Category Archives: Optioned Books

Additional Footage To Be Shot for The Hobbit

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Director Peter Jackson may be looking to shoot additional material for The Hobbit, according to ComingSoon. The filmmaker is not only relying on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels for source material.

While Jackson said nothing is confirmed, he added that there is always a possibility.

“It’s very premature,” he said. “I mean we have an incredible source material with the appendices because The Hobbit is obviously a novel, but we also have the rights to use this 125-pages of additional notes where Tolkien expanded the world of The Hobbit, published at the end of Return of the King, and we’ve used some of it so far.”

Jackson said that as his crew began wrapping up shooting and thinking about the shape of the story, he began thinking about doing more.

“Fran and I have been talking to the studio about other things we haven’t been able to shoot and seeing if we persuade them to do a few more weeks of shooting– probably more than a few weeks actually, next year.”

Jackson said he doesn’t want The Hobbit to be a kid film, but one that fits into the Lord of the Rings universe and feels the same. Discussions are still in the early stages, but Jackson said he would like to be able to tell the other parts of the sprawling story.

He has already used more source material than just The Hobbit. When Gandalf disappears without explanation for multiple chapters in The Hobbit, Jackson turned to the appendices where Tolkien later explained the absence.

“It was all together a lot darker and more serious than what is written in The Hobbit,” Jackson said. “And also to be honest, I want to make a series of movies that run together so if any crazy lunatic wants to watch them all in a row, there will be a consistency to it, a consistency of tone.”

Jackson said he did not want to make a children’s story to lead into The Lord of the Rings, so the material from the appendices provides balance to the film’s tone.

“I mean a lot of the comedy and the charm comes from the characters,” Jackson said. “You’re dealing with Bilbo Baggins who is a bit more reluctant to go on an adventure than Frodo was, and with Dwarves who have a personality and camaraderie all of their own, so there’s a lot of humor, but there are still some serious themes involved.”

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will open in theaters Dec. 14.

Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms MMORPG to be released in 2013

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The massively huge world created by author George R.R. Martin for his series A Song of Ice and Fire lends itself well to a MMORPG and thankfully that is about to happen. A new video game (which begs to be better than the game released earlier this year) will be called “Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms.”  The fantasy genre massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is scheduled to be released sometime in 2013.

A trailer was released on July 11th during Comic-Con and it appears that elements from the critically acclaimed HBO series will be included in the game such as the show’s opening credits.

The game will be browser based and will have players pledging allegiances to either the Stark, Lannister, or Barantheon houses to rule the land and the Iron Throne. One drawback is that players can only be human-sized characters, however more character types will be added at a later date. Player-versus-player combat will also be part of the game, as will stealth attacks and brutal sword play. The game takes place after the deaths of King Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark.

The world of the game, at least at the beginning, will include a playable area from the Wall in the north to the south beyond King’s Landing. You won’t actually join directly with a faction, though. Instead, you’ll join a lesser house in Westeros – your guild – that can align with one of the three great houses.Players can also possibly swap allegiance between fractions using bribes and swaying your guild.

Be aware though, once out in the open on the continent of Westeros, player versus environment content will be testing you. While the game is PvP driven, it is possible to level (at least a bit) without them.

In terms of controls, the mechanics of combat will include, “You’ll move with WASD and attack with 1, 2 and 3 keys, which correspond to light, medium and heavy attacks. If you combine the attacks in the right ways you’ll trigger combos and attack faster, and can perform special combo finishers. There isn’t really a strict class system. Instead, you select skills as you go, and there’ll be around 60 available at launch. There’ll also be a weapon leveling system, which should help out if you happen to find a weapon you really like,” according to IGN.

Don’t worry, Mac users! The game is not only free to play but it is will also be compatible for both PC and Mac operating systems. Bigpoint is developing the game with HBO and is known for developing popular games such as Farmerama,Battlestar Galactica Online, and SkyRama.

