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Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't
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One of my favorite books of all time, Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
Post-apocalyptic story about a comet hitting earth, what lead up to the hit and rebuilding life after the hit. I think I read once that it was in the running to be turned into a movie but they made Deep Impact instead.

The story is now dated, but if you replace the Apollo references with Space Shuttle it could still be done.

A second was a book called The Raft, a true story from WWII about 3 Navy guys who had to ditch in the Pacific and survived 34 days on a little 4x8 life raft. Just found out though that it was made into a movie "Against the Sun" a couple of years ago. Watched it free on Amazon Prime the other night; pretty decent movie and stayed pretty true to the book.

Others??

I miss YaHey
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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Confessions of a master jewel thief by bill mason.

It's a true story. Guy was a bored suburban dude who became a cat burglar on a whim and over many years, stole a lot from the rich and famous.

Years ago I heard someone bought the rights but I haven't heard anymore about it. would make a great movie.

who's smarter than you're? i'm!
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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For many years, there was talk of Kurt Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan getting a film adaptation

Jerry Garcia owned the rights to it at one time [The Grateful Dead's publishing company is called "Ice Nine" from Cat's Cradle], and may have gotten as far as getting a screenplay done, but when he passed away in 1996, the project drifted into limbo

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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If you've ever seen "Eddie Would Go" bumper stickers, this is the story behind them. I thought I'd read that someone had picked up the rights soon after the book was published, but it's been years now and still no sign of a movie.

And I've been hoping for a "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator" movie since I was a little kid.

"The Boys in the Boat" is apparently in development now so hopefully that'll see the light of day.
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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We are big fans of the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne. I would love to see those made into movies.

My kids can tell you about books that were made in to movies but shouldn't have because the movies were a far cry from the books. Eragon and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief are two of them.

I was listening to the audio book for Ender's Game. At the end, the author spoke for about 45 minutes. He spent some of that talking about how many of the movie studios wanted to rewrite the book to appeal to the "date audience" by making the character 16 years old with a love interest.
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [rick_pcfl] [ In reply to ]
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rick_pcfl wrote:
My kids can tell you about books that were made in to movies but shouldn't have because the movies were a far cry from the books. Eragon and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief are two of them.

D'Kid is the same way; she plowed through all the Percy Jackson books, and Riordan's other series as well

Harry Potter, I've read up to Goblet of Fire, and there is so much that could have been put in and stuff that could have been left out of every book

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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Water Music.

Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [WelshinPhilly] [ In reply to ]
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WelshinPhilly wrote:
If you've ever seen "Eddie Would Go" bumper stickers, this is the story behind them. I thought I'd read that someone had picked up the rights soon after the book was published, but it's been years now and still no sign of a movie.

After seeing Chasing Mavericks, i don't think any surfer's bio pic could be done properly, other than as a documentary

WelshinPhilly wrote:
"The Boys in the Boat" is apparently in development now so hopefully that'll see the light of day.

I happened to think of that too, but I don't know why?

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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I've long wanted to see Confederacy of Dunces turned into a movie. I think there have been several unsuccessful attempts, and apparently, there's been a play with Nick Offerman as Ignatius.
Last edited by: AlanShearer: Apr 17, 17 11:25
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [RandMart] [ In reply to ]
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RandMart wrote:
rick_pcfl wrote:
My kids can tell you about books that were made in to movies but shouldn't have because the movies were a far cry from the books. Eragon and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief are two of them.


D'Kid is the same way; she plowed through all the Percy Jackson books, and Riordan's other series as well

Harry Potter, I've read up to Goblet of Fire, and there is so much that could have been put in and stuff that could have been left out of every book

Our dog is named Nico DeAngelo after one of the characters in those books. We often listen to the audio book versions when we're on road trips - they are entertaining.
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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I followed the story of the Selendang Ayu as it was happening, and I've always thought it would make a great movie.
https://officerofthewatch.com/...yu-grounding/[/font]

I haven't read the book, called "On the Edge of Survival": https://www.amazon.com/...laskan/dp/0312604599

Can you imagine being on the deck of the ship with a Jayhawk hovering overhead, only to watch a big wave take out the chopper and knock it into the sea? Could you imagine being on the deck waiting for a chopper when the ship broke in two?

