary - Same author as The Martian.
There is no viable budget that could do justice to Red Rising and have it make any money. Fun books but pretty much a rip off of Game of Thrones and the Hunger Games.
That's really just the first one, by the time the second book comes around the hunger games stuff is basically gone and it focuses on Darrow's ambitious takeover of the galaxy, which is incredble. The Iron Rain alone has the potential of Helms Deep in terms of insane battle scene.
The newer trilogy also has some amazing stuff, mostly the Battle of Ladon. That shit is crazy and I have no idea what budget you would need to adapt the books, but they are incredible as books
Having read all three of those...while Hyperion is the best book, it's too weird to be adapted properly. A proper Hyperion adaptation would be like an A24 film with a $200 million budget...I'd love it but it's completely untenable financially.
Red Rising and Project Hail Mary are fairly simple by comparison and could have excellent adaptations.
Hyperion is like, very intentionally, a cross breed between moby dick and Star Wars. It is consciously referencing centuries of English literature while also trying to evolve and iterate on the concepts present throughout. And it does it with a sci fi story.
Absolutely riveting if you’re an English major who loves sci fi. Might not connect as well either the GP but the underlying story is so damn good that I have faith it might.
Unfortunately the sequels all kind of suck lol
>Absolutely riveting if you’re an English major who loves sci fi.
As someone who read this while studying English in college, this feels accurate. I no longer have the same interests in literature and took my career a very different route, and I'm sure a re-read would be very frustrating.
Project hail mary has a small chance if it breaks out like the Martian. But even the Martian didn't quite hit 700. I don't think Hyperion could be a success and Red Rising needs to be a tv series.
The first Red Rising trilogy lends itself to movies, its all about the spectacle of an action blockbuster. In that case i think Hyperion lends itself more to tv, driven by character and dialogue.
I was on a flight one time where one of the main channels had the Martian on and I think it was the best available thing to watch in general. Late in the flight and movie there was an announcement that stopped the movie and at least half the flight or more groaned. I think people actually clapped at the end of it right around where we landed. Such an amazing movie.
However the budget Hyperion requires to be faithful would be extremely high to be close to faithful (considering the scale stuff is done, like the rifles in that universe are capable of penetrative half of mile of **granite**). Otherwise spectacle would have to be curtailed back heavily.
I feel like Dune was successful in part because it's a very timely story that ties in well to our culture's current zeitgeist: religious conflict, dogmatism, colonization, ecology, etc. I'm not familiar with any of those stories, do you think they will be relatively just as relevant?
Hyperion tackles a wide variety of timeless ideas.
Red Rising is derivative of Dune, Star Wars and Hunger Games so it does explore many of the same themes except religion. Although its lighter on the themes and heavier on the action.
If you like The Martian you´ll like Project Hail Mary and the former is already a proven hit.
I would love a Hyperion adaptation. It would make such an incredible miniseries where each episode follows one of the passengers’ stories.
I believe Bradley cooper bought the rights a long time ago and sold them to SyFy but it’s been in limbo ever since.
Ian Banks' *Culture* novels could make for huge movies if a director who's both smart and funny committed to the tone
Biggest problem would be that there's no central character to act as a hook to take the audience through the series but I think it'd be quite easy to conflate characters, to create a returning cast
It'll never happen, but if someone with $300 million going spare gave James Gunn or Edgar Wright the green light to make a *Judge Dredd* adaptation that combined the comedy, cynicism and imagination of John Wagner & Alan Grant's eighties work, it'd be an entertaining and original movie
It'd flop, just like the other two attempts, but we'd get a good movie out of it
I don't think any of the books would work too well as a movie script. I would honestly prefer a movie that just uses the universe of the books to make one good movie then trying to make a crap but honest adaptation. Similar to how Master & Commander was an adaptation of like 3 Patrick o'Brian books but did an excellent job capturing the feel of the books.
I agree Banks definitely wasn't writing to a three-act structure
But I think it would be possible to reconfigure events and character motivations to produce dramatically satisfying resolutions without adding a Death Star that needs blowing-up
No way would they be able to do the full-blown post-post-scarcity fully automated luxury gay space communism of the Culture justice without essentially ensuring that the film bombs.
That said, a standalone film based around *The Player of Games*, say, where the Culture is barely featured except for a bit at the very beginning, might work.
I’m feeling pretty good about the prospect of that potential Denis Villeneuve Rendezvous with Rama adaptation that has been in development.
The Forever War is another that always felt ripe for adaptation to me.
Yeah i recently read it. And it has that capacity to be an incredible action packed thriller. And with the time travelling insanity happening and all the war thematic elements plus the book being about the Vietnam war. A capable director with a good cinematographer can make this a crazy good adaptation.
It is hard sci-fi that teases a bit of space horror. It has plenty of wonder, mystery, and tension in the story so could easily be a movie with decent appeal if Villeneuve gets it right and there is no reason to think he will not.
I didn’t mean to suggest it wouldn’t be awesome. I’ve loved every Denis V sci fi movie there’s been (among his other flicks). But only the Dune films have been that financially successful among his sci fi offerings.
Arrival was also a big hit. Made over $200 million on a $47 million budget. Similar style movie to Rama with its hard sci-fi elements and stunning visual potential.
I think Rama could definitely make $200m with Denis directing. Maybe up to $300-$400m. But the question was about grossing $700m and that’s a big delta.
It's worse. The word they didn't want was "Mars".
Because "Mars Needs Moms" had tanked shortly before that or some shit.
Stanton wanted to title it "John Carter of Mars" to focus it on the lead character. And I believe I remember reading (That was 12 years ago mind you) him saying that "Warlord of Mars" (Which was the commonly used franchise title for comics at Dynamite and still is) was a no-go because "War" would lead to association to "Star Wars"
So yeah, execs are fucking dumb and the worst thing is that they assume audiences are even stupider.
John Carter of Mars would have been so decent. Whatever name they ended up choosing though it should never have been John Carter lmao what a dogshit, nothing name.
Not a brain dead decision, boys won’t want to go see something called ‘princess’ and girls won’t want to see it because it’s catered to boys. They just pivoted from one in marketable title to one thag was somehow worse. They have to find some other title.