City Of Bones Film Adds New Actor To The Cast

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A quasi-main character from the popular YA novel series “City of Bones” has been cast in the upcoming film adaption. Irish actor, Robert Sheehan will be playing Simon Lewis in the film opposite of Lily Collins as protagonist Clary Fray and Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace Wayland.

Sheehan is most known for his role on the television series “Misfits.” The news was announced via the author, Cassandra Clare’s official Tumblr earlier today. She revealed the news after fans were able to get the hashtag #WeWantSimon to be a trending topic on the social media site Twitter.

The novel follows Clary Fray, a seemingly ordinary human girl who discovers that she can see supernatural beings that no one else can and gets drawn into the world of the Shadowhunters, humans who hunt and kill demons. Campbell-Bower is male lead and Clary’s love interest Jace Wayland, while West plays fellow Shadowhunter Isabelle. Sheehan’s Simon is Clary’s best friend who harbors a secret crush on her and plays in a band. He, too, gets drawn into the secret underground world of the Shadowhunters in New York City.

Director Harald Zwart will direct the film in Toronto this summer, aiming for an August 23, 2013 release.

Cabin in the Woods Director Rewriting World War Z

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Am I the only one who thinks the current version of this film adaptation should be scrapped and redone? This is actually closer to happening than you might think. The film version of Max Brooks’ much loved novel World War Z has had its ups and downs… OK, so it has been mostly downs. In fact the movie hardly resembles the book anymore with exception that both have zombies in them.

However, it might be on an incline after several months of incredibly unlucky setbacks. Cabin in the Woods director and overall awesomely faced genius, Drew Goddard, recently announced that he has been hired to re-write the ending of the World War Z film. According to Deadline, he will come in and finish out the ending the Damon Lindelof dreamt up from an earlier pitch for the project.

But can Goddard save this mess? While he is certainly talented, there may not be enough time for him to fix the broken project. Rewriting the end will help but can it fix the project that is already plagued by so many problems?

It seems current director Marc Forster has surely created a huge mess out of the picture. Going so far as to completely strip away the oral documentary concept of the book and replacing it with a thread known as Brad Pitt to keep the scenes together. Pitt will effectively be a (albeit strained) version of the reporter collecting stories during the apocalypse. Though, rather than merely collected stories of the doom that engulfed the world, he will be racing against a clock to save the world. Yet that major change is not even the worst part.

The film has had a notoriously high budget that continues to climb along with the need for massive reshoots that has delayed its release date by 6 months. The script has also presented major problems with rewrites being ordered more than once for the picture. There were even talks of the film becoming a trilogy as a way to handle the bumbling storyline that was created with what seems minor similarities to its supposed source text.

Goddard may be the best thing to happen to the adaptation. He has experience in the sic-fi genre already with his work on the aforementioned Cabin in the Woods as well as Cloverfield. He also worked on tv series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Lost.” (And hey, Joss Whedon likes him!) But in the end the studio may have better luck scraping the project and starting over from the beginning with Goddard from the get-go.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Gets Release Date

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The two-part franchise ending film Mockingjay has got its projected release date. The third book of the massively popular trilogy, will be split into two films much like franchises adaptations before it. Both part 1 and part 2 of the film adaptation have gotten their projected release dates.

The first part of Mockingjay will arrive November 21, 2014, with the fourth and final installment part 2 movie slated for November 20, 2015. Atleast four members of the main cast have already signed up for the four movie franchise. Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson have confirmed their four movie involvement.

There is no word yet on where within the story the films will be broken up but some speculate it maybe after Peeta is rescued from the Capitol.

The heavily anticipated movie sequel Catching Fire based on the second book of the series is set to debut in November 22, 2013 with several new roles currently being cast. t was announced earlier this week that Philip Seymour Hoffman will portray Plutarch Heavensbee in that installment, making him the first new (confirmed) actor to sign up for the franchise, with Jena Malone reportedly circling the role of tribute Johanna Mason.

Christopher Nolan’s Inspiration For Dark Knight Trilogy – Not Just The Comics

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DC Comics aren’t the only books director Christopher Nolan used for the story of his Dark Knight trilogy.  Nolan and his brother/screenwriting partner Jonathan borrowed a theme from Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” to bring some depth to his films.

