Which Books to Movies would be awesome?

[vega2K]

I searched but could not find other threads on this subject. This thread might die early but what the heck - I mean come on - some of you must also read besides just watch Blu-rays right? . I thought it would be interesting to see what Books people think would make or have made great movies and why. If nothing else, this is a great vehicle to get Book recommendations. I'll start with some of my favorites:

Book: Altered Carbon
Author: Richard K. Morgan
Status: Optioned for a movie but no further info.
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon
Reasons: Great SiFi premise and murder mystery. Characters came to life and the story is very unique. Takes place 600 years in the future when peoples minds/personalities can be stored and uploaded to other bodies. Think of Blade Runner but a hundred times more interesting.

Book: Pillars of the Earth
Author: Ken Follet
Status: Being made in to TV mini-series to be released in 2010
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth
Reasons: One of the best epics I have ever read. Takes place in 12th century England and the events unfold around the building of a Cathedral. Murder, Mystery, Love, Revenge, Evil, you name it, it has it.

Book: World without End
Author: Ken Follet
Status: Recent 2007 book release
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Without_End_(novel)
Reasons: Sequel to Pillars of the Earth. One of the second best epics I have ever read. Takes place in 14th century England and revolves around the descendants of the first novel . Murder, Mystery, Love, Revenge, Evil, you name it, it has it all as well.

Book: Night Fall
Author: Nelson Demille
Status: 2004 book release
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Fall
Reasons: Great Suspense/Thriller revolving around the true story of the mysterious 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 in New York. Was there a cover-up? Could it have been avoided? Great entertainment value.

Book: Aztec
Author: Gary Jennings
Status: Older book 1980 release.
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_(book)
Reasons: Transports you to the 16th century and the life style of the Aztec empire and then their downfall brought about by the Spaniards. Great characters, especially the main character - Dark Cloud. Epic, Sex, Human Sacrifice. The story is like Apocalypto but 1000 times more Epic and follows the Aztec character Dark Cloud from birth to death. Note: I have read that Ron Howard is or will be filming a movie based on the conquest of the Aztecs by the Spainish, which is the same subject matter!

In addition: I have read various books on the Inca and Mayan civilizations and would love to see any movie which deals with their peak and not their conquest. I would like to have it focus on these people's great intellect and life-style. We have seen the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans but have never seen the Mayas or the Incas and how incredibly complex these people were in Architecture, Sciences, Social/Economics, etc.

[DarkDune]

Originally Posted by vega2K

I searched but could not find other threads on this subject. This thread might die early but what the heck - I mean come on - some of you must also read besides just watch Blu-rays right? . I thought it would be interesting to see what Books people think would make or have made great movies and why. If nothing else, this is a great vehicle to get Book recommendations. I'll start with some of my favorites:

Book: Altered Carbon
Author: Richard K. Morgan
Status: Optioned for a movie but no further info.
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon
Reasons: Great SiFi premise and murder mystery. Characters came to life and the story is very unique. Takes place 600 years in the future when peoples minds/personalities can be stored and uploaded to other bodies. Think of Blade Runner but a hundred times more interesting.

Book: Pillars of the Earth
Author: Ken Follet
Status: Being made in to TV mini-series to be released in 2010
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth
Reasons: One of the best epics I have ever read. Takes place in 12th century England and the events unfold around the building of a Cathedral. Murder, Mystery, Love, Revenge, Evil, you name it, it has it.

Book: World without End
Author: Ken Follet
Status: Recent 2007 book release
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Without_End_(novel)
Reasons: Sequel to Pillars of the Earth. One of the second best epics I have ever read. Takes place in 14th century England and revolves around the descendants of the first novel . Murder, Mystery, Love, Revenge, Evil, you name it, it has it all as well.

Book: Night Fall
Author: Nelson Demille
Status: 2004 book release
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Fall
Reasons: Great Suspense/Thriller revolving around the true story of the mysterious 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 in New York. Was there a cover-up? Could it have been avoided? Great entertainment value.

Book: Aztec
Author: Gary Jennings
Status: Older book 1980 release.
Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_(book)
Reasons: Transports you to the 16th century and the life style of the Aztec empire and then their downfall brought about by the Spaniards. Great characters, especially the main character - Dark Cloud. Epic, Sex, Human Sacrifice. The story is like Apocalypto but 1000 times more Epic and follows the Aztec character Dark Cloud from birth to death. Note: I have read that Ron Howard is or will be filming a movie based on the conquest of the Aztecs by the Spainish, which is the same subject matter!

In addition: I have read various books on the Inca and Mayan civilizations and would love to see any movie which deals with their peak and not their conquest. I would like to have it focus on these people's great intellect and life-style. We have seen the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans but have never seen the Mayas or the Incas and how incredibly complex these people were in Architecture, Sciences, Social/Economics, etc.

Angels & Demons (The Book) was REALLY good, and read perfectly to become a movie! Not sure if it was "awesome" though, cause I haven't had time to go see it.

[hcmrbrhod11]

I'd love to see Elric or Fahfard & the Grey Mouser as movies. Think both would be great to see live...

[Batman1980]

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Diamond Age
Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune
Anne Rice's Pandora and Tale of the Body Thief
I'll think of some more later

[vega2K]

Originally Posted by hcmrbrhod11

I'd love to see Elric or Fahfard & the Grey Mouser as movies. Think both would be great to see live...

