Last night I watched the series premiere of Minority Report, based off the film with Tom Cruise from 2002. Tonight I watched the series premiere of Limitless, based off the film with Bradley Cooper from 2011. I have to say that Limitless is better, but that still doesn’t change the fact that suddenly all these films are becoming shows. What is up with that? They cancel great shows after a season or less just so they can make shows based off movies that were only semi-successful? Not to mention I heard that The Mortal Instruments failed movie is becoming a show called Shadowhunters to premiere next year.
Is it the content? Both films turned shows that aired this week are futuristic about either preventing crimes before they happen or taking a pill that opens up a person’s entire brain. What is it about these two ideas that the entertainment world feels the need to bring them back and expand? Or is it more to do with the idea of reboots? Taking a failed idea and revitalizing it? Or taking a premise that has been forgotten and rediscovering it? Are there any original ideas left? Were there ever or are all stories pieced together from past projects?
The Wikipedia page on this may serve to guide prospective writers about all such shows. These include ‘Shaft’, ‘Bates Motel’ and many more. It would do the writer good to at least browse through both the film and TV adaptations of the project he intends to write in detail about while tipping his hat to the other stories. – Dr. Vishnu Unnithan4 years ago
I’m researching a possible essay on how the artistic style of a comic can be ignored and/or incorporated into the films that adapt them. Mike Mignola’s oppressive black palette set the perfect mood for Hellboy’s Gothic horror mythos, but Guillermo del Toro couldn’t use the same constant darkness on film because it would be unwatchable. Some adaptations aim to perfectly recreate the comic on screen, as with 300 and Sin City. On the other end of the spectrum, Road To Perdition’s adaptation ignored the dirty/scratchy artwork of the comic in favor of Sam Mendes’ bold colors and clean lines. Failed adaptations for the Surrogates and Whiteout show how losing the comic’s artistic style sacrifices part of what made the idea worthy of adaptation. In superhero comics every artist has drawn every character, but for many graphic novels, the artistic style is inseparable from the story. Adaptation requires change, but comics are a symbiosis of art and words. Losing one is losing half.
I think this is a good idea. What I would do is highlight the movies that benefited from incorporating the same artistic style the original comic or graphic novel had. From there, I would point out any movies (if there are some) that didn't benefit from displaying the same artistic style of its comic counterpart. – RoderickP9 years ago
Lately I’ve been hearing rumors of Hollywood adapting Akira into a movie of sorts. While I haven’t exactly watched Akira myself, I know enough about it to understand that Akira is largely about/symbolic of Japan struggling to find an identity post-World War II, and features the start of the body horror genre, which, in Akira, was meant to mirror those who suffered from the effects of radiation after the United States deployed nuclear weapons on Japan. Am I the only one who feels that the United States making any sort of adaptation on Akira is a bit terrible?
All true, but you missed a few other reasons. American live-action interpretations of anime have had results ranging from terrible, all the way down to Dragon Ball Evolution. And honestly, even the anime film adaptation of Akira really wasn't a good idea; the original manga is much too long and complex, and the film, while it looks very pretty, is a narrative mess. – LangsEnd9 years ago
I certainly would agree. American adaptions of anime tend to be disrespectful of the source material. Hollywood suits seem to be under the impression that American audience aren't interested or capable of understanding other cultures. Besides Josh Trank's "Chronicle" is sort of the American "Akira" already. – Cagney9 years ago
It would definitely be a terrible idea just because you know they'd probably whitewash the entire cast. – Kayla Novak9 years ago
Hollywood has a history of not only fundamentally changing the original idea behind the movie but, as Kayla already stated, whitewashing the entire cast. I'm still highly pissed about the remake of Old Boy which I realize is a Korean film, not Japanese. – nighteyes9 years ago
Maybe you should focus on WHY it would be near impossible to adapt the source material correctly than to just say an American adaption will be a bad idea. – RGM9 years ago
I think you should bring up the upcoming Ghost in the Shell movie, and how that's not as egregious because Ghost in the Shell isn't as closely connected to Japanese history and culture like Akira is. We don't lose much whitewashing Motoko Kusanagi, but we do lose a lot by white-washing Tetsuo. – MaxEngel9 years ago
Hannibal show creator Bryan Fuller has recently spoken of the possibility to bring his show back in the form of a film. There are a few examples of this happening before with shows like Spooks and The Inbetweeners (both British, I know; a possible comparison to American shows could be done).
Is this creatively the right choice? Have these sorts of jumps from small to big-screen worked well before?
Interesting topic. X files is a good example to look at.
– Rachel Elfassy Bitoun9 years ago
I haven't watched it but I've heard Firefly made a movie after the disappointment from fans at it's cancellation. I hear it was a bit of a wrong decision, and that in a hurry to wrap up loose ends people with dissatisfied with certain character's ends. Firefly could contribute to this topic. – Slaidey9 years ago
This is a good and current topic idea. Perhaps if you include more examples within your research- it would help to paint a better picture for readers. Are you planning to branch out into other works- past, present and or current? Additionally, will you include some opinions from valid critics? Will you provide a prediction of TV shows shifting to film for the future? – arielsilkett9 years ago