Dickens’ classic tale is about the class struggle taking place in Europe in the late 18th century.

Nolan told ComingSoon about using the old tale as inspiration for the trilogy that is universally loved.

“When Jonah showed me his first draft of his screenplay, it was 400 pages long or something,” Nolan said. “It had all this crazy stuff in it. As part of a primer when he handed it to me, he said, ‘You’ve got to think of A Tale of Two Cities which, of course, you’ve read.’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ I read the script and was a little baffled by a few things and realized that I’d never read A Tale of Two Cities. It was just one of those things that I thought I had done. Then I got it, read it and absolutely loved it and got completely what he was talking about… When I did my draft on the script, it was all about A Tale of Two Cities.”

While viewers have noticed the film’s connection to real-world sociopolitical events, Jonathan Nolan noted that the class warfare presented in its theme is not just a present day struggle.

“Chris and David started developing the story in 2008 right after the second film came out,” he said. “Before the recession. Before Occupy Wall Street or any of that. Rather than being influenced by that, I was looking to old good books and good movies. Good literature for inspiration… What I always felt like we needed to do in a third film was, for lack of a better term, go there. All of these films have threatened to turn Gotham inside out and to collapse it on itself. None of them have actually achieved that until this film. A Tale of Two Cities was, to me, one of the most harrowing portraits of a relatable, recognizable civilization that completely folded to pieces with the terrors in Paris in France in that period. It’s hard to imagine that things can go that badly wrong.”

Aside from the theme of class warfare, the tone of Dickens’ novel also perfectly matched Nolan’s film, as the director noted, “It just felt exactly the right thing for the world we were dealing with. What Dickens does in that book in terms of having all his characters come together in one unified story with all these thematic elements and all this great emotionalism and drama, it was exactly the tone we were looking for.”

The Dark Knight Rises is the third and final film in the trilogy featuring Christian Bale as the titular hero. It begins with Batman, having assumed responsibility for the crimes of District Attorney Harvey Dent in order to protect his reputation, being chased into exile by the Gotham City Police Department. Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, the appearance of the mysterious Selina Kyle sets in motion a chain of events culminating in the arrival of Bane, a ruthless terrorist with plans to destroy Gotham City. With the future of the city at stake, Batman must emerge from his exile and confront Bane to bring about an end to his reign of terror.

The film will hit theaters on July 20th, 2012.

Philip Seymour Hoffman Joins The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

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Casting is finally moving forward with much sought after roles in Catching Fire. Lionsgate has officially announced that critically acclaimed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has been cast as Plutarch Heavensbee. He will play the Head Gamemaker of the 75th Hunger Games.

The film, which has been rebranded as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, begins where the first left off. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have returned home safe after being both being crowned Victors in the 74th Annual Hunger Games Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour’ of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.

The actor and filmmaker just wrapped a Broadway run as Willy Loman in the revival of “Death of a Salesman” for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. He will next be seen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master and the indie film A Late Quartet alongside Catherine Keener and Christopher Walken. More recent films includeMoneyball, The Ides of March and Jack Goes Boating, which marked Hoffman’s feature directorial debut.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will be directed by Francis Lawrence, and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. The novel on which the film is based is the second in a trilogy that has over 36 million copies in print in the U.S. alone.

All of the main cast from the first movie have already been confirmed to be returning to much anticipated sequel.

Lionsgate will release The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on November 22, 2013

Filming For The Hobbit Officially Wraps

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Filming for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again has officially wrapped. Jackson also released a new promotional poster for The Hobbit, in which strangely, there are no hobbits in sight. You can see the new poster above.

Director Peter Jackson announced the news via his Facebook page on Thursday, with the photo below captioned, “We made it! Shoot day 266 and the end of principal photography on The Hobbit. Thanks to our fantastic cast and crew for getting us this far, and to all of you for your support! Next stop, the cutting room. Oh, and Comic Con! Cheers, Peter J.”

