Hollywood Speculation

[Natalie Perkins]

So, I didn't see a thread for this, but if there was, please don't attack me.

Yes, I have been offered a movie deal

FIRST OFF: Yay, that's awesome.

No, it probably isn't for the series you're thinking about.

Ok, so I was thinking Mistborn.
WoT converters are probably thinking WoT
Newcomers who only read Elantris are probably thinking Elantris.
So if you eliminate all the ones I assume people are thinking about, that leaves:
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
Warbreaker
Dragonsteel (The Liar of Partinel perhaps?)
Scribbler
OR One of Brandon's other finished/unfinished/unpublished books: (Full list here: http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=5165.msg111110)

Thoughts?

[Qarlin]

My guess is Alcatraz. Most all of the others require a completely different world, and Alcatraz is set in the US. That makes it the easiest to make, and it's a comedy that I think would translate well to film.

[Spriggan]

The interesting thing about this was more-or-less a done deal almost 10 months ago but it took that amount of time to finalize things and come to an agreement.  I was actually surprised that contracts were only recently sent out from how I was originally told about it back in September-October (can't remember the exact month).

As to what the deal is--well that's something that is for Brandon to tell, because it is cool, and not for me to take away from him.

[BloodlessVictory]

Cool, this is what I get for not checking the blog regularly.

Alcatraz makes sense because the youth fantasy market in movies as well as books has been riding high for a while.  Studios are probably groping hopefully for the next financial success on the order of Harry Potter or Narnia.

WoT wouldn't make sense because:
-iirc, various big and small screen rights to that series are held by people who're doing nothing with them.
-If a movie deal was being made, it probably would not involve EUOL so directly; it would go through Robert Jordan's estate.

Mistborn was probably what he thought everyone would think of.

[SarahG]

WoT wouldn't make sense because:
-iirc, various big and small screen rights to that series are held by people who're doing nothing with them.
-If a movie deal was being made, it probably would not involve EUOL so directly; it would go through Robert Jordan's estate.

Also, it wouldn't have been in the works since last Sept/Oct, as Sprig just told us.  Pretty sure we can eliminate WoT.

[Pygmalion]

Wow, this is waaaay too cool.

I can't wait for more details. Alcatraz rocks... even though he isn't a nice person. 

[firstRainbowRose]

So he is for sure going through with the deal?  The last I heard he was going out to California to go over the details, and wasn't possitive on anything.  If he is, that's going to be way cool.  I hope they do it live action... animation wouldn't be the greatest.

[WriterDan]

Off of some random blog that came up on google of "Brandon Sanderson movie deal":

http://www.michaelcrane.net/tmo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=493&Itemid=1

Quote:

Other things of note (of various interest):

    * There is a potential movie deal in the works (Mistborn), but he couldn't say anything about it.

Don't know if this is just some random guy, or an official interviewer (I would guess the former, but he is pretty straight-forward about saying it...)  Anyhow, it's a connection that I found.  The only one actually.  So, take it for what it's worth.

[Pygmalion]

Hmmm, interesting.

Honestly, I hope it's not Mistborn. I don't think Hollywood is capable of making a good movie out of it. It's just too cool like it is.

[firstRainbowRose]

It's not mistborn.  First off, he says it's not the series people would think of, and since that's his most famous series, that's the one that people would think of first.  I'm wondering if they saw the april fools joke, and connected it to the announcement.

[Shrain]

How AWESOME!! Where do I sign up to be an extra?

I would LOVE to see MISTBORN on the big screen. Yet, alas, I think this is the series most people would expect, and therefore not be the right one in light of Brandon's comment. (sigh)

ALCATRAZ may seem a bit of  a stretch since only the first novel has come out, and there are, what, six more? That's a big commitment too, when it comes down to it. Unless they just do the option for one movie. Besides, this YA series hasn't built such a huge fan base as HP. Not that it couldn't, of course...

And who's to say that the contract isn't for a stand-alone like ELANTRIS or WARBREAKER? After all, Brandon says he was offered a "movie deal" and that "this doesn't mean that the movie is sure to get made." Note the singular "deal" and "movie" yet I could be reading too much into the grammar. So I think the likelihood is high that this project is for a solitary movie not a series--esp. since Brandon says it's not for the series we're thinking of.

I say, if it can't be MISTBORN, I'd definitely like to see ELANTRIS.

Honestly, I don't remember how long it took for the WoT deal to be set up. So the movie deal could've come in after that time. BUT, it seems to me that, despite the popularity of WoT, it would be really tough to get Hollywood to commit to over ten movies. Unless the scripts combined several novels at once. And wouldn't that get all the WoT fans really, really riled up?

As for DRAGONSTEEL, I admit that could be possible, though the market hasn't even been tested for those novels. One would think that it would be more profitable all the way around to offer an option on a book that's already been published. Then the book and movie would  build off of each other nicely. Just like all the other well-done book-film pairings. 

[Hero of Ages]

I think that it is Alcatraz, because it would be very easily adapted to a screenplay.  Screenplays are usually fairly short, and as EUOL's shortest published work, Alcatraz would lose the least in translation to the big screen.  Plus you don't have to cast anyone that is well known, so movie production costs would be tons lower.

It could also be Elantris.  I see it as very easily done due to its focus on characters, and a virtual lack of needed special effects (unlike MB).  The only FX needed are when they show how Elantris was, when Raoden practices the Aons, and the Seons.

I would love to see all of the books made into movies as long as they are done right.  MB would be the hardest to do right IMHO.  Warbreaker would be pretty cool as a movie.

[Sigyn]

I know the answer, but I don't know if I should say.  This is so frustrating!

[Fellfrosch]

I sincerely hope that the guy WriterDan quoted was misled by our April Fool's joke. That would be too awesome for words.

[Shrain]

I know the answer, but I don't know if I should say.  This is so frustrating!

That's easy: you shouldn't. Legally a bad idea to say anything. Besides, I don't think Brandon would be happy if you spilled the beans prematurely.

But what I wanna know is *how* you know this!! Do you have a reliable crystal ball or something? If so, could I rent it for a while?

Speaking of predictions, I wouldn't mind having a few Fell points to look forward to for picking the right book. I think I'll stick by ELANTRIS since I'm fairly sure that MISTBORN has to be ruled out (sadly). My second guess would be ALCATRAZ. Yep.

I'm so curious to know for sure, dang it!! I was telling my family last night and we were discussing which book would be most likely.

On a related note, I just bought ALCATRAZ for my fifteen-year-old cousin--been meaning to for a while. We read a few chs together and she was suitably eager to read more.