I wish there was a Tolkien-esque Fantasy Cinematic Universe for something.

CaitSeith

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Samtemdo8 said:
Game of Thrones is almost finished, and the Warcraft movie failed to launch one so no Lich King movie and no Warcraft Paladins on the big screen :(


I have always been a Fantasy guy and wish for a Cinematic Universe for it I long for the days when Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and Harry Potter were regular thing in cinema, I am getting tired of Superhero movies (and since DCEU is changing to appeal to the mainstream's taste and firing Zack Snyder, its dead to me)

But what can be adapted to the big screen?
And don't forget the Dungeons and Dragons movies. Man! There is a lot of lost potential in the Forgotten Realms lore alone.
 

BaronVonVaderHam

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Samtemdo8 said:
Game of Thrones is almost finished, and the Warcraft movie failed to launch one so no Lich King movie and no Warcraft Paladins on the big screen :(
I keep hearing rumors that Warcraft might get a sequel because it did incredibly well in the foreign market, mainly China. And since it was that market that made Pacific Rim 2 a reality, I wouldn't count it out just yet.
 

COMaestro

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Apparently Joe Manganiello has been working on a script for a Dragons of Autumn Twilight movie, in the hopes of having it made (he's a huge D&D fan). Though I believe a new D&D film is already in the works, likely due to maintaining rights, but I'd definitely be up for a Dragonlance film if one should ever be made*.

https://geekandsundry.com/delving-into-a-possible-dragonlance-movie/

*It'd have to be better than the horrid animated feature that was released a number of years ago.
 
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The next "big thing" may well be a TV series for the Wheel of Time series. It is pretty much the most epic of "epic fantasy", certainly the longest single series and could be a great thing. As with GoT, much will inevitably need to be cut out to fit into a serial, episodic format but as long as it doesn't get watered down too much, it could be great.

I don't think a cinematic universe could exist outside of comic books. It's the large cast of main and supporting characters, years worth of stories, a natural fit for the visual medium of the big screen and special effects that bring these ideas to life. Comics also have a natural fit for different characters "crossing over" between franchises and story arcs. Nothing like that exists for fantasy. Tolkein has Middle Earth and while it does have an infinitely large cast of characters, no one is likely to go and watch a Tom Bombadil movie, or Hobbit 2: Old Man Willow's Revenge.

Putting aside Tolkein, which I appreciate was to illustrate the point, it could be fun but I don't know how well it will work. Heck, DC are trying the same thing as marvel and failing miserably. I also think the MCU is running out of steam. The money is still coming, but even big fans are starting to see the holes getting bigger, the reality of ageing/bored actors who want out/too much money, film rights (now Disney owns Fox, maybe no longer an issue), movies have fewer original ideas and audiences are getting bored of style over substance (and they do lack substance). Black Panther, touted as "a departure" and "revolutionary" was exactly the same as Iron Man in 2008, Captain America and Thor, Doctor Strange...exactly the same story. There are no stakes and the reality of business means the "emotional" end of Infinity War has absolutely zero emotional weight behind it because you know it means nothing.

I wouldn't mind seeing "stories in the world of..." films, stories about characters from various great fantasy settings. I don't think we need massive crossovers, but what do I know. Hollywood and the games industry both are terrified of original or artistic work, just rehashing, rebooting, remaking and making sequels of the same stuff we've already seen. It's all focus tested, popcorn selling style over substance and unlikely to change.
 

Hawki

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KingsGambit said:
I don't think a cinematic universe could exist outside of comic books.
The Cosmere is an equivalent, with numerous novel series existing in the same overall universe with at least one crossover so far.
 
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Hawki said:
KingsGambit said:
I don't think a cinematic universe could exist outside of comic books.
The Cosmere is an equivalent, with numerous novel series existing in the same overall universe with at least one crossover so far.
It's not really quite the same thing, tho it could be the beginnings of it. There are no established characters, places, people, certainly none that are widely recognised. Comic book art, in addition to writing, characterisation and the rest, is also a significant factor that shouldn't be ignored. From costumes to effects and abilities, enemies, visuals, all have a precedent in decades of published issues. On the subject of writing, decades of storylines like Infinity War, Avengers vs XMen, Civil War, House of M, Onslaught, Age of Apocalypse, Days of Future Past, all these huge events with multiple heroes give so much influence to draw on.

From 2008 until now, all the MCU stories have led to Infinity War, with an homage to Civil War thrown in. Almost 20 movies over a decade to build up to one large event. Fantasy Books, the Cosmere, Middle Earth and so on, just don't have this wealth of material to draw on. Middle Earth could support a couple more movies, sure (Silmarillion, Beren and Luthien, more) but would Vigo Mortissen return? Would Peter Jackson direct? Would they be new?

The XMen movies were in continuity up until Logan, to my knowledge. But now most of the cast from the Singer era films have moved on, what can they do? Reboot? Prequel (they did that and those are done now too!)? MCU will have this issue soon also since Chris Evans wants to move on, Feige doesn't want to be RDJ any more gajillions. I just can't see a fantasy shared-universe existing.

You know what...I just thought of...maybe Feist's work [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riftwar_Cycle] could support it. He has both numerous books, each with different characters but many who reappear throughout, in the same universe, both fantastic and mundance. Consider Pug, Jimmy the Hand, Eric and Roo, etc. I must admit also, I kinda like seeing Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan meet Ding Chavez in Clear and Present Danger. They should make a Tom Clancy Shared Universe too while they're at it.