I checked on these. They appear to be Fantasy Hero type of books. The first looks like an fantasy/antihreo type of story, which I've always thought was cool - cool guys are not always good guys. The second looks like a Conan the Barbarian/LOTRs/Dungeons and Dragons type of story which you can't go wrong with.

[Secretagentnumber6]

I would actually really like to see the Covert One series of novels made into movies. Robert Ludlum wrote them with assistance by various other writers. They can be a little far fetched but are less technical than other Ludlum writings. I really like the Cassandra Compact. The series is ongoing despite Ludlum passing away, it would make a great series of novels and has characters that continue through the books. I am suprised no studios have looked at them yet.

And yes Hades Factor was a made for TV movie out of this series, but it needs to be done better.

[madmojo]

I'd like to see Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles turned into live-action films. Disney's the Black Cauldron while a good animated film, just didn't do the series justice.

The one I most want to see is Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman, but at the same time I know I'd be sorely disappointed. In my opinion it's unfilmable.

[Psychonaut]

Fist one I thought of was The Death Gate series by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman. Mostly because I'm rereading the series atm. They rarely tend to do these movies right anyway so maybe they're best left undisturbed.

[vega2K]

Originally Posted by Wolverine1980

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Diamond Age
Frank Herbert's God Emperor of Dune
Anne Rice's Pandora and Tale of the Body ThiefI'll think of some more later

Interesting from Wikipedia: The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1995) deals with a future with extensive nanotechnology and dynabooks. The SciFi Channel and George Clooney have discussed producing a miniseries adaptation of The Diamond Age, to be penned by Stephenson, however this seems to be in development hell.

FYI:
Anne Rice (Author of Interview with the Vampire)
- Pandora (1998) is a horror novel and a vampire in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Her story is told in the book Pandora, one of two novels in the New Tales of the Vampires series.

- The Tale of the Body Thief is the fourth novel in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series, following The Queen of the Damned. Published in 1992, it continues the adventures of Lestat, specifically his efforts to regain his lost humanity.

[Steve46]

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Hyperion - Dan Simmons

[vega2K]

Originally Posted by DarkDune

Angels & Demons (The Book) was REALLY good, and read perfectly to become a movie! Not sure if it was "awesome" though, cause I haven't had time to go see it.

I have not seen A&D yet either. I did see DaVinci Code and was very disappointed. I thought it followed the story too closely such that a lot was lost when they compressed the story into 2 hours. I remember reading the book - when Robert and Sophie are trying to break into the bank box and thinking, this is the most suspense I have read anywhere. But in the movie it was just plain boring.

I have read most of Dan Brown's books and thought A&D was the best, followed by Davinci Code and then Deception Point. I don't want to be let down so I am hesitantly waiting for A&D on Blu-ray.

IMO the 2 hour limit in movies is what works against books to movies (not to mention trailers which give away most of the movies). I am looking forward to the Pillars of the Earth mini-series adaptation which will be an 8 hour saga. Although TV has a lower budget than film ($40M in this case), I want to see how the longer time affects the story.

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Psychonaut

Fist one I thought of was The Death Gate series by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman. Mostly because I'm rereading the series atm. They rarely tend to do these movies right anyway so maybe they're best left undisturbed.

YES!!! Anything by Weis & Hickman would be Awesome... would LOVE to see something more than that crappy straight to video animated movie of Dragons of Autumn Twilight... The Legends Trilogy would ROCK

Raistlin Majere is the MAN... FTW

[vega2K]

Originally Posted by Steve46

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Hyperion - Dan Simmons

I'm always on the look out for new books to read so can you briefly mention what these are about - this way others who read this thread may look into reading these books as well.

[mikejet]

Ender's Game.

I heard that the movement on this project is pretty much over and there's not much hope anymore of it being made.

[mjbethancourt]

I think a lot of the Wilbur Smith books would be good choices to be made into movies... any excuse to include landscape/wildlife footage of Africa, plus they're good reading.
My best suggestion is one I intend on "sitting" on unless I'm paid to divulge it. I'd like to buy the rights to it first, then I'd blab it all over the over the place, shopping it around. Yes, it really is that good, and I can't believe it hasn't been made into a movie yet. Whoever finally does it has a chance to make maybe the greatest blockbuster(s) ever.

[vega2K]

For those of you interested in Pillars of the Earth TV Miniseries set for 2010, here is the link which will have the updates. Give it a little time to load and then you will see some really cool set construction pics. It's awesome when you read a book and then see how your visualization compares to realized sets/characters, etc.

http://www.the-pillars-of-the-earth.tv/

[vega2K]

Originally Posted by mjbethancourt

I think a lot of the Wilbur Smith books would be good choices to be made into movies... any excuse to include landscape/wildlife footage of Africa, plus they're good reading.
My best suggestion is one I intend on "sitting" on unless I'm paid to divulge it. I'd like to buy the rights to it first, then I'd blab it all over the over the place, shopping it around. Yes, it really is that good, and I can't believe it hasn't been made into a movie yet. Whoever finally does it has a chance to make maybe the greatest blockbuster(s) ever.

Come on give us a hint!

[Batman1980]

That's unfortunate regarding Diamond Age, possibly my favourite novel of all-time, it deserves some kind of screen adaptation.

[surfdude12]

The Stand, Stephen King's best novel, hands down.

they made a TV-miniseries, but someone needs to do a 3 part movie or something.

[jono_0101]

since it was a book and a ton of video games, im surprised there was never a rainbow six movie, that could have been pretty cool i think