With the Kingkiller news, is anyone else angry they haven't made a Sanderson movie?

[Llarimar]

So I just found out HERE that Lionsgate has hired Sam Raimi, the guy who directed Spider-Man, to direct a film adaptation of Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles, with Lin-Manuel Miranda (the guy who made Hamilton) producing.  

I have read both of the Kingkiller Chronicle books, and I plan to purchase and read the third book when it comes out, but I really don't like them, and I don't think they deserve the critical praise and the fan following they have built up.  Why have they landed movie rights, while Sanderson's books still haven't been developed?  I think all of Sanderson's books are more original, more engaging and have better pacing and character development than the Kingkiller books. The only thing Rothfuss does better is that his writing tends to be more beautiful than Sanderson's, but that is the only thing that doesn't translate onto the big screen. A lot of studious have been trying to cash in on the excitement over fantasy that was inspired by the Lord of the Rings and later by Game of Thrones, but none have have developed anything nearly as good. If they actually spend the time and money to develop any one of Sanderson's books into a movie or a television series, they could really have something incredible on their hands.

I feel like the reason a Sanderson movie has not been made is mainly because his books have such complicated worldbuilding and magic systems - and you can't do it halfway, you have to develop a movie that fully represents the creative genius and the overarching plots that are present in Sanderson's books.  That's very intimidating for movie studios, especially because Sanderson's books are popular, but they don't have the global fan base of something like Harry Potter - there's a good chance that a Stormlight movie could fail to make its money back if the marketing is bad or the critical reviews are poor.  

They have found someone to write a movie adaptation for Mistborn (see here), but I have little hope in the quality of the film and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't get made. Just the fact that the guy writing the Mistborn movie is primarily known for a brief string of stupid action movies (like Xander Cage), while the Kingkiller Chronicle movies are being directed by Sam Raimi and produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda (MUCH bigger names) tells you a little about which books people are paying more attention to.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Llarimar

[Oversleep]

Actually, rights for adapting whole Cosmere into films have been bought out and Brandon have been talking about it, see for yourself.

Not gonna touch on the topic of Kingkiller, as you clearly are biased on that.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Oversleep

[Llarimar]

58 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

Actually, rights for adapting whole Cosmere into films have been bought out and Brandon have been talking about it, see for yourself.

I did know that the Cosmere rights have been purchased - I just am surprised that it has taken this long since Brandon has been publishing Cosmere books prolifically for over ten years now (and it will still probably be awhile before the first Cosmere movie, two years or more at least I'm guessing).  It's also very lucrative from the perspective of a studio, since the Cosmere is already a well-developed universe that could produce movies for years if they're successful.  Lots of studios have tried to develop a "cinematic universe" after Marvel did so well with it, like DC or Universal's Dark Universe, but none of them are doing nearly as well.  If a studio tapped into the Cosmere, however, they would probably be much more successful, since there's already a developed work of literature and it wouldn't seem like they're just trying to copy Marvel and make more money.  

58 minutes ago, Oversleep said:

Not gonna touch on the topic of Kingkiller, as you clearly are biased on that.

And yes, I am rather biased on Kingkiller, but I don't hate them - it's just that they've developed such a huge fan base, and I don't think they deserve it as much as other books do.  I will definitely go to see the Kingkiller movie when it comes out and I might even enjoy it - I just hope that the same level of quality is given to the Cosmere movies when they start being made, and that they also attract big-name producers and directors (as of now, the names and the studios that I've seen circulating the Cosmere are just not as impressive as Lionsgate or Lin-Manuel Miranda).  

Edited January 30, 2018 by Llarimar

[Calderis]

Call me jaded, but as I've said before, I have little hope for a studio to do Brandon's work well. 

I dread what will happen to the Cosmere in the hands of people more interested in mass marketability and profit over story. 

Storylines will be cut. Storylines will be added. Mechanics will be altered for more obvious visual effects. 

I'd prefer it stays on the page, rather than have it done poorly. 

[Angsos]

My guess is you'll see a side project movie before Cosmere if for no other reason than the Cosmere's so unfinished. You have only 3 of 10 stormlights done and however many books after that. I don't want to have a situation like Game of Thrones where the TV series overtook and will finish the book series. Do Reckoners, Rithmatist, Alcatraz would make a fantastic something, Perfect State, Snapshot or something, also less of a chance to mangle a more or less straightforward book.