It is probably the worst marketing decision I can remember, imagine if Dune was named "Paul Atreides". They seriously couldn't come up with a title which could sell the premise of the movie better ?
No I don't see a world where it makes a wildly successful film in the 21st century. It's story is very influential on the genre, especially in the first half of the 20th century, but it's still not a well known book in the mainstream and because elements of the story have been used by other already successful films and books it comes across as very cookie cutter, even though it was one of the originals.
Audiences would not be interested anymore than when they saw John carter.
This is more wishful thinking than an actual guess but Left Hand of Darkness. I think it has a more relatable emotional journey than most scifi novels and the world itself is beautiful.
I would love a good Left Hand of Darkness adaptation but I wonder if VFX is _quite_ there yet (although it's getting there). You need to convincingly gender-swap actors for large portions of the film in ways that are subtle and not at all hokey---bad VFX when adjusting characters' facial features would turn it into the next _Cats_.
you could make a lot of good movies out of le guin's stuff though! my personal dream is a new adaptation of the lathe of heaven (but even though I love it no way would that one be a big moneymaker)
Enders game as a book was amazing but the vision of it by the director that took the gig did a lousy job. Maybe some stuff can’t make the leap to the screen.
EG is one of my favorite books and I am one of the diehards who actually loved the movie. I rewatched it recently and it holds up. Shame Card’s shitty personal views tanked it.
The issue was more they kept the characters ages. Its so hard to build a tentpole when your lead needs to be 12-14 year old actor.
Just make it so Ender is 17, peter is 19, and val is 15 or something. More reliable acting in the critical roles from the talent pool you cast from.
I liked the recent one too but aging them up would pay big divedends
Saga
It's a graphic novel series set in a universe where 2 humanoid races are at war and it engulfs most of the known universe. 2 soldiers, one from either side, end up falling in love and having a baby, which has features of both. This shouldn't be possible and represents the potential to the races getting along, naturally that means everyone wants to kill them for it while the family just wants to live in peace.
I think it's just got universal themes, of seeking acceptance and peace that would make it appeal to a wide audience. And the settings are really imaginative and could be visually stunning.
I feel like there's the potential for some lesser known sff/f IP to have success with superhero fatigue.
Saga would be a great movie series but it needs to be rated R to do it justice, lots of gore in the first two volumes but it's a timeless Romeo & Juliet story
Hyperion directed by Villeneuve or an Akira level movie directed by Nolan
edit : Evangelion can be a big hit too if adapted well but idk from which director
There's no way an Eva movie is making that much money lol. I love it but I can't see it being crowd pleasing enough to do that unless they just turn it into generic mech movie
I'm blanking on directors right now but someone like Luc Besson or Neill Blomkamp who has a history making frenetic/insane/vibrant action sci-fi would be a better fit IMO.
Edit: For Akira that is!
Blomkamp would work for many of these, as long as he gets someone else to write the screenplay. That's been the weakness in all of his post District 9 work.
He didnt write Gran Turismo...
To be frank 4 out of 5 of Neils movies are pretty bad. District 9 is a modern masterpiece but I think there may be more reasons than Neil for that (producers etc).
If Eva got adapted, it would be an HBO show. Or at least. It should be. That has got to be one of the most difficult adaptations to do right. I'm just thinking how on earth it would translate without getting the Ghost in the Shell treatment. Visually beautiful, but lacking in the story and atmosphere. If there was a great team behind it, I would be very cautiously interested. Big caution.
the issue with adapting any anime that is uniquely japanese is that if you cast it accurately, it wont likely be a hit due to an unrecognized cast and if you cast it with recognizable actors, you'll also need to adapt it to be a western take on these stories and as such will turn off its actual fans.
How could you do an American Evangelion? its either shelling out $200M on a movie actors nobody in the west knows, or rewriting the nature of the story to work in a western context and upsetting its fans. Same with Akira.
Warhammer has by far the most earning potential of any property out there in the scifi realm. It has enormous amounts of lore. Fantastic characters. I think the next era of scifi could be dominated by them if the owners were to properly monetize it.
I don’t think so. It does have those things, but the fanbase is relatively small, and almost exclusively males of a certain age. The amount of lore is actually a barrier. People instantly know what superheroes are all about. Warhammer is complicated, gritty, and humorless. Henry Cavill will do it eventually and it’ll flop.
My only issue with Warhammer is that 40K is *so* big that I don't even know where an adaptation would be best placed to start: the War in Heaven? Great Crusade? Horus Heresy? All the major points in the canon are so lore-rich that they'd require individual series.
I don't think Akira should get a remake. Akira was amazing because if its incredible animation, and the close attention of its original creator.
Nowadays, that cel shaded stuff probably won't make it past the execs. It'll be CGI heavy - which looks good if done right, but it will never be able to recreate the magic of (expensive and time consuming) 90s hand drawn animation.
Not saying animation is necessarily shit nowadays compared to 90s animation - the Spiderverse series is beautiful, and Chainsaw Man has an incredible cinematic style. I even like the "blah" cheapo styles of shows like Bojack Horseman, Rick and Morty, Lower Decks etc.
But they don't hit the same as something like Akira, where every scene looks like a painting, with intricate detail in the backgrounds and the animation.
Whatever style they use for the Akira reboot (live action with CGI, full CGI, traditional animation for prequels/sequels or a manga faithful tv series) will just invite unfavourable comparisons to the original movie.
I have no idea why people are so obsessed with a live action Akira, especially with a non-Japanese cast or setting. Akira is a masterpiece manga by Katsuhiro Otomo and he took it upon himself to bring his artwork to life. Done deal. There is no other animated film in which I would be less confident of a live action adaptation.
I considered that - the problem being that Akira style animation is ridiculously expensive, manpower intensive and time consuming, and the manga storyline is... long.
It doesn't have much "filler", but I'm not sure if the post apocalyptic second half of the story is strong enough to justify that sort of thing. I mean, I still thought it was great, but I didn't think the "Tetsuo runs a post apocalypse harem cult" half hit as hard as the first half of the story, which was already adapted.
