The Name of the Wind to Become a Movie, TV Show, And Game, All At Once

[PatrickJS]

The Name of the Wind to Become a Movie, TV Show, And Game, All At Once

The rights to Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles book series has been won by Lionsgate. The books will become a movie, television series, and video game - all at the same time.

Lionsgate and Patrick Rothfuss have worked out a complex rights deal concerning the latter's hugely popular fantasy novels, The Kingkiller Chronicles. The multiplatform proposal will see a film, television series, and video game all developed simultaneously, and negotiations have apparently been going on for several months [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/comic-con-name-wind-novel-807447].

Pat seems pretty pleased: "Honestly, I've never been very interested in a straight-up movie deal [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/lionsgate-wins-rights-fantasy-book-828557]. But Lionsgate was willing to work out something different, a multiplatform deal where they develop the films, TV series, and games simultaneously. That will give us the screen time to develop the characters and show off the world."

"What's more, through this whole process, they've treated me with amazing respect. I never thought a studio would approach me as a creative partner who understands how stories work."

Kingkiller Chronicles follows the adventures of Kvothe, as he recounts to a biographer how he went from being a travelling performer to one of the most notorious, reviled, and beloved wizards the world had ever seen - and ended up tending bar at an out-of-the-way inn. He masters magic, loves women, plays music, crosses swords, finds treasure and loses it. He gets beaten up a lot, but not half as much as he probably deserves. As far as modern fantasy literature goes, most estimates place it second in popularity only to George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/142655-A-Game-of-Thrones-Movie-Is-Probably-Not-Coming].

Board games have already been developed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/142360-Tak-and-Pairs-Games-Played-in-Rothfuss-Kingkiller-Chronicles-Books-Are-Now-Real-and-You-Can-Play-Them] based on those the characters play in The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear. There's no telling what parts of the story a video game would follow, or what might be left out for a film or TV show. How will they portray his music, among other things? My sincere hope is they take a page out of Scott Pilgrim's adaptation and have real-world artists fill in. Imagine Kvothe standing on stage gently strumming his lute, his rapt audience weeping; meanwhile, movie-goers are treated to the Stones' Gimme Shelter. Rothfuss: call me.

Source: Hollywood Reporter [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/lionsgate-wins-rights-fantasy-book-828557]

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[Somebloke]

Oh my, here goes extra pressure to finish the trilogy. :7

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

He even looks like the bastard child of Georgie R.R. and a burly wizard.
Oh well I guess fantasy epics written by burly begrudging beards are all in at the moment. I'm sure the video-game will be a critical success.

Edit: upon closer inspection, his face portrays an expression of sly pleasure...what dastardly villianous activities happen to be occurring off camera, may I ask?

 

[Kontarek]

He even looks like the bastard child of Georgie R.R. and John C. Reilly.

Fixed that for you.

The premise for this sounds pretty intriguing. Can anyone here recommend these books? I love ASOIAF and haven't been able to find a series that really lives up to it. Like I tried Wheel of Time but it's just so arduously slow and I don't care about any of the characters except Perrin.

 

[CrimsonBlack]

He even looks like the bastard child of Georgie R.R. and John C. Reilly.

Fixed that for you.

The premise for this sounds pretty intriguing. Can anyone here recommend these books? I love ASOIAF and haven't been able to find a series that really lives up to it. Like I tried Wheel of Time but it's just so arduously slow and I don't care about any of the characters except Perrin.

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here.

I've read both of the Kvothe books, and I hate the character. He's a knob. He's your typical super-special know-it-all who can play an instrument, has incredible knowledge retention, impresses everyone, and is just amazing. Rothfuss makes a big deal about how he's incapable with women but he STILL hankers after a gorgeous lass and gets halfway there (who is a main character in the stories, not sure how it'll play out yet).

In terms of their readability - Rothfuss's books seem wooden. As if the author wanted to write fantasy, and forced himself to.
EDIT: I've read ASOIAF and that is good fun. Don't read the Kvothe books unless you have to.

 

[Razhem]

He even looks like the bastard child of Georgie R.R. and John C. Reilly.

Fixed that for you.

The premise for this sounds pretty intriguing. Can anyone here recommend these books? I love ASOIAF and haven't been able to find a series that really lives up to it. Like I tried Wheel of Time but it's just so arduously slow and I don't care about any of the characters except Perrin.

I'm going to be the voice of dissent here.

I've read both of the Kvothe books, and I hate the character. He's a knob. He's your typical super-special know-it-all who can play an instrument, has incredible knowledge retention, impresses everyone, and is just amazing. Rothfuss makes a big deal about how he's incapable with women but he STILL hankers after a gorgeous lass and gets halfway there (who is a main character in the stories, not sure how it'll play out yet).

