Children's books that could become blockbusters

Jimbob1977

In the past decade, books like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have been transformed into multi-billion dollar blockbusters in the cinema.

They were expensive to produce because of the heavy dependency on CGI. The Chronicles of Narnia was an admitted flop.

I'm surprised that books like The Famous Five, Secret Seven, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and The Three Investigators haven't been made into films.

For the Famous Five alone, there are circa 20 books in the series. More raw material than Harry Potter.

They would not require any CGI and the actors would initially be newcomers on low fees.

Can anyone suggest why this potential goldmine has not been tapped? Is it because the stories are old fashioned and wouldn't work now?

Links234

His Dark Materials

Oh wait :mad:

Conall Cernach

There were TV shows made of the Famous Five, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys and I think there was one of the Secret 7 as well. There was at least one 3 Investigator movie as well. They did make a movie out of one of my favourite children's books, The Dark is Rising, but they made a balls of it. I'd also like to see Alan Garner's Weirdstone of Brisingamen get the movie treatment.

Adamantium

Its the same reason Master and Commander never got a sequel with its 20 odd books, it's a blockbuster aimed at adults with none of the Pirate of the Caribbean hyper reality. It was meant to be a series

And its old fashioned/adventurous but NOT superhero mentality and that happens to the reasons it was fcuking brilliant.

Eugene Norman

Of Enid Blython children's novels The Faraway Tree might make a (cgi intensified) movie.

galljga1

Artemis Fowl should be good if it ever gets off the ground. Humorous reading for both adults and kids.

Tipsy McSwagger

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

In the past decade, books like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings have been transformed into multi-billion dollar blockbusters in the cinema.

They were expensive to produce because of the heavy dependency on CGI. The Chronicles of Narnia was an admitted flop.

I'm surprised that books like The Famous Five, Secret Seven, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew and The Three Investigators haven't been made into films.

For the Famous Five alone, there are circa 20 books in the series. More raw material than Harry Potter.

They would not require any CGI and the actors would initially be newcomers on low fees.

Can anyone suggest why this potential goldmine has not been tapped? Is it because the stories are old fashioned and wouldn't work now?

The Hobbit is a children's book, The Lord of the Rings is not a children's book. Personally i'm looking forward to the next Tin Tin movie.

galljga1

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

The Hobbit is a children's book, The Lord of the Rings is not a children's book. Personally i'm looking forward to the next Tin Tin movie.

I read the rings trilogy when I was 13, pretty much a kid. Now the Silmarillion, that bored the t1ts off me. I'd say if I read it now, it would have the same effect.

galljga1

Links234 wrote: »

His Dark Materials

Oh wait :mad:

Links

I didn't think the movie was as awful as some of the reviews implied. The reaction of the Christian right killed it before it had a chance. That said, I was not overly impressed by the books, 11 year old daughter loved them. She will burn.

OU812

There's a Nancy Drew Movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfD-Cv-AGYY

It's not bad, we had it as a family movie night recently & the eldest thoroughly enjoyed it. It held the adult's interest also. Don't think it did well so no sequels.

MrWalsh

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

They would not require any CGI and the actors would initially be newcomers on low fees.

Can anyone suggest why this potential goldmine has not been tapped? Is it because the stories are old fashioned and wouldn't work now?

It's because they don't fit the Hollywood formula of loads of CGI, good versus evil, lots of magic and/or huge battle scenes.

Movies have become predictable, standardised.

Tipsy McSwagger

galljga1 wrote: »

I read the rings trilogy when I was 13, pretty much a kid. Now the Silmarillion, that bored the t1ts off me. I'd say if I read it now, it would have the same effect.

I seen Terminator when i was 12, doesn't mean it's a kids film.

Eugene Norman

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

I seen Terminator when i was 12, doesn't mean it's a kids film.

Books are clearly different. Terminator isn't very adult either, in the sense of not being difficult.

errlloyd

Pretty much every hyper successful childrens / teen book series today gets made into a movie.

Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Chronicles of Narnia, His Darker Materials, Stormbreaker (Anthony Horowitz). Some of them do very well, like HP, Twlight and the Hunger games.

Some of them are terrible, Narnia, His Darker Materials and Stormbreaker never finished their series.

cloud493

Theres probably a whole other load of YA fiction movies in the pipeline as we speak.

galljga1

galljga1 wrote: »

I read the rings trilogy when I was 13, pretty much a kid. Now the Silmarillion, that bored the t1ts off me. I'd say if I read it now, it would have the same effect.

I was reading Stephen King and Clive Barker from the age of 10 or 11 and would never consider either as being for kids, the Lord of the Rings was written for adults though it's perfect fare for older kids. The Hobbit was always intended to appeal to a younger audience.

happysunnydays

I agree, the potter, hobbit, narnia books all have potential as they are tried and tested to become new movies and storylines for the today's children....so they should reboot all of those with new actors that kids can identify with. Just look at Bond franchise, going for decades now because they freshen it up regularly from existing books. The franchises are already solid, the worlds have been created in the minds of the audience, they just need to keep the wheels rolling. A new generation want something different yet fresh appealing as many of the films look old now and its jobs for the film industry. All win!

happysunnydays

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Terminator isn't very adult either,.

Did you go make a cup of tea during the sex scene, the swearing, the ultra violence in the copshop, the operation on the eyeball parts or what? Not only that, the atmosphere alone is hugely adult and would frighten any young child. I like a joke amongst my peers but seriously whats wrong with you?

