Favorite Failed Fantasy Franchise

[AKORIS]

I enjoyed Percy Jackson- but my favorite was LEMONY SNICKETS-- I thought that was very good (and would look incredible on blu-ray-- release it Paramount!!!!)

[The Space Jockey]

Out of these choices I would pick Eragon.

[thedarkangel1975]

I actually a few of these. They are making another Percy Jackson movie. I chose Eragon but Percy and The Golden Compass are right behind it

[perdition]

The Golden Compass is a great movie. Well acted, and the script played off like I was reading a fantasy novel. I was very sad to see it not do well here.

[Al_The_Strange]

I think "The Golden Compass" gets my vote. I was pretty darn happy seeing the polar bears hitting the big screen. Lots of good acting talent there too. Above all though, seeing "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass" as movies would have been epic. It's a shame we won't be seeing them any time soon, if ever.

"Lemony Snicket" comes in second for me. Hope they Blu-Ray it at some point.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I think "The Golden Compass" gets my vote. I was pretty darn happy seeing the polar bears hitting the big screen. Lots of good acting talent there too. Above all though, seeing "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass" as movies would have been epic. It's a shame we won't be seeing them any time soon, if ever.

"Lemony Snicket" comes in second for me. Hope they Blu-Ray it at some point.

Lemony Snicket was favorite for me, but I don't think it ranks as a "failed franchise" in the sense that Percy Jackson or Eragon's boulevard of broken dreams were--
I doubt they were planning to extend the humorous repetition of all thirteen books in the series all the way up to "The Slippery Slope" or "The Ersatz Elevator" (Twilight only had six and Harry Potter "only" had seven)--But Scholastic was on a roll for movie projects at the time, there was an ancillary marketing push for Snicket, and they wanted to do a movie just so we'd get a taste to buy the books.

Golden Compass, however, ranks as "Favorite Fantasy Franchise to See Failed".
Bob Shaye's ego at losing LOTR at New Line, and wanting to "make his own from scratch", meets Philip Pullman's Godzilla-sized, Narnia-"avenging", reader-snubbing athie-narcissist ego...Only one titan will remain standing.

[Groge511]

ASOUE obviously! Been a fan of the books since I was younger and love this film. Its one of my top films that I just can't get enough of! There's just something about it. I want this to come out on bluray already!

[Gizz]

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief but I did like Eragon as well.

[Roonan]

John Carter.

[assydingo]

Originally Posted by Roonan

John Carter.

That got pretty cool by the end. Also the director was passionate about it. Bet he'd have given us great sequels if he had the chance.

[qb2333]

Stardust (2007) was surprisingly good. I could have sat through a few more installments of that. Actually I don't think this book had a sequel so never mind.

[TLeeTx2012]

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

[arcadeforest]

I liked most of the films in the list and really have no background (books, etc.) in any of them. Would like to see more.

[Cry_Wolf_743]

I Am Number Four. Loved the movie but strongly doubt that The Power of Six will be greenlit. It's a shame because there were a lot of loose ends in #4 that need sequels to tie up.

[wsills8]

Inkheart was the only one that was even good

[jeangreyforever]

Originally Posted by The Mad Kiwi

All right, so with the success of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings back in 2001, filmmakers have been trying over and over again to nab the next big fantasy-book-turned-film series. The only one that's gotten sequels is The Chronicles of Narnia (and Twilight, I guess, if you want to label that fantasy). All of the other ones have had initial installments that weren't successful enough to continue with follow-ups. Which of these films is your favorite? Note that I'm only including first films in a potential series, so one-off films like Bridge to Terabithia and The Spiderwick Chronicles that weren't designed for sequels don't count. Oh, and I realize calling A Series of Unfortunate Events a fantasy is a bit of a stretch, but it's such a heightened sense of reality that I'm including it here.

For me, it would have to be The Golden Compass. I realize it's a mess of a film, but my problems with it stem mostly from the editing, which was New Line's doing. Judging by what actually made it into the film, I love what I see; it just needs more of it to smoothen out the pacing and fill in the gaps. Sadly, Chris Weitz said his original three-hour version may never be released as it would cost about another $17 million to finish the effects, something New Line wouldn't find profitable enough in the long run. Shame.

The Golden Compass for me too. It had amazing casting, visuals, and production values. Even the script wasn't the problem since editing of the movie heavily censored it to remove anything viewed as anti-Christian. The biggest sadness is that the film was a huge hit overseas but because New Line had sold the international distribution rights, in order to pay for reshoots, there was no incentive to continue the franchise since the film was considered a controversial dud in the US. I remember in my school, the principal made a point of assembling the entire student body and telling us to boycott this film for being anti-Christian and promoting atheism. That if you fell for the fantasy imagery of majestic polar bears and supported the movie, you'd be killing God lol.

[Cruel Angel]

The Golden Compass

[Hellboy]

The Golden Compass