In terms of their readability - Rothfuss's books seem wooden. As if the author wanted to write fantasy, and forced himself to.
EDIT: I've read ASOIAF and that is good fun. Don't read the Kvothe books unless you have to.

Quoted for truth, the first book was ok, but the second was a constant circlejerk festival about how fucking amazing Kovthe is. That a setting that seemed to be done with came back in full force certainly didn´t help my opinion and there is no way in hell that can be a trilogy seeing how little has actually been shown and achieved on the first two books.

 

[PatrickJS]

The premise for this sounds pretty intriguing. Can anyone here recommend these books? I love ASOIAF and haven't been able to find a series that really lives up to it. Like I tried Wheel of Time but it's just so arduously slow and I don't care about any of the characters except Perrin.

I'm a huge fan of the series, especially the first book. Its style is highly poetic - both in terms of flowery language, and rhythm of speech. It's an extremely well thought out world, but kept vague in the way a first-person narrator should - he even makes currency exciting, and the hero goes through such highs and lows of poverty and largesse that you're rooting for him when he finds a penny. The best thing in the books are the stories that characters tell. Each culture, nation, and person has their own view of history or myth, and there are kernels of truth in each fairy tale you hear. If you've ever read Watership Down, I'd compare the tales in Kingkiller to Dandelion's stories of El-Arairah

It's filled with hundreds of, for lack of a better term, Easter eggs - little factoids about the world or the characters that are of no meaning to the story, and difficult to truly discern, but are very rewarding when you see the pieces come together (Spoilers: I'm thinking of the poem that Kvothe is reprimanded for saying in the first book, is related to a character in the second; the way that two certain peoples' names are so alike they must be connected, but no one seems to notice or care; etc, etc). You can read from cover to cover and never notice if you don't want to, but a deeper reading gives you gifts. "Holy crap! So he knew about X from the very beginning!" or "Wait - he told a story in a which a woman with that name went to this city and - gasp!"

I was really put off from reading it because I'd heard all the things people are saying about it - it's one super-awesome-amazing guy's journey, written by a basement-dwellin troll who doesn't understand dating and yet his character is the best sexer in history. I got over all that pretty quickly. Not only is it ok for characters like that to exist, and for you to like him - imagine what Theseus' autobiography might look like - but Kvothe is ultimately a sympathetic character. His older self, telling the story, is a bitter, defeated man, revelling in how great he used to be, knowing it all came crashing down probably especially thanks to his own arrogance.

Anyways. I really like it!

 

[Kontarek]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The fact that you're told from the beginning that this character ultimately ends up as a broken old man might be enough for me to tolerate his general dickery throughout the story. I'll give the first book like a hundred pages or so and see if I'm still interested.

 

[yellowmage]

Hmm, might have to check it out. Still waiting on the Mistborn movie and videogame, though.

 

[the December King]

Loved the first book, it was really fun in a Harry Potter meets Game of Thrones sort of way.. But the second was terrible in my opinion.

I'll read the third, just for completeness sake, I reckon.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

Name of the Wind would be horrible as a movie, unless it's some kind of side story. The primary strength of the series is how steeped in mythology the setting is, and the many different form of the same myths. That's hard to do all of in a single film.

 

[Ukomba]

I only hope he learned from what happened to Robert Jordan and put some safe guards for himself into the contract.

 

[noobiemcfoob]

EDIT: I've read ASOIAF and that is good fun. Don't read the Kvothe books unless you have to.

Wow... I've never heard, seen, felt, smelt or even tasted anything but glowing reviews for The Kingkiller Chronicle. In the circles I run in, Rothfuss is nothing short of a literary genius with the fantasy genre. You can see proof of his skill in how quickly his popularity rose following the publishing of Name of the Wind. The guy skyrocketed out of nowhere and now shares panels with the best despite having only published 2 books, a novella and a short story. I honestly don't know how to react to someone *not* liking his work.

Anyway, I can't recommend Kingkiller Chronicle enough. Read the blurb on the back of Name of the Wind and if that doesn't describe a character you want to see moving through the world, then maybe it's not for you. The books outright tell you everything that will happen to the protagonist, both how amazing he will be and how sad and miserable he'll become despite it, and then makes you want to read the story anyway.

/Just my 2 cents.
//I love his beard.
///I love his voice more ^^

 

[Amaror]

The books are enjoyable to read. The main characters may be this super-amazing-know-it-all but it's a fun story to read through anyway. And it's not like he's perfect either. I noticed throughout the books just how much of an idiot the main character is when it comes to money. He's constantly poor and as soon he gets some money he immediatly spends it on something he doesn't need, which in turn lets him continue his glorious tradition of being constantly in trouble because he's poor.