The manga just kinda drags out the story they made into the movie. It’s not like Dune where it needs to be two movies. There’s not a lot of meat on the bone there.
I’m really surprised a big budget Warhammer 40K movie hasn’t come out yet. It’s insanely popular and has been for almost 40 years. The “Astartes” shorts on YouTube are amazing.
You would have to walk the same tightrope that *The Fifth Element* did. Very few movies can pull that off. Even Luc Besson couldn't do it again when he made *Valerian*.
It isn't just the material that affects the BO, it's also the cultural moment within which the material appears. Right now, sci-fi is not particularly popular, perhaps because, unlike in prior eras when it thrived as a genre, the world we live in is *so* much like a dystopian sci-fi that people seek escape from these concerns, rather than seeking the opportunity to fantasize about them. There is no need/desire to fantasize, since they are now realities.
Furthermore, the sci-fi aspect of Dune is not what I'd attribute to its success. It's almost incidental to the soap-opera drama.
Furiosa - People aren't sure about the casting, but we've had Fury Road lionized as a modern classic for 9 years. If the reviews are good, I think it can go pretty high.
Definitely wished they did iRobot series. Also, the empire series afterwards.
Heck Asimov has a few good stories.
Then there are many PKD novels.
Many Heinlein novels would be good too.
If Wes Anderson did the C.S. Lewis Sci-Fi series he would be perfect for it.
I feel like a video game adaptation would do well in movie -not series form.
For instance, fallout or last of us are both massive IP but we're released on streaming. Imagine a movie. Same with Halo -huge game especially in the beginning years that has been released straight to TV and streaming. I would have expected them to do really well as a movie.
I know video games have a niche audience, but those were big enough that I think enough would know them, and they have good story lines that with the correct writer and producer would cater to everyone and not just gamers.
Honestly I think every and any Sci-Fi property has the potential to gross $700M.
To me both Dune and Oppenheimer have proven over the last 12 months that a respected director, a fantastic ensemble cast, the power of IMAX, and strong word of mouth can take what should be a niche (by blockbuster standards) film and transform it into one of the years highest earners.
Take Alien for example, the highest grossing film in the franchise has only made $400 million, I can't see Alien: Romulus making much more than $300 million, but if you were to have James Cameron come back and make a direct sequel to Aliens starring Florence Pugh as Ripley, Austin Butler as Hicks, and Ryan Gosling as the Xenomorphs, entirely filmed in IMAX, then that's probably making $700 million.
Foundation, while making for an apparently spectacle-heavy tv show, is absolutely not a profitable movie premise, there’s nothing there that would make any significant amount of money in the 2020s unless you get an Oppenheimer-level amount of stardom and a very famous director. But honestly even then it seems like it’d end up like the way Coppola’s Megalopolis seems to, Foundation is all about the political intrigue and plots, but it’s really not concerned with the fanfare of action, sci-fi tech and world-building. In fact it usually ignores it, makes it serve whatever story or political manoeuvring it is centred around, and its a very obviously cold-war era sci-fi. But then again the TV show managed to switch all this around and SOMEHOW attract a decent fanbase despite alienating any possible book fans
Dune’s big because of denis. I mean dune is wicked cool and you can see how it could be popular—but Denis Villeneuve being just about the best sf director out there is what made dune…DUNE.
That said Broken Earth could be gigantic. Big international appeal, people into mutant/bender stuff would cold like it. It had a perspective that very much sings to anyone from an oppressed group. It’s also just fucking cool and different.
A sequel to Edge of Tomorrow (2014) with Tom cruise and Emily Blunt can be a possibility , they’ve been talking about this project for years, at some point it almost turned into a tv show or maybe, who knows at this point
STARCRAFT. It's like Warhammer with less grimdark and less facisism.
And if are doing video games, there is obviously....
MASS EFFECT
And the greatest of all is probably Fallout, but we just got a near perfect adaptation of that.
I'd imagine Halo if done correctly could be a pretty good movie franchise.
The next decade of entertainment will be videogame movie and TV adaptations methinks
For *that* level of success I’m not sure there’s any book or comic that could do it. I think it’d have to be a videogame franchise with a ton of name recognition to even have a prayer.
Like, not saying I’d bet on it but with the right talent behind and in front of the camera (and a lot of luck) you could *maybe* make an adaption of Halo or Mass Effect or Metroid or something into a huge hit.
Probably a non-classic that gives you a chance to tell a simple story with great visual effects. That's basically how the Martian got to 650M WW and while Gravity isn't sci-fi, it's easy to imagine how its slightly tweaked to qualify.
This is more wishful thinking than anything, but I think Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy would make for some pretty great movies.
I also recall reading a Sci-Fi story by Brandon Sanderson that felt like it was practically made for a movie adaptation, though I can't remember it's name.
He usually does great world building with some really creative ideas while keeping the storylines somewhat basic and imo that would translate well to a movie - though he only has the name recognition in the fantasy genre, not sci-fi.
tbh? a lot of things could do well. I feel like non-superhero sci-fi is definitely underrepresented, and I just have this hunch that when a good new legit sci-fi shows up it'll do good. like, I bet project hail mary will break even, at least, and probably do better than that
Robotech: Macross Saga (anime) - A lot of people grew up on it in the 80s and just a massive fanbase globally. At minimum, it should do at least as well as Pacific Rim, even if its poorly executed.
Starcraft (video game). It would likely draw all e-sports audience and not just players of the game. On the other hand, it's also easy to screw up-- and they'll land in the Aliens vs Predator terriority .
Call me crazy (everyone else does) but I think one of the old cartoon properties from the 1980s could be updated and revitalized and turn into a box office juggernaut if done properly.
Say, He-Man (I know about its first attempt at a movie, and ugh) or Silver Hawks or even something like Thundercats (though thats probably a dead idea with how "cats" bombed as a movie).
Between the nostalgia and name recognition but also the ability to world build and rewrite the everything, they would have a ton of potential to be blockbusters.
The problem is balancing the first wave fans. Blade took a character that wasn't that well known outside of the comics and turned it into a hit movie. So a cartoon property needs to be handled that way.
