WOT Optioned by Universal

[Parker]

The Wheel of Time series has been optioned by Universal to be made into a movie. Of course, this likely won't result in an actual movie (NBC had the rights back in 2000 to make Eye of the World into a miniseries, and that never happened), but it's good publicity for EUOL, at least--it mentions his name in Variety, and that can't be bad. Check out the linkage below.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117990464.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
 

[Pygmalion]

Interesting... And this is just ignorance on my part, but I've never really understood how something gets "optioned" or a studio buys the rights, but then never makes a film. How is that a good investment?  *ponders*

[Parker]

Think of it this way. Movie studios are often just silly with money. They've got tons of it, compared with the literary world. And if they see something that they want to think about developing into a project, they want to make sure that they don't put effort into the project, only to have it snatched away from them. So they pay money up front to be able to reserve the right to adapting a work. In their terms, the money is relatively minor (tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, usually). When you think of the overall budget for the film (hundreds of millions sometimes), that's chump change. In literary terms, though, that's a lot of cash.

[CthulhuKefka]

Hmmm...interesting.....

The WoT series in a movie format? Is it even possible without horrendously butchering a large chunk of the series? Granted, I haven't really read the entire series, but I do know it is quite a large one.

[Miyabi]

Hmmm...interesting.....

The WoT series in a movie format? Is it even possible without horrendously butchering a large chunk of the series? Granted, I haven't really read the entire series, but I do know it is quite a large one.

Either way, if it happens someone's making a lot of money.

[Comfortable Madness]

I just found it interesting that a guy named Mondragon is slated to produce this thing. What are the chances?

[Reaves]

well screenwriting alone will take years lol
even if only because people can't decide what to take out.