[CaptainRyan]

17 hours ago, Llarimar said:

 Why have they landed movie rights, while Sanderson's books still haven't been developed?

I think you answered your own question here:

17 hours ago, Llarimar said:

I feel like the reason a Sanderson movie has not been made is mainly because his books have such complicated worldbuilding and magic systems - and you can't do it halfway

 

Also, though I understand it is subjective and open to interpretation, I think Patrick Rothfuss is, hands down, one of the most talented writers I have ever read. His story is beautiful and captivating from start to finish. I am in awe of his skill as a writer.

Certainly, Brandon has his strengths too (as you mentioned) but there is, to me, something so uniquely special about the Kingkiller Chronicles that makes it a series, even unfinished, that I know I will treasure and reread for the rest of my life. 

[Ammanas]

I think highly of Rothfuss as a writer, but there are several authors that are just as good, if not better, that actually care about their fans, deliver occasional updates, and deliver books in a timely manner. I hope that both adaptions work out, but if not there are always the books to enjoy.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Ammanas

[MistbornAlpaca]

4 hours ago, Ammanas said:

I think highly of Rothfuss as a writer, but there are several authors that are just as good, if not better, that actually care about their fans, deliver occasional updates, and deliver books in a timely manner. I hope that both adaptions work out, but if not there are always the books to enjoy.

 

9 hours ago, Calderis said:

Call me jaded, but as I've said before, I have little hope for a studio to do Brandon's work well. 

I dread what will happen to the Cosmere in the hands of people more interested in mass marketability and profit over story. 

Storylines will be cut. Storylines will be added. Mechanics will be altered for more obvious visual effects. 

I'd prefer it stays on the page, rather than have it done poorly. 

Agreed and agreed. If a studio could do it well, I'd be soo storming excited!! But it's a big undertaking and requires a lot of work. Kingkiller is a lot more grounded in reality (comparatively) than the Cosmere, and is a little bit more concise of a story. Unless it's done well, I'm with Calderis, I'd rather it stay on the page.

Edited January 31, 2018 by MasterJack

[Toaster Retribution]

The Reckoners should have been adapted long ago. The YA-craze and the superhero-craze really should have added up to a movie being made. Those books would be relatively easy to adapt as well.

The Cosmere is different. I'm with the OP on Kingkiller being overrated, but I look forward to the movie. I would like someone to do a Cosmere movie as well though.

[StormingTexan]

I am extremely skeptical of how successful the Cosmere books will be on the big screen. One of Sanderson's biggest proficiencies in my opinion is the magic system and the action scenes where they are used. I have a hard time seeing how this will be translated on screen in a way that does not turn out looking silly.  If you look at the fantasy books that have been successful on screen like tLoR and GoT these rely on characters more than anything in my opinion and while Brandon has some great characters I do not think his books are as character driven. 

I like Kingkiller a lot. Especially the first book. I can see this adapted to the screen as it is also very character driven. Although I do agree the best part about the books is the prose which I doubt will translate at all. I will say Rothfuss is a frustrating author to be a fan of. 

Also agree with @Toaster Retribution Reckoners would be a great adaptation. 

[MistbornAlpaca]

4 hours ago, Toaster Retribution said:

The Reckoners should have been adapted long ago. The YA-craze and the superhero-craze really should have added up to a movie being made. Those books would be relatively easy to adapt as well.

1

Yep, that should have happened long ago  But hopefully it will happen, and I'm looking forward to the day when it does 

[Cognitive Shadow]

On 1/30/2018 at 7:07 AM, Calderis said:

Call me jaded, but as I've said before, I have little hope for a studio to do Brandon's work well. 

I dread what will happen to the Cosmere in the hands of people more interested in mass marketability and profit over story. 

Storylines will be cut. Storylines will be added. Mechanics will be altered for more obvious visual effects. 

I'd prefer it stays on the page, rather than have it done poorly. 

I 100% agree with you

[Storms!]

On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 9:53 AM, StormingTexan said:

I have a hard time seeing how this will be translated on screen in a way that does not turn out looking silly

You mean like that Wheel of Time pilot?

[Andy92]

Kingkiller seems a lot easier to make. Don't need as much CGI for most things. It'd be impossible to do Stormlight without a fair amount of CGI: The lashings, the chasmfiends, the Parshendi (good look getting a budget to do entire Parshendi armies with costumes and makeup). 