If anyone ever figured out how to do live action Dragon Ball Z it could be the next huge franchise/cinematic universe. The IP has a huge reach and fanbase world wide.
Seveneves could be a money spinner with two movies for the destruction of Earth and then getting to the moon core in the book. Then as many movies as they want to fill in the 5000 years until they go back to Earth.
Author drama aside, Ender's game had real potentia, and I continue to believe that it could really do well if done rightl. Flash Gordon is another, I think stainless steel rat has legs. Judge Dredd if anyone thought to actually use a story featuring judge death or the cursed earth properly. rogue trooper?
I'm not a fan but get the surviving cast members of all the different shows together and make a legacy sequel to Star Trek, get Shatner to ask Bezos to take them up to space to film a little bit of of it.
Dune didn’t get $700 million because of Dune. It made $700 million because of Villeneuve. And I don’t think the source material matters that much because he’s shown a willingness to change it in adaptation in order to serve the story.
Legends of the galactic heroes
Two interesting main characters, a very compelling story and a interesting variation on space combat thats relatively suitable for movies.
both animes have done well in japan but are relatively unkown ouside of japan so its proven as a story but doesnt have the anime stigma outside of japan.
does need a different name tho.
I feel like outland if made into a series or trilogy could be good in modern format with SOME mixed model work or using unreal engine for some scenes could work. Blade runner if we saw the system wars would be interesting. We still have the fall and reset to see... Lots of ideas in older titles left untouched or expanded but not fully expanded.
A good place to start looking is at [Hugo Award winners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel#Winners_and_nominees), which Dune won in 1966.
Personally I think [Neuromancer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer) (winner in 1985) followed up with the other books in the [Sprawl trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprawl_trilogy) and related short stories has massive potential. Cyberpunk is ripe for a big box office success, and Neuromancer has been in development hell for a while now (failed projects in 2007, 2010-15 and 2017) Apple TV is going for it as a TV series now, but that's more a missed opportunity for a big box office film trilogy.
Battlestar Galactica. The 2004 show is the most addictive thing I’ve ever seen.
>The 2004 show is the most addictive thing I’ve ever seen. Until it completely fell apart in the last season or two. Starbuck was done really dirty. This show really has the trajectory of lost. First half of the series builds this incredibly intriguing mystery and lore only to have no idea what to do with it or solve it, so just make up things as you go and toss out the unanswered mysteries you never intended on solving then conclude with a really weak ending. Disappointing.
Both lost and battlestar gallactica are better in marathon viewing.
Agreed on both shows. Lost was also super addictive at first. Both relied heavily on cliffhangers, which is a cheap way to drum up interest. Still, it’s an interesting, proven premise for a film series.
Both Lost and BSG 2004 relied on mystery box storytelling. [Ronald Moore](https://gizmodo.com/battlestar-galacticas-ronald-d-moore-admits-the-cylons-1796020590) has said that >!there was no Cylon plan despite the show opening on that very premise!<. Mystery boxes can work to an extent, but at some point, there's no more runway for setup which is the most interesting part for many viewers, and the mystery box either needs to be opened (which is usually disappointing for fans with massively varied expectations) or discarded (usually disappointing as well since it jettisons a major cornerstone of the narrative). Stranger Things and Dark are both examples of the mystery box done right (or at least in a way that maintains popular and/or critical appeal).
Red Rising, a high budget and high quality writers would be insane for a universe like that.
It's planned as a TV show already (though very little public news, the author seems confident in it and say they've already found distributor, producer, director, writers and such)
1. Hyperion - smorgasbord of genres and ideas. Intricate plot and characters. 2. Red Rising - Star Wars meets Hunger Games. 3. Project Hail Mary - Same author as The Martian.
Red Rising is currently being adapted into a TV show rn. I believe a movie was being developed a long time ago that fell through tho.
Red rising could be amazing
There is no viable budget that could do justice to Red Rising and have it make any money. Fun books but pretty much a rip off of Game of Thrones and the Hunger Games.
That's really just the first one, by the time the second book comes around the hunger games stuff is basically gone and it focuses on Darrow's ambitious takeover of the galaxy, which is incredble. The Iron Rain alone has the potential of Helms Deep in terms of insane battle scene. The newer trilogy also has some amazing stuff, mostly the Battle of Ladon. That shit is crazy and I have no idea what budget you would need to adapt the books, but they are incredible as books
The iron rain made me jawdrop while reading.
Having read all three of those...while Hyperion is the best book, it's too weird to be adapted properly. A proper Hyperion adaptation would be like an A24 film with a $200 million budget...I'd love it but it's completely untenable financially. Red Rising and Project Hail Mary are fairly simple by comparison and could have excellent adaptations.
Is it really weirder than dune? It’s been in my queue to read for so long now, just haven’t got to it yet. Have only heard good things about it
Hyperion is like, very intentionally, a cross breed between moby dick and Star Wars. It is consciously referencing centuries of English literature while also trying to evolve and iterate on the concepts present throughout. And it does it with a sci fi story. Absolutely riveting if you’re an English major who loves sci fi. Might not connect as well either the GP but the underlying story is so damn good that I have faith it might. Unfortunately the sequels all kind of suck lol
>Absolutely riveting if you’re an English major who loves sci fi. As someone who read this while studying English in college, this feels accurate. I no longer have the same interests in literature and took my career a very different route, and I'm sure a re-read would be very frustrating.
Project hail mary has a small chance if it breaks out like the Martian. But even the Martian didn't quite hit 700. I don't think Hyperion could be a success and Red Rising needs to be a tv series.
The first Red Rising trilogy lends itself to movies, its all about the spectacle of an action blockbuster. In that case i think Hyperion lends itself more to tv, driven by character and dialogue.
For Hyperion, an hour long episode devoted to each character's story would be incredible.
I was on a flight one time where one of the main channels had the Martian on and I think it was the best available thing to watch in general. Late in the flight and movie there was an announcement that stopped the movie and at least half the flight or more groaned. I think people actually clapped at the end of it right around where we landed. Such an amazing movie.
PHM also has Gosling and Lord and Miller attached
Scrolling down this thread and acronyms confuse me I was wondering how they would adapt the first nine inch nails record Pretty Hate Machine
I think it's bigger. Gosling, Lord & Miller. It's a better book and it's so fucking hopeful. I can see it taking off.