An Unexpected Journey

The adventure follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargsand Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever…Gollum.Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

There and Back Again

Thorin and Company have reached Lake-town and it is time for the hobbit Bilbo Baggins to fulfill his contract with the dwarves. The party must complete the journey to Lonely Mountain and burglar Baggins must seek out the Secret Door that will give them access to the hoard of the dragon Smaug. If Bilbo and the others are able to gain the treasure, will they be able to keep it? And will they discover what has become of the wizard Gandalf?
An Unexpected Journey will be released in 3D, 2D and IMAX theaters on Dec. 14, followed by There and Back Again on Dec. 13, 2013.

The film has a very large cast with several award winning and well known actors including:

  • Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit and the protagonist of the film.
  • Ian Holm as old Bilbo Baggins.
  • Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey: A wizard who recruits Bilbo and helps to arrange the quest to reclaim the Dwarves’ lost treasure in Erebor.
  • Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield: The leader of the Company of Dwarves who have set out to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon.
  • Graham McTavish as Dwalin: One of the Company of Dwarves that accompanies Bilbo and Thorin on the Quest of Erebor.
  • Ken Stott as Balin: A member of the Company of Dwarves and the brother of Dwalin. He is described in the novel as “always their look-out man.
  • Aidan Turner as Kíli: One of Thorin’s nephews who sets out on the Quest of Erebor.
  • Dean O’Gorman as Fíli.
  • Mark Hadlow as Dori: A member of the Company of Dwarves. He is described in the novel as “a decent fellow, despite his grumbling,” while Thorin described him as being the strongest member of the Company.
  • Jed Brophy as Nori: A member of the Company of Dwarves and brother of Dori and Ori.
  • Adam Brown as Ori: A member of the Company of Dwarves. The role will mark Brown’s first film appearance.
  • John Callen as Óin: A member of the Company of Dwarves and brother of Glóin.
  • Peter Hambleton as Glóin: A member of the Company of Dwarves and brother of Óin.
  • William Kircher as Bifur: One of the twelve companions of Thorin and Bilbo on the Quest of Erebor and the cousin of Bofur and Bombur.
  • James Nesbitt as Bofur: One of the Company of Dwarves and the cousin of Bifur and brother of Bombur, he is described as “a disarmingly forthright, funny and occasionally brave Dwarf.”
  • Stephen Hunter as Bombur: Described in the novel as being fat and clumsy, he is the brother of Bofur and the cousin of Bifur.
  • Andy Serkis as Gollum.
  • Hugo Weaving as Elrond: The Elven master of Rivendell. Elrond gives shelter to Bilbo’s party, after which, presumably, the two become friends.
  • Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug: One of the last remaining dragons in Middle-earth. He guards the treasure in Erebor.
    • Also voices the Necromancer: Ruler of the stronghold of Dol Guldur in southern Mirkwood; he is later revealed to be Sauron and is driven out by the White Council.
  • Mikael Persbrandt as Beorn: A shape-shifter (or, in the actual text, a “skin-changer”), a man who could assume the appearance of a great black bear. In the novel, he lives with his animal retinue (horses, dogs and cows, among others) in a wooden house between the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood. Beorn received Gandalf, Bilbo and the 13 Dwarves and aided them in their quest to reclaim the Dwarves’ kingdom beneath Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. He was convinced of their trustworthiness after confirming their tale of encountering the Goblins of the Misty Mountains and Gandalf’s slaying of their leader, the Great Goblin.
  • Lee Pace as Thranduil: Referred to in the novel as “The Elvenking”, he is the ruler of the realm of the northern part of Mirkwood. He is also the father of Legolas. In the novel, the Dwarves are captured by Thranduil’s guards and locked in his dungeons when they refuse to divulge their intentions.
  • Stephen Fry as Master of Lake-town: The leader of the settlement of Men at Lake-town near the Lonely Mountain.
  • Luke Evans as Bard the Bowman: Bard of Esgaroth was a skilled archer and the heir of Girion, the last king of old Dale, described as “grim faced”. He rallied the guards to defend the town when the Dragon came, slaying the dragon himself. He later leads the Men of Esgaroth at the Battle of Five Armies and is crowned king of the re-founded Dale.
  • Billy Connolly as Dáin II Ironfoot: A great dwarf warrior, ruler of the Iron Hills and cousin of Thorin Oakenshield.
  • Barry Humphries as the Great Goblin: The ruler of the underground caverns in the Misty Mountains.
  • Christopher Lee as Saruman the White: Head of Gandalf’s Order of Wizards and the White Council.
  • Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: An Elf and the co-ruler of Lothlórien along with her husband, Lord Celeborn.
  • Sylvester McCoy as Radagast the Brown: A wizard of Gandalf’s Order.
  • Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: A hobbit and favourite relative of Bilbo Baggins.
  • Jeffrey Thomas as Thrór: King of Durin’s folk, the son of Dáin I, father of Thráin II and grandfather of Thorin Oakenshield.
  • Mike Mizrahi as Thráin II: A Dwarven king, Thráin is the son of Thrór and father of Thorin Oakenshield.
  • Conan Stevens as Azog: An Orc chieftain of Moria. He killed King Thrór, who came to revisit the ruins of Khazad-dûm. In the following years, he was the common enemy of all Dwarves and the war he started climaxed in the Battle of Azanulbizar, where he killed Náin, only to be himself slain by Náin’s son Dáin II Ironfoot.
  • Orlando Bloom as Legolas: The Elven Prince of Mirkwood and the son of Thranduil.
  • Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel: A female elf from Mirkwood. Her name means “daughter of Mirkwood”.
  • Bret McKenzie as Lindir: An Elf of Rivendell.
  • Ryan Gage as Alfrid:The Master of Laketown’s “conniving” servant.
  • John Bell as a yet-unnamed character who “is confident and brave and ready to do battle if required even though he is still a boy.”

