21 January 2009

finally a Foundation movie?

Variety reported Friday Jan 16 that "Columbia won an auction late Thursday for screen rights to 'Foundation,' Isaac Asimov's ground-breaking sci-fi trilogy. The project will be developed as a directing vehicle for Roland Emmerich.

Emmerich and his Centropolis partner Michael Wimer will produce the film. The deal was for mid-six against low-seven figures."

Apparently it has been rather a rocky road getting Foundation to the screen...
Read more about it. I've got my fingers crossed that this time it happens.

How about you? What classic SF or fantasy novels would you like to see on the big screen?

5 comments:

Todd Bradley said...

I groaned when I read that bit of news. If there's any book (or set of books) that is less adaptable to a Hollywood three act film, I've never read it. There's no way Columbia will fund its completion unless it's "Foundation" in nothing more than name. My psycho-historic prediction: it'll be farther off the book than even "I, Robot."

Here's a classic SF novel that I think could be adapted for the big screen: "Ringworld"

lesleylsmith said...

Ooh. Yes. Ringworld would be good.
Hhm...now that I think about the movie "I, Robot", I think you're right, Todd. They'll probably just use the title and do whatever they want. :(

ssas said...

The Americans always do that. I'd much rather see the Brits handle films from books. I don't care if the film is four hours long--it'll all be in there!!

lesleylsmith said...

The Lord of the Rings movies were good, but Peter Jackson is a New Zealander, not British. The Harry Potter movies were good (but could have been better); they had British casts but a variety of directors including Christopher Columbus (American), so I wouldn't call them British films.
What British films are you thinking of Bets?

ssas said...

You mean you want a list? :)

I wasn't thinking of those films. I actually was thinking more along the lines of English mysteries. A lot of them appear on tv, on PBS, and they're nearly word for word.

Production companies outside the US tend to have better respect for the books in adaptations, though Walt Disney and Walden did a fine job with the Narnia films. I admit I was shocked. :) Disney is not my favorite production company.