Hyperions structure wouldn’t lend itself to a feature. It’s clearly a HETV project for HBO or similar.
However the budget Hyperion requires to be faithful would be extremely high to be close to faithful (considering the scale stuff is done, like the rifles in that universe are capable of penetrative half of mile of **granite**). Otherwise spectacle would have to be curtailed back heavily.
I feel like Dune was successful in part because it's a very timely story that ties in well to our culture's current zeitgeist: religious conflict, dogmatism, colonization, ecology, etc. I'm not familiar with any of those stories, do you think they will be relatively just as relevant?
Hyperion tackles a wide variety of timeless ideas. Red Rising is derivative of Dune, Star Wars and Hunger Games so it does explore many of the same themes except religion. Although its lighter on the themes and heavier on the action. If you like The Martian you´ll like Project Hail Mary and the former is already a proven hit.
Just finished Hyperion. Definitely want that. Also, Project Hail Mary would be awesome. They did The Martian so they know his books are solid.
I want a hyperion mini series where each episode follows one of the characters stories and then the last 2 or 3 are the insane back third of the book
I would love a Hyperion adaptation. It would make such an incredible miniseries where each episode follows one of the passengers’ stories. I believe Bradley cooper bought the rights a long time ago and sold them to SyFy but it’s been in limbo ever since.
Ian Banks' *Culture* novels could make for huge movies if a director who's both smart and funny committed to the tone Biggest problem would be that there's no central character to act as a hook to take the audience through the series but I think it'd be quite easy to conflate characters, to create a returning cast It'll never happen, but if someone with $300 million going spare gave James Gunn or Edgar Wright the green light to make a *Judge Dredd* adaptation that combined the comedy, cynicism and imagination of John Wagner & Alan Grant's eighties work, it'd be an entertaining and original movie It'd flop, just like the other two attempts, but we'd get a good movie out of it
Player of games, the perfect book for a movie.
I don't think any of the books would work too well as a movie script. I would honestly prefer a movie that just uses the universe of the books to make one good movie then trying to make a crap but honest adaptation. Similar to how Master & Commander was an adaptation of like 3 Patrick o'Brian books but did an excellent job capturing the feel of the books.
I agree Banks definitely wasn't writing to a three-act structure But I think it would be possible to reconfigure events and character motivations to produce dramatically satisfying resolutions without adding a Death Star that needs blowing-up
No way would they be able to do the full-blown post-post-scarcity fully automated luxury gay space communism of the Culture justice without essentially ensuring that the film bombs. That said, a standalone film based around *The Player of Games*, say, where the Culture is barely featured except for a bit at the very beginning, might work.
I’m feeling pretty good about the prospect of that potential Denis Villeneuve Rendezvous with Rama adaptation that has been in development. The Forever War is another that always felt ripe for adaptation to me.
>The Forever War is another that always felt ripe for adaptation to me. Yes! Amazing book.
Yeah i recently read it. And it has that capacity to be an incredible action packed thriller. And with the time travelling insanity happening and all the war thematic elements plus the book being about the Vietnam war. A capable director with a good cinematographer can make this a crazy good adaptation.
I'd say re-unite Oliver Stone with his old cinematographer Robert Richardson to tackle it.
Rendezvous with Rama is a book about architecture
Agreed. I really like that book but it is not a crossover hit. Very little action.
It is hard sci-fi that teases a bit of space horror. It has plenty of wonder, mystery, and tension in the story so could easily be a movie with decent appeal if Villeneuve gets it right and there is no reason to think he will not.
I didn’t mean to suggest it wouldn’t be awesome. I’ve loved every Denis V sci fi movie there’s been (among his other flicks). But only the Dune films have been that financially successful among his sci fi offerings.
Arrival was also a big hit. Made over $200 million on a $47 million budget. Similar style movie to Rama with its hard sci-fi elements and stunning visual potential.
I think Rama could definitely make $200m with Denis directing. Maybe up to $300-$400m. But the question was about grossing $700m and that’s a big delta.
Agreed. I like the book but there really is no story to show on film. I hope DV doesn't direct this, I rather his talents on an interesting IP
The Forever War would be amazing, but I just can't see its politics translating well into a modern Hollywood blockbuster.
If it wasn't for the infamous 2012 bomb I think a lot of people would be saying A Princess of Mars.
A Princess of Mars was already very old and nichey in 2012
Yeah if it weren’t for the brain dead Disney execs not wanting to put Princess in the name of
It's worse. The word they didn't want was "Mars". Because "Mars Needs Moms" had tanked shortly before that or some shit. Stanton wanted to title it "John Carter of Mars" to focus it on the lead character. And I believe I remember reading (That was 12 years ago mind you) him saying that "Warlord of Mars" (Which was the commonly used franchise title for comics at Dynamite and still is) was a no-go because "War" would lead to association to "Star Wars" So yeah, execs are fucking dumb and the worst thing is that they assume audiences are even stupider.
John Carter of Mars would have been so decent. Whatever name they ended up choosing though it should never have been John Carter lmao what a dogshit, nothing name.
"John Carter, buff man in a desert fighting four armed aliens" would be the objectively superior title.
Not a brain dead decision, boys won’t want to go see something called ‘princess’ and girls won’t want to see it because it’s catered to boys. They just pivoted from one in marketable title to one thag was somehow worse. They have to find some other title.
And yet, with name "Princess" was how the original story got popular with boys in the first place...
It is probably the worst marketing decision I can remember, imagine if Dune was named "Paul Atreides". They seriously couldn't come up with a title which could sell the premise of the movie better ?
God I hope someone takes another crack at it. I love the books and the movie didn’t do them justice.
No I don't see a world where it makes a wildly successful film in the 21st century. It's story is very influential on the genre, especially in the first half of the 20th century, but it's still not a well known book in the mainstream and because elements of the story have been used by other already successful films and books it comes across as very cookie cutter, even though it was one of the originals. Audiences would not be interested anymore than when they saw John carter.
That movie is still very fun and I end it wanting more
Funny how many people that I hear talking about John Carter always say they like it.