Chuck Palahniuk’s Snuff Heading To The Big Screen

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Chuck Palahniuk will have another adaptation under his belt as his popular novel “Snuff” has been optioned for the silver screen. Fabien Martorell (Tromatized: Meet Lloyd Kaufman) will direct the feature film adaptation of the novel. Martorell also co-wrote the script for the project with Golan Ramras.

Producers Jean Pierre Magro and Dean O’Toole will finance and produce through their London-based company Immortal Transmedia along with Ramras, Martorell and Aperture Entertainment’s Adam Goldworm.

Snuff tells the story of three men waiting in line to be three of 600 men having sex with nearly washed-up porn star Cassie Wright in a single day.

The adult film actress is attempting to break a world record, and during their wait, the men get to know each other (revealing that a few of the men believe Cassie to be their mother, and twistedly still want sex).

The story unfolds by switching from the three men’s POV’s throughout the novel as well as the POV of her assistant Sheila. One of the men is a fellow porn star/former lover of Cassie Wright while one is a young adopted teenager who may or may not be the son of Cassie and the former lover.

According to Palahniuk’s official website (and certainly backed up by its plot), Snuff is not for the shy and reserved, though it is also not stuffed full of nudity and sex scenes.

A common theme in all of Palahniuk’s writing is definitely present in this story with, “nobody is who they seem to be and things are going to get worse before they get better.”

Palahniuk is the best selling author of “Fight Club” and “Choke,” both turned into films by David Fincher and Clark Gregg, respectively.

View the official plot summary for Snuff below.

From the vantage point of three men waiting in line to be three of the 600 men Cassie Wright plans on having sex with on camera to break a world record, Snuff is not for the shy and reserved.

Number 600 is the man who introduced Cassie to the industry and the man who introduces us to the rest of the men waiting in line. Number 72 is not only one of the youngest ones there–20 something years old–but he is one of the too many men claiming to be Cassie’s son. The last man, number 137, has been in the television biz and is looking to get his career back on track by screwing an on-the-verge-of-being-dried-up porn queen.

This is not a sex novel–sorry, gentlemen. It is a story of men bonding over a similar interest, getting to know one another through their future sexual conquest, and, for a few, trying to find–and twistedly bang–their misplaced mother. There is a surprising lack of sex for a novel about