Cork boy 55

'The Long March' by Michael Mullen

The Long March ....Poolbeg....Dublin 1990……

After the Battle of Kinsale, on the last day of the year 1602, O’Sullivan Beare left Glengarriff in County Cork with one thousand of his followers, the remnants of a race defeated by the English in a cruel war. They set out to reach the safety of O’Rourke’s castle in Leitrim. Two weeks later only thirty-five people reached their goal. The rest had perished on the way or abandoned the march.

This is the story of that march, a story of passion, suffering and heroism. it is the story of Emar and her brother Fiach who endured the bitter winter weather as harassed outlaws and had to face tragedy along the way.

Michael Mullen recreates one of the most remarkable episodes in Irish history in this gripping and stirring novel for young readers.

Antar Bolaeisk

happysunnydays wrote: »

I agree, the potter, hobbit, narnia books all have potential as they are tried and tested to become new movies and storylines for the today's children....so they should reboot all of those with new actors that kids can identify with. Just look at Bond franchise, going for decades now because they freshen it up regularly from existing books. The franchises are already solid, the worlds have been created in the minds of the audience, they just need to keep the wheels rolling. A new generation want something different yet fresh appealing as many of the films look old now and its jobs for the film industry. All win!

You.

You are what's wrong with cinema today :mad:




I wouldn't mind seeing the Farseer Trilogy brought to the screen and certainly a better attempt at His Dark Materials would be welcome.

Mistborn would also probably make a great film.

Day Lewin

I've always thought that the E. Nesbit classic "Five Children and It" would make an excellent movie: it is very visual, has funny episodes and magic, and convincing children in a nice period setting.

"The Railway Children" by the same author, was filmed, and was a success, too.

katemarch

katemarch wrote: »

I've always thought that the E. Nesbit classic "Five Children and It" would make an excellent movie: it is very visual, has funny episodes and magic, and convincing children in a nice period setting.

"The Railway Children" by the same author, was filmed, and was a success, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf5f1Pmj5Bw

happysunnydays

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

You.

You are what's wrong with cinema today :mad:
.

Wrong ANswer!:pac:
I bet you hate twist endings or any kind of film that has to be explained. Are you more of a clichéd type of fan? I'm just too lazy to make the obvious too obvious for people who fail to engage the membrane......do you want me to spell it out or will you get it eventually. End Result: Try harder next time.

Mickeroo

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

You.

You are what's wrong with cinema today :mad:




I wouldn't mind seeing the Farseer Trilogy brought to the screen and certainly a better attempt at His Dark Materials would be welcome.

Mistborn would also probably make a great film.

Would love the Farseer books to be adapted, though since they'r so character driven I think I would prefer a Game of Thrones style tv series than films. You could continue it on into the Live Ship Trader books and Tawny Man series too. There's easily a good 8 or 9 seasons worth of story there.

Sleepy

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Mistborn would also probably make a great film.

Cast Maisie Williams as Vin and you'd make a fortune.

(I've been saying this since her first season as Arya in GOT)

Day Lewin

@Darko - thank you, I never knew that had been done! Now gleefully hunting for it. *Squee!*

Tazzimus

The Percy Jackson books would make decent enough movies if they were done right, the first two films were a bit cack.

Love me that Greek Mythology

McLoughlin

Discworld ??

Allways enjoyed it as a kid and adult

Cookie_Monster

McLoughlin wrote: »

Discworld ??

Allways enjoyed it as a kid and adult

Yeah, they'd need to be far better than the Sky adaptation though

Skerries

Mickeroo wrote: »

Would love the Farseer books to be adapted, though since they'r so character driven I think I would prefer a Game of Thrones style tv series than films. You could continue it on into the Live Ship Trader books and Tawny Man series too. There's easily a good 8 or 9 seasons worth of story there.

never really saw them as YA books but I suppose you could be right as the main protagonist was young
in that line then I would love to see The Belgariad made into a series as that would be more family friendly

Mickeroo

Skerries wrote: »

never really saw them as YA books but I suppose you could be right as the main protagonist was young
in that line then I would love to see The Belgariad made into a series as that would be more family friendly

Wouldn't consider them YA books at all, just saw them mentioned above is all.

pixelburp

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Yeah, they'd need to be far better than the Sky adaptation though

Last I'd heard there was a BBC adaptation of the City Watch in the works; don't think it had got to shooting yet though. Supposedly it's not to be a direct adaptation of the novels, but beyond that there's little to go on. Couldn't be any worse than those Sky adaptations, or the Cosgrove Hall animated stories from the 90s. Wonder if Pratchett's recent passing will change the timelines at all (RIP )

Mickeroo

I quite enjoyed the Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic mini series though I thought David Jason was a poor fit for Rincewind.

pixelburp

Mickeroo wrote: »

I quite enjoyed the Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic mini series though I thought David Jason was a poor fit for Rincewind.

The production values were quite high from what I remember, but I found the direction and script incredibly flat and lifeless. The timing of gags seemed way off, but that's just me

the baby bull elephant

More YA than childrens books but the Skulduggery Pleasant books could make fantastic films. Plenty of great dialogue in them already.

Dozen Wicked Words

There is a series of books called the Deptford Mice and Deptford Histories, always thought they'd make a decent film or TV series. Probably a younger age group than most mentioned here, but good set of characters in them.

D-FENS

Spielberg is directing a new version of the BFG due out next year, bound to be a CGI fest but hopefully well worth a look.

Links234

Mickeroo wrote: »

I quite enjoyed the Colour of Magic/Light Fantastic mini series though I thought David Jason was a poor fit for Rincewind.

Oh I hated David Jason as Rincewind :eek: He just played it so very pantomime

I think Going Postal was by far the best adaptation of the lot