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Brandon Sanderson novels optioned for cinema for insano-money


Werthead

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Chinese production company DMG has picked up the rights to all of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere universe books - past and present - for colossal sums of money.

The company has earmarked $270 million as 50% of the production budget for three films. They will be looking for international partners to pick up the rest of the budget, which given who they've worked with in the past (they've co-produced everything from Iron Man 3 to Looper) probably won't be hard.

The first two movies will be The Way of Kings and Mistborn: The Final Empire. Exactly how they're going to boil those books (especially Way of Kings) down into a single movie remains to be seen. They've already appointed writer-producers to Way of Kings and are prioritising the project on a fast-track to the screen.

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46 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Big news.  I definitely would not have started with Way of Kings, but it's their money.

Not sure if this particular production company specializes in this type of film, but I could kind of see that working as an epic, over-the-top Chinese style action flick.  

 

/Agree with Werthead that it would be near impossible to do in one film though.

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23 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Not sure if this particular production company specializes in this type of film, but I could kind of see that working as an epic, over-the-top Chinese style action flick.  

 

/Agree with Werthead that it would be near impossible to do in one film though.

Would it?  Isn't one of the biggest complaints about WoK that it is too repetitive?

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2 minutes ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

I suppose it could be pared down, but it still seems like it might be a bit much for one film. Seems like you'd have to lose a POV at the very least.

I would initially say you could lose Shallan easily... but that does leave it very male centric.

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Focus on Kaladin and the Shattered Plains and that'll be about it. All of the one-scene interstitials have to go and probably everything not focused on the plains. It'll be, er, different.

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I expect it would just focus on Kaladin and the Shattered Plains, but the premise and world building are odd.  The light eyes vs dark eyes will have serious colonial echoes if used, and the premise of a blowhard nobility chasing pointless wars for entertainment, status and enrichment may be a cutting metaphor but it's such nonsensical worldbuilding, even worse than The Hunger Games and the Maze Runner.  Creating implausible buffoonery just to give your reformer character something blindingly obvious to do is a pretty thin plot. 

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2 hours ago, Werthead said:

Focus on Kaladin and the Shattered Plains and that'll be about it. All of the one-scene interstitials have to go and probably everything not focused on the plains. It'll be, er, different.

 

4 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I expect it would just focus on Kaladin and the Shattered Plains, but the premise and world building are odd.  The light eyes vs dark eyes will have serious colonial echoes if used, and the premise of a blowhard nobility chasing pointless wars for entertainment, status and enrichment may be a cutting metaphor but it's such nonsensical worldbuilding, even worse than The Hunger Games and the Maze Runner.  Creating implausible buffoonery just to give your reformer character something blindingly obvious to do is a pretty thin plot. 

Agreed.  I have to admit the first time I read it I found Kaladin's thread very compelling, but I struggled with much of the rest... I skipped large sections of Kaladin's flashbacks and Shallan's story because, well, I felt there was way too much world-building and setup for future stuff and just wanted to get back to Kaladin's present story.  On the second, complete, readthrough I found everything to be much more rich.  I really enjoyed Shallan later in WoR.  

Anyway, I think the quoted could work well as a first film, if done properly.  Key word being "IF".  Curious to see how it plays out.  That's a huge sum of money to not follow through on.  

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I have really enjoyed the two Stormlight Archives novels out so far, but I think they'd be absolutely terrible ideas for a major motion picture, requiring major trimming. I could hardly get through the first Mistborn trilogy, but I think it could make for a fun trippy movie or three. I just ripped through Alloy of Law and enjoyed it exponentially more than Hero of Ages, but perhaps it would be a weirder film to make - flying magical cowboys was bunches of fun to read about, but tougher to create on-screen, I'd think. Then again, if it had a good budget, a tight script, and likable actors for the three main characters, it could be a great time.

I just don't think the original Mistborn is a good idea, either. All these dystopian teen angst movies are tired at this point, and a movie spending half its time explaining all this odd metal-burning, and half its time focusing on a lonely 16 year old girl pining for a dreamy, awkward nobleman? Do they really think that would be a hit? Seems better off as a corny, low-budget CW show.

Regardless, I think Brandon seems like a terrific guy, and I generally like his efforts, so I think it's great news for him.

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A bit misleading there, Wert. I don't see anywhere that they've paid "colossal sums" or "insano-money" for the rights. They've committed $270m towards the budget for three movies. I see nothing about what they paid for the rights.

 

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23 minutes ago, AndrewJ said:

A bit misleading there, Wert. I don't see anywhere that they've paid "colossal sums" or "insano-money" for the rights. They've committed $270m towards the budget for three movies. I see nothing about what they paid for the rights.

 True, but I have to imagine Mr. Sanderson is well represented. Probably polishing a few new pennies right about now.  

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7 hours ago, Werthead said:

Focus on Kaladin and the Shattered Plains and that'll be about it. All of the one-scene interstitials have to go and probably everything not focused on the plains. It'll be, er, different.

I'd make Shallan a secondary character in the first film who is only in a handful of scenes, and then make her a main character in the second film.  Given how heavy the first book is on bridge runs, you really could cut a lot out and still get the point across, especially if it's a three hour film.

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It's about time someone grabbed up Sanderson's stuff. Super excited for Stormlight Archives, loved the first two. I'm a little worried that this might be to soon for them though. The third should be out next year, but there are supposed to be 10 books. Sanderson finishes books in like an hour, but he also works on multiple projects. I hope there aren't any GoT issues and they end up to fast for the books.

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On 28/10/2016 at 6:43 AM, AndrewJ said:

A bit misleading there, Wert. I don't see anywhere that they've paid "colossal sums" or "insano-money" for the rights. They've committed $270m towards the budget for three movies. I see nothing about what they paid for the rights.

The Variety article says he'll make millions out of the deal, but without further details.

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11 hours ago, -Ghost- said:

It's about time someone grabbed up Sanderson's stuff. Super excited for Stormlight Archives, loved the first two. I'm a little worried that this might be to soon for them though. The third should be out next year, but there are supposed to be 10 books. Sanderson finishes books in like an hour, but he also works on multiple projects. I hope there aren't any GoT issues and they end up to fast for the books.

They optioned the entire Cosmere, so if he's not pumping out SA books fast enough (he's not...) they can always turn to the flying cowboys or talking rainbow swords.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I would love this, but I'm not seeing the blockbuster potential here, at least in the states. The books are popular, but nowhere near what other successful blockbuster franchises are. I guess I just don't see the mass appeal necessary to get this legs in the U.S.

 

Also, do we know if they would be planning to make this as a U.S. film or a Chinese film? I'm sure it could work either way, but not sure I've ever seen a Chinese film marketed in the U.S., outside of maybe Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

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  • 2 months later...
On 18/11/2016 at 4:01 PM, sperry said:

I would love this, but I'm not seeing the blockbuster potential here, at least in the states. The books are popular, but nowhere near what other successful blockbuster franchises are. I guess I just don't see the mass appeal necessary to get this legs in the U.S.

 


So? Plenty of blockbusters aren't based on anything and therefore have no inbuilt fanbase at all. I dunno about the rest of it, but in the right hands Mistborn could be a perfect Star Wars style movie trilogy.

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3 hours ago, Werthead said:

The Mistborn movie now has a writer, whilst the first draft of the first Stormlight movie is apparently complete.

Wow that happened fast on the Stormlight screenplay... although I guess it is just a first draft.  Still curious to see how they condense it down for the screen (assuming it ever sees the screen)

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