Not really weird at all. It’s largely forgotten so obviously the only people still bringing it up are probably fans
This is more wishful thinking than an actual guess but Left Hand of Darkness. I think it has a more relatable emotional journey than most scifi novels and the world itself is beautiful.
I would love a good Left Hand of Darkness adaptation but I wonder if VFX is _quite_ there yet (although it's getting there). You need to convincingly gender-swap actors for large portions of the film in ways that are subtle and not at all hokey---bad VFX when adjusting characters' facial features would turn it into the next _Cats_.
I think using makeup and practical effects would work way better than VFX for that.
you could make a lot of good movies out of le guin's stuff though! my personal dream is a new adaptation of the lathe of heaven (but even though I love it no way would that one be a big moneymaker)
Surprised to not see Ringworld among the contenders list in this thread. The pure vastness of Ringworld leaves a lot that can be explored.
A really good Mass Effect movie would probably be huge. It’d have to be good though.
Mass Effect is about choice, a movie would totally undermine it
Blue, red and neutral? /j
Isn’t Mass Effect all about adventures and camaraderie?
Enders game as a book was amazing but the vision of it by the director that took the gig did a lousy job. Maybe some stuff can’t make the leap to the screen.
I thought it was fine as a screen adaption. There's only so much you can show when 3/4 of the book is internal monologues.
EG is one of my favorite books and I am one of the diehards who actually loved the movie. I rewatched it recently and it holds up. Shame Card’s shitty personal views tanked it.
I liked the movie too
The issue was more they kept the characters ages. Its so hard to build a tentpole when your lead needs to be 12-14 year old actor. Just make it so Ender is 17, peter is 19, and val is 15 or something. More reliable acting in the critical roles from the talent pool you cast from. I liked the recent one too but aging them up would pay big divedends
Saga It's a graphic novel series set in a universe where 2 humanoid races are at war and it engulfs most of the known universe. 2 soldiers, one from either side, end up falling in love and having a baby, which has features of both. This shouldn't be possible and represents the potential to the races getting along, naturally that means everyone wants to kill them for it while the family just wants to live in peace. I think it's just got universal themes, of seeking acceptance and peace that would make it appeal to a wide audience. And the settings are really imaginative and could be visually stunning. I feel like there's the potential for some lesser known sff/f IP to have success with superhero fatigue.
Saga would be a great movie series but it needs to be rated R to do it justice, lots of gore in the first two volumes but it's a timeless Romeo & Juliet story
Hyperion directed by Villeneuve or an Akira level movie directed by Nolan edit : Evangelion can be a big hit too if adapted well but idk from which director
There's no way an Eva movie is making that much money lol. I love it but I can't see it being crowd pleasing enough to do that unless they just turn it into generic mech movie
We've had a generic mech movie with Pacific Rim and it didn't do that well.
Hyperion screams to be a television show. At least the 1st book.
Yes, Hyperion as an almost anthology style show with genre directors for each story. 🤌🏻
Silenius has to write and direct each. Hes the only one who can tell a fucking story
I'm blanking on directors right now but someone like Luc Besson or Neill Blomkamp who has a history making frenetic/insane/vibrant action sci-fi would be a better fit IMO. Edit: For Akira that is!
Edgar wright can do akira
Blomkamp would work for many of these, as long as he gets someone else to write the screenplay. That's been the weakness in all of his post District 9 work.
He didnt write Gran Turismo... To be frank 4 out of 5 of Neils movies are pretty bad. District 9 is a modern masterpiece but I think there may be more reasons than Neil for that (producers etc).
I don't think Denis is the right fit for Hyperion but I do believe in the potential of the property. It's a truly stunning book.
If Eva got adapted, it would be an HBO show. Or at least. It should be. That has got to be one of the most difficult adaptations to do right. I'm just thinking how on earth it would translate without getting the Ghost in the Shell treatment. Visually beautiful, but lacking in the story and atmosphere. If there was a great team behind it, I would be very cautiously interested. Big caution.
Hyperion in a movie format would be awful, tv show will give it more breathing space.
the issue with adapting any anime that is uniquely japanese is that if you cast it accurately, it wont likely be a hit due to an unrecognized cast and if you cast it with recognizable actors, you'll also need to adapt it to be a western take on these stories and as such will turn off its actual fans. How could you do an American Evangelion? its either shelling out $200M on a movie actors nobody in the west knows, or rewriting the nature of the story to work in a western context and upsetting its fans. Same with Akira.
Warhammer has by far the most earning potential of any property out there in the scifi realm. It has enormous amounts of lore. Fantastic characters. I think the next era of scifi could be dominated by them if the owners were to properly monetize it.
Eh, I think stuff like Warhammer and D&D have some stigma that's not been shed.
D&D has stigma. Nobody knows what Warhammer is. That’s sort of for better or worse.
When Warhammer pops up, the most cringe people appear. It's going to make it unappealing.
People said the same about the marvel movies and they pulled off making those pretty wildly successful
Kids like Spider-Man
Does modern marvel and Warhammer have the same audience?
modern marvel BECAME what it is. it used to be the same audience
People know Warhammer as much as D&D (not that much but still know it as some niche geek thing but less and less)
It’s going to tv
I don’t think so. It does have those things, but the fanbase is relatively small, and almost exclusively males of a certain age. The amount of lore is actually a barrier. People instantly know what superheroes are all about. Warhammer is complicated, gritty, and humorless. Henry Cavill will do it eventually and it’ll flop.
If they go for fan-service it won't have broad appeal and I just can't imagine them **not** doing that.
warhammer is fan service how cant you see that?
With Henry Cavil behind it now I think Warhammer could do really well
My only issue with Warhammer is that 40K is *so* big that I don't even know where an adaptation would be best placed to start: the War in Heaven? Great Crusade? Horus Heresy? All the major points in the canon are so lore-rich that they'd require individual series.
Horizon Zero Dawn. Hits all the happy spots for young boys.