Utmost respect to USCG rescue swimmers. Hats off to those men!

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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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The screen version of "All the Pretty Horses" was awful, but I'd like to see a film version of the other Border Trilogy novels - "The Crossing" and "Cities of the Plain".

Or Mark Helprin's "A Solider of the Great War".

Freedom just around the corner for you. But with the truth so far off, what good will it do?
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [AlanShearer] [ In reply to ]
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AlanShearer wrote:
I've long wanted to see Confederacy of Dunces turned into a movie. I think there have been several unsuccessful attempts, and apparently, there's been a play with Nick Offerman as Ignatius.

I've always imagined a young Phillip Seymour Hoffman in that role.

The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [sphere] [ In reply to ]
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sphere wrote:
AlanShearer wrote:
I've long wanted to see Confederacy of Dunces turned into a movie. I think there have been several unsuccessful attempts, and apparently, there's been a play with Nick Offerman as Ignatius.


I've always imagined a young Phillip Seymour Hoffman in that role.

He would have fit the role. He has done comedy (Big Lebowski). But the role isn't necessarily a comedy role. It's a bit tragic, notwithstanding the somewhat "happy" ending. I'd hate to see it done as something slapstick.
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [AlanShearer] [ In reply to ]
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Hoffman had crazy range, and could have pulled that off easily. I just read that a few notable overweight comedians had been cast for the role (Belushi, Candy, Farley) but died suddenly.

Maybe he was cast for the roll after all?

I just finished a Serial podcast spin-off called S-Town, and the main character had striking similarities to Reilly. Hadn't thought about the book in years until I came across it.

The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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The Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn, although I understand American Assassin may be in the process right now.

_________________________________
I'll be what I am
A solitary man
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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Years ago I wanted the Dark Tower series to be made into a TV show by HBO.

Now they are doing a movie version which I'm afraid/pretty sure will be garbage.
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [bq2001] [ In reply to ]
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I was disappointed when the Tom Clancy movie series faded, and then was poorly rebooted with The Sum of All Fears.

The Debt of Honor/Executive Orders storyline would have made a good 2-3 movie series.
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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It's unusual for movies made from good novels to also be good. I don't wish that on any book.

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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I would love to see a film version of Seveneves by Neal Stephenson and I guess I will be getting my wish.

Skydance has set the Apollo 13 team of writer Bill Broyles, director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer for an adaptation of bestselling author Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi novel Seveneves. Grazer and Howard’s Imagine Entertainment is producing the ambitious adaptation.

I'm curious how they are going to pull it off. The book is very long divided into two distinct parts. It would probably work best as two movies.
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [slowguy] [ In reply to ]
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slowguy wrote:
It's unusual for movies made from good novels to also be good. I don't wish that on any book.

What about good movies from crappy books? I'm sure it's happened.
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [Trieatalot] [ In reply to ]
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Trieatalot wrote:
I would love to see a film version of Seveneves by Neal Stephenson and I guess I will be getting my wish.

Skydance has set the Apollo 13 team of writer Bill Broyles, director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer for an adaptation of bestselling author Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi novel Seveneves. Grazer and Howard’s Imagine Entertainment is producing the ambitious adaptation.

I'm curious how they are going to pull it off. The book is very long divided into two distinct parts. It would probably work best as two movies.

Seveneves had three parts, but I can see why you might want to leave off the third.

Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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One of my recent favorite books is the circle by Dave Eggers.

Recently saw a trailer for the movie. Stars tom hanks and Emma Watson. Hopefully it doesn't suck.
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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The 4-Hour Workweek


If this book was ever made into a movie, nothing would ever get done (and that includes making the movie).
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Re: Books that should have been made into a movie but weren't [justgeorge] [ In reply to ]
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Thud Ridge and/or When Thunder Rolled.

Both books are non-fictional accounts of F-105 missions over N. Vietnam, 1966-1967. Some good info on what the Rolling Thunder air war was like, and it would be great to watch some good F-105 flying scenes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NLin7d_jRY



"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.
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