The original Mistborn trilogy is the most ready-made movie as far as Cosmere goes imo. Good plot, hero and a heroine, talking dog. But you still have a lot of CGI involved with flying through the air pushing on coins, the inquisitors with their spikes, etc.

Kingkiller seems like a more manageable setting to film. It has some of that Harry Potter flair with kids studying "magic" at a university. Many of those scenes can be shot pretty straightforwardly whereas Cosmere worlds are just so massive in comparison. 

[A Secret Corner]

17 hours ago, Andy92 said:

Kingkiller seems a lot easier to make. Don't need as much CGI for most things. It'd be impossible to do Stormlight without a fair amount of CGI: The lashings, the chasmfiends, the Parshendi (good look getting a budget to do entire Parshendi armies with costumes and makeup). 

The original Mistborn trilogy is the most ready-made movie as far as Cosmere goes imo. Good plot, hero and a heroine, talking dog. But you still have a lot of CGI involved with flying through the air pushing on coins, the inquisitors with their spikes, etc.

Kingkiller seems like a more manageable setting to film. It has some of that Harry Potter flair with kids studying "magic" at a university. Many of those scenes can be shot pretty straightforwardly whereas Cosmere worlds are just so massive in comparison. 

All very good points, but I think the OP might just be annoyed at the Kingkiller Chronicles. I do like the wiring of Kingkiller very much, but there are some things that do irk me about it, though I guess that applies to a few things from Brandon as well (though rarely). But with Kingkiller as an adaptation, I agree with you...           Except if I have to hear a silence of the parts four times for every book produced, in whatever next decade that will be.

Edited February 4, 2018 by Secrets

[Andy92]

3 hours ago, Secrets said:

All very good points, but I think the OP might just be annoyed at the Kingkiller Chronicles.

Yeah I think that's mostly their frustration. But on the question of "why does this series get a film but not this one?" I simply believe Kingkiller is easier to film. The single episode budget for a Game of Thrones episode is insane. Assuming Stormlight would require a similar budget to be done well, that takes a lot of up front cost for a production studio, which involves a ton of risk (because if the movie flops, that puts the studio really far into the red). 

[A Secret Corner]

2 hours ago, Andy92 said:

Yeah I think that's mostly their frustration. But on the question of "why does this series get a film but not this one?" I simply believe Kingkiller is easier to film. The single episode budget for a Game of Thrones episode is insane. Assuming Stormlight would require a similar budget to be done well, that takes a lot of up front cost for a production studio, which involves a ton of risk (because if the movie flops, that puts the studio really far into the red). 

Agreed, and I guess this is why in my own mind as I've been thinking about this, I don't think Stormlight would be really good as an adaptation, or at least as one of the first.

[Andy92]

14 minutes ago, Secrets said:

Agreed, and I guess this is why in my own mind as I've been thinking about this, I don't think Stormlight would be really good as an adaptation, or at least as one of the first.

The original Mistborn trilogy makes a lot more sense to me because you have a completely finished story already. It could be done as one movie of just The Final Empire or a trilogy if the first is successful, the main characters have a protagonist heroine and hero (with Vin and Kelsier) in the first movie, and you have a solid romance in there as well. The film woild need some CGI in places, but not nearly as much as Stormlight would since Scadrial is very Earth-like. 

You can also condense Mistborn's plot enough to make films out of theme. Stormlight is begging for a Netflix/HBO type of series with multiple episodes and seasons because there simply is too much source material for standalone films. 

[Zantis]

On 2/4/2018 at 1:40 PM, Andy92 said:

You can also condense Mistborn's plot enough to make films out of theme. Stormlight is begging for a Netflix/HBO type of series with multiple episodes and seasons because there simply is too much source material for standalone films. 