 

[freaper]

If you can deal with a Mary "I swear I'm not a Mary Sue" Sue character then the books are really fun to read. It's your typical fantasy world trip, but with amazing attention to detail and a grounded mix of realism and mythology.

 

[Azahul]

Wow... I've never heard, seen, felt, smelt or even tasted anything but glowing reviews for The Kingkiller Chronicle. In the circles I run in, Rothfuss is nothing short of a literary genius with the fantasy genre. You can see proof of his skill in how quickly his popularity rose following the publishing of Name of the Wind. The guy skyrocketed out of nowhere and now shares panels with the best despite having only published 2 books, a novella and a short story. I honestly don't know how to react to someone *not* liking his work.

Anyway, I can't recommend Kingkiller Chronicle enough. Read the blurb on the back of Name of the Wind and if that doesn't describe a character you want to see moving through the world, then maybe it's not for you. The books outright tell you everything that will happen to the protagonist, both how amazing he will be and how sad and miserable he'll become despite it, and then makes you want to read the story anyway.

/Just my 2 cents.
//I love his beard.
///I love his voice more ^^

I'm with CrimsonBlack on this one. The writing is perfectly good, the actual prose is great, but I did not find the books an interesting read. The main character's impossibly perfect set of skills and the absurd amount of love and affection he receives for them is frustrating enough to read through even before you have to put up with things like the tracking of every penny in the character's pocket. Honestly, it started to feel like I was reading a handbook on account for the lower classes at one point. Then there's the fact that the plot is lifted more or less complete out of A Wizard of Earthsea. I don't mind the copying, every Wizard-centric story of the last 40 years has cribbed something from A Wizard of Earthsea, the problem is that he's taking three books to get to the point that actually makes the Earthsea story interesting. It's the fall, the hubris that causes it, and the lessons learned and redemption sought that make that story. Instead, Rothfuss has chosen to focus on the least interesting part of the story, the golden age, where by necessity nothing of interest can happen because we know what the story's big moment is going to be and the main character can't be allowed to learn or develop too much until that point has been reached.

I can attest to the beard and voice being awesome though.

 

[Hawki]

Only read the first Kingkiller Chronicle novel, but it was enough to turn me off reading more. What I can remember most is that:

-The protagonist is a tool.

-Many of his teachers are tools, and we're expected to be happy when they're put in their place.

-Worldbuilding is minimal

-The side characters aren't much better.

-Did I mention that the main character is a tool?

I read it a few years ago, and it's amazing how much I DON'T remember bar how much I disliked the main character. I'll give it some credit in that it doesn't have any of the usual fantasy tropes (e.g. dragons exist, but they're kind of pathetic creatures), but I'm not sure if that's enough. A Song of Ice and Fire is still compelling by its lonesome even if it didn't subvert fantasy expectations.

Oh, and I'm glad someone's mentioned Mistborn. Only read the first installment so far, but it's a book I highly recomend.

 

[rodneyy]

Quoted for truth, the first book was ok, but the second was a constant circlejerk festival about how fucking amazing Kovthe is. That a setting that seemed to be done with came back in full force certainly didn´t help my opinion and there is no way in hell that can be a trilogy seeing how little has actually been shown and achieved on the first two books.

maybe the tv show will be his origin story, thats basically what the first two books were anyway, and the film will be the 3rd book, a fair bit is going to happen in that after all

Spoiler

hes got to kill a king at some point, break open the divide between world and the fae, there is going to be some big war and whatnot. that big evil tree thingy will probably come up again if only as the catalist for whats going on i guess hes going to go hunting a moon, though maybe not in a literal sense, and i guess run into those guys who killed his parents but that might not happen till he is done telling his story

it could work out well no need to spend half the film setting up all the stuff you need to know, have time to tell what needs to be told, then have the big epic spectacle that films deliver. of course it might all fall to crap and tumble down around their ears hard to say but will be an interesting ride never the less.

I only hope he learned from what happened to Robert Jordan and put some safe guards for himself into the contract.

there has been something going on with WoT rights? i dont really keep up with that side of things with books. hope noting half formed gets pushed out of a door just out of spite.

 

[RandV80]

Fantasy authors tend to have their perks. George R.R. Martin really likes food, Steven Erikson likes fat chicks, etc etc. With Rothfus while I overall really enjoyed it he seems to have some sort of anime harem thing going on.

Anyways I'm not sure what they could do for a movie but I love the news for a TV series. If I could be a Hollywood producer this would be my pick for a TV adaption. Some fantasy series would just isn't going to fit either format, primarily from being to expensive for a TV show or too long for a movie, but I'd say Name of the Wind fits in just right for a TV adaption.

Now my top pick for a movie? Give me Brandon Sanderson Mistborn trilogy please! Mistborn would be way to expensive for a TV show, but the books are short enough that you should be able to fit each one into a movie.