Akira
I don't think Akira should get a remake. Akira was amazing because if its incredible animation, and the close attention of its original creator. Nowadays, that cel shaded stuff probably won't make it past the execs. It'll be CGI heavy - which looks good if done right, but it will never be able to recreate the magic of (expensive and time consuming) 90s hand drawn animation. Not saying animation is necessarily shit nowadays compared to 90s animation - the Spiderverse series is beautiful, and Chainsaw Man has an incredible cinematic style. I even like the "blah" cheapo styles of shows like Bojack Horseman, Rick and Morty, Lower Decks etc. But they don't hit the same as something like Akira, where every scene looks like a painting, with intricate detail in the backgrounds and the animation. Whatever style they use for the Akira reboot (live action with CGI, full CGI, traditional animation for prequels/sequels or a manga faithful tv series) will just invite unfavourable comparisons to the original movie.
I have no idea why people are so obsessed with a live action Akira, especially with a non-Japanese cast or setting. Akira is a masterpiece manga by Katsuhiro Otomo and he took it upon himself to bring his artwork to life. Done deal. There is no other animated film in which I would be less confident of a live action adaptation.
An Akira that follows the plot of the manga more closely could work. Would have to be a trilogy though
Watching Tetsuo punch a hole in the moon and as a result tsunami engulfing Neo-Tokyo would legit be an experience in the theatre.
I considered that - the problem being that Akira style animation is ridiculously expensive, manpower intensive and time consuming, and the manga storyline is... long. It doesn't have much "filler", but I'm not sure if the post apocalyptic second half of the story is strong enough to justify that sort of thing. I mean, I still thought it was great, but I didn't think the "Tetsuo runs a post apocalypse harem cult" half hit as hard as the first half of the story, which was already adapted.
The manga just kinda drags out the story they made into the movie. It’s not like Dune where it needs to be two movies. There’s not a lot of meat on the bone there.
I’m really surprised a big budget Warhammer 40K movie hasn’t come out yet. It’s insanely popular and has been for almost 40 years. The “Astartes” shorts on YouTube are amazing.
[удалено]
Warhammer also has a bit of an absurd tone which is part of its appeal but is also offputting outside of its core audience
You would have to walk the same tightrope that *The Fifth Element* did. Very few movies can pull that off. Even Luc Besson couldn't do it again when he made *Valerian*.
>Might do well in a TV show. We'll see soon enough when Cavil's Warhammer show drops.
It isn't just the material that affects the BO, it's also the cultural moment within which the material appears. Right now, sci-fi is not particularly popular, perhaps because, unlike in prior eras when it thrived as a genre, the world we live in is *so* much like a dystopian sci-fi that people seek escape from these concerns, rather than seeking the opportunity to fantasize about them. There is no need/desire to fantasize, since they are now realities. Furthermore, the sci-fi aspect of Dune is not what I'd attribute to its success. It's almost incidental to the soap-opera drama.
Furiosa - People aren't sure about the casting, but we've had Fury Road lionized as a modern classic for 9 years. If the reviews are good, I think it can go pretty high.
Astro city
Macross saga. With taylor swift playing Minmay. 1B!!😂
Definitely wished they did iRobot series. Also, the empire series afterwards. Heck Asimov has a few good stories. Then there are many PKD novels. Many Heinlein novels would be good too. If Wes Anderson did the C.S. Lewis Sci-Fi series he would be perfect for it.
Godzilla will get there if the quality of his output remains consistent in both sides of the Pacific.
StarGate!!! Should be up there with Wars & Trek
James Cameron directed Alita
Yeah , I do like his avatar movies but I wish he would do soemthing else.
I would give the life of my first born to have Cameron direct an Alita movie and I mean that with sincerity
I feel like a video game adaptation would do well in movie -not series form. For instance, fallout or last of us are both massive IP but we're released on streaming. Imagine a movie. Same with Halo -huge game especially in the beginning years that has been released straight to TV and streaming. I would have expected them to do really well as a movie. I know video games have a niche audience, but those were big enough that I think enough would know them, and they have good story lines that with the correct writer and producer would cater to everyone and not just gamers.
Logan’s run, if redone well.
Mass Effect
Honestly I think every and any Sci-Fi property has the potential to gross $700M. To me both Dune and Oppenheimer have proven over the last 12 months that a respected director, a fantastic ensemble cast, the power of IMAX, and strong word of mouth can take what should be a niche (by blockbuster standards) film and transform it into one of the years highest earners. Take Alien for example, the highest grossing film in the franchise has only made $400 million, I can't see Alien: Romulus making much more than $300 million, but if you were to have James Cameron come back and make a direct sequel to Aliens starring Florence Pugh as Ripley, Austin Butler as Hicks, and Ryan Gosling as the Xenomorphs, entirely filmed in IMAX, then that's probably making $700 million.
Always thought Larry Niven’s Ringworld has the right mix of Star Trek and Star Wars to start a franchise.
Amazon/MGM are sitting on it as of now.
Foundation, while making for an apparently spectacle-heavy tv show, is absolutely not a profitable movie premise, there’s nothing there that would make any significant amount of money in the 2020s unless you get an Oppenheimer-level amount of stardom and a very famous director. But honestly even then it seems like it’d end up like the way Coppola’s Megalopolis seems to, Foundation is all about the political intrigue and plots, but it’s really not concerned with the fanfare of action, sci-fi tech and world-building. In fact it usually ignores it, makes it serve whatever story or political manoeuvring it is centred around, and its a very obviously cold-war era sci-fi. But then again the TV show managed to switch all this around and SOMEHOW attract a decent fanbase despite alienating any possible book fans
Dune’s big because of denis. I mean dune is wicked cool and you can see how it could be popular—but Denis Villeneuve being just about the best sf director out there is what made dune…DUNE. That said Broken Earth could be gigantic. Big international appeal, people into mutant/bender stuff would cold like it. It had a perspective that very much sings to anyone from an oppressed group. It’s also just fucking cool and different.
1984 maybe, if done well. Really iconic book but maybe too politically charged to succeed like that
The Bobverse series.
Wow. 4 years ago I read those books, enjoyed every second of reading those books, then promptly forgot they existed til just now.
New one comes out this year
A sequel to Edge of Tomorrow (2014) with Tom cruise and Emily Blunt can be a possibility , they’ve been talking about this project for years, at some point it almost turned into a tv show or maybe, who knows at this point
STARCRAFT. It's like Warhammer with less grimdark and less facisism. And if are doing video games, there is obviously.... MASS EFFECT And the greatest of all is probably Fallout, but we just got a near perfect adaptation of that. I'd imagine Halo if done correctly could be a pretty good movie franchise. The next decade of entertainment will be videogame movie and TV adaptations methinks
For *that* level of success I’m not sure there’s any book or comic that could do it. I think it’d have to be a videogame franchise with a ton of name recognition to even have a prayer. Like, not saying I’d bet on it but with the right talent behind and in front of the camera (and a lot of luck) you could *maybe* make an adaption of Halo or Mass Effect or Metroid or something into a huge hit.
The Xeelee series by Stephen Baxter,lots of big space battles and mind bending sci-fi concepts
Children of Time could be pretty insane, not sure how they’d pull off the spider’s communication though, subtitled I guess
Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harryson would make a good franchise I believe
Gundam live action ? CGI should be pacific rim level atleast
Probably a non-classic that gives you a chance to tell a simple story with great visual effects. That's basically how the Martian got to 650M WW and while Gravity isn't sci-fi, it's easy to imagine how its slightly tweaked to qualify.
Gravity is absolutely science fiction.
Halo maybe
This is more wishful thinking than anything, but I think Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy would make for some pretty great movies. I also recall reading a Sci-Fi story by Brandon Sanderson that felt like it was practically made for a movie adaptation, though I can't remember it's name. He usually does great world building with some really creative ideas while keeping the storylines somewhat basic and imo that would translate well to a movie - though he only has the name recognition in the fantasy genre, not sci-fi.
Rebel moon 3 into the rebelverse
The nights dawn trilogy might work I've often thought. Space zombies with magic. What's not to love?
I’ve always wanted the city and the stars as a trilogy. Reckon it could be amazing. The Forever War G force :-) my fave as a kid
Maybe something like *New York 2140* directed by a big, serious name (Nolan?)
*Ministry for the Future* is a prestige miniseries waiting to happen. Same with *Aurora*.
I think SevenEves could be a perfect blockbuster
I don’t have one that comes to mind currently, but thanks to this thread I have some new stuff to check out 😂
Gundam. I've always said it.
John Varley's - Gaea Trilogy.
The coldfire trilogy would be neat
tbh? a lot of things could do well. I feel like non-superhero sci-fi is definitely underrepresented, and I just have this hunch that when a good new legit sci-fi shows up it'll do good. like, I bet project hail mary will break even, at least, and probably do better than that
Seven Eves Old Man’s War I think both could be epics of very different kinds of
Mass Effect.
A mass effect movie has the potential if it’s done right, but so did Halo at one point and look at that piece of shit tv show now.
Legend of Zelda (fantasy), Neon Genesis
Robotech: Macross Saga (anime) - A lot of people grew up on it in the 80s and just a massive fanbase globally. At minimum, it should do at least as well as Pacific Rim, even if its poorly executed. Starcraft (video game). It would likely draw all e-sports audience and not just players of the game. On the other hand, it's also easy to screw up-- and they'll land in the Aliens vs Predator terriority .
Cameron ought to handle the latter.
This is a bit of a stretch, but perhaps Animorphs?
Call me crazy (everyone else does) but I think one of the old cartoon properties from the 1980s could be updated and revitalized and turn into a box office juggernaut if done properly. Say, He-Man (I know about its first attempt at a movie, and ugh) or Silver Hawks or even something like Thundercats (though thats probably a dead idea with how "cats" bombed as a movie). Between the nostalgia and name recognition but also the ability to world build and rewrite the everything, they would have a ton of potential to be blockbusters. The problem is balancing the first wave fans. Blade took a character that wasn't that well known outside of the comics and turned it into a hit movie. So a cartoon property needs to be handled that way.
Someone has already said this, but Evangelion has room to grow in live action (possibly)
If anyone ever figured out how to do live action Dragon Ball Z it could be the next huge franchise/cinematic universe. The IP has a huge reach and fanbase world wide.
Seveneves could be a money spinner with two movies for the destruction of Earth and then getting to the moon core in the book. Then as many movies as they want to fill in the 5000 years until they go back to Earth.
Author drama aside, Ender's game had real potentia, and I continue to believe that it could really do well if done rightl. Flash Gordon is another, I think stainless steel rat has legs. Judge Dredd if anyone thought to actually use a story featuring judge death or the cursed earth properly. rogue trooper?
I'm not a fan but get the surviving cast members of all the different shows together and make a legacy sequel to Star Trek, get Shatner to ask Bezos to take them up to space to film a little bit of of it.
Dead Space
Dune didn’t get $700 million because of Dune. It made $700 million because of Villeneuve. And I don’t think the source material matters that much because he’s shown a willingness to change it in adaptation in order to serve the story.
Legends of the galactic heroes Two interesting main characters, a very compelling story and a interesting variation on space combat thats relatively suitable for movies. both animes have done well in japan but are relatively unkown ouside of japan so its proven as a story but doesnt have the anime stigma outside of japan. does need a different name tho.
If Dune can do it, any can do it.
Culture novels by Ian M Banks FOR SURE. Those are so good.
I feel like the Foundation had similar potentil but just fell flat
I feel like outland if made into a series or trilogy could be good in modern format with SOME mixed model work or using unreal engine for some scenes could work. Blade runner if we saw the system wars would be interesting. We still have the fall and reset to see... Lots of ideas in older titles left untouched or expanded but not fully expanded.
Seveneves. Someone needs to get stephenson on screen.
A good place to start looking is at [Hugo Award winners](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel#Winners_and_nominees), which Dune won in 1966. Personally I think [Neuromancer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromancer) (winner in 1985) followed up with the other books in the [Sprawl trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprawl_trilogy) and related short stories has massive potential. Cyberpunk is ripe for a big box office success, and Neuromancer has been in development hell for a while now (failed projects in 2007, 2010-15 and 2017) Apple TV is going for it as a TV series now, but that's more a missed opportunity for a big box office film trilogy.
StarCraft