This. Personally, I dont think the book to movie path is valid anymore outside of short action/thriller/horror novels. A tv series is a much better medium for adapting a novel onto a screen. Particularly because with netflix, episodes don't have to be a uniform length. So there's no need to pad for time or cut things out if the plot structure doesn't want to precisely conform to 1 hour chunks.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Zantis

[abh]

On 1/29/2018 at 7:51 PM, Llarimar said:

I have read both of the Kingkiller Chronicle books, and I plan to purchase and read the third book when it comes out, but I really don't like them, and I don't think they deserve the critical praise and the fan following they have built up.  Why have they landed movie rights, while Sanderson's books still haven't been developed?  I think all of Sanderson's books are more original, more engaging and have better pacing and character development than the Kingkiller books. The only thing Rothfuss does better is that his writing tends to be more beautiful than Sanderson's, but that is the only thing that doesn't translate onto the big screen. A lot of studious have been trying to cash in on the excitement over fantasy that was inspired by the Lord of the Rings and later by Game of Thrones, but none have have developed anything nearly as good. If they actually spend the time and money to develop any one of Sanderson's books into a movie or a television series, they could really have something incredible on their hands.

The first kingkiller book was all right. Took forever to get going, but it paid off. The second was downright awful. I have no idea why people liked it. There was a huge boring chunk of the book spent with those samurai rip off people (yay for originality) and then another chunk spent naked with in that faerie land which was even more boring. To quote a friend of mine, the most prominent plotline in those books is how much money Kvothe has at any given moment. He may be a smooth writer, but the it really can't make up for the lack of content and imagination. On top of that, he clearly could care less about his fans. Sanderson is actually a beautiful writer at times, maybe not as consistently though. People who drool over those books and overlook Sanderson re generally too dumb to appreciate complexity, depth, and nuance. However, a really empty story is far more adaptable to the big screen. You can easily put The Name of the Wind into one two hour movie, while a book like the way of kings would probably need three movies (!) to be done without skipping anything important.

An interesting idea I heard would be to make each book into 2-3 movies, and then have a series with each episode covering one story from the interludes. Not likely to happen anytime soon, but fun to think about.

[Xtafa]

Stormlight would need a large large budget to pull off properly. 

The other issue would be holding the audience unless they actively wanted to see the movie. Sequels would be fine but that very very first movie opening up and developing the world would be hard. 

[+Wax]

The thing with king killer is the lack of FX costs as well.  You can make a movie far more cheaply for them.  Other than the faerie and the talking tree - very little fx required.  Just a incomplete mystery like a series of unfortunate events (TBF that series actually ended decently).

[Sunbird]

Short answer: no, I'm not angry about this.

Long answer:

Author/book success is not a zero-sum game. Success for Rothfuss and KKC doesn't hurt Brandon and us Sanderfans, so if KKC gets a good and successful movie adaptation, I will be happy for Rothfuss and the fans and not give the matter much more thought. (Related: I have not read anything by Rothfuss and have no immediate plans to do so. Just not really my cup of tea.)

As has already been mentioned, there are Cosmere movies in the works. I'm happy to wait for screen adaptations of Brandon's books if it means they can/will be higher quality and truer to the source material than if they were rushed into production. I'm pretty optimistic about the studio that's acquired the Cosmere movie rights, since Brandon apparently approves of them and says they are fans of the books who want to do a good job. I actually would even go so far as to say I'd rather have a lesser-known studio/director/etc in charge of the films than a set of big names like Sam Raimi and Lin-Manuel Miranda, because I think the big names might be more susceptible to outside pressure to deviate unforgivably from the source material with the goal of pandering to a wider audience.

[Barbarian AL]

On 30/01/2018 at 5:07 PM, Calderis said:

Call me jaded, but as I've said before, I have little hope for a studio to do Brandon's work well. 

I dread what will happen to the Cosmere in the hands of people more interested in mass marketability and profit over story. 

Storylines will be cut. Storylines will be added. Mechanics will be altered for more obvious visual effects. 

I'd prefer it stays on the page, rather than have it done poorly. 

Definitely ditto 

[Apollyon]

On 1/30/2018 at 7:07 AM, Calderis said:

Call me jaded, but as I've said before, I have little hope for a studio to do Brandon's work well. 

I dread what will happen to the Cosmere in the hands of people more interested in mass marketability and profit over story. 

Storylines will be cut. Storylines will be added. Mechanics will be altered for more obvious visual effects. 

I'd prefer it stays on the page, rather than have it done poorly. 

Agreed. If any of this happens, with the company seeking profit over quality translation from book to screen, we’ll have a massive influx of new users on the Shard, thinking they know Cosmere and how the magic works. It’d be worse than having to correct ‘Reckoner’s is Cosmere’ assumptions. The Shard would be trashed.

Edited June 7, 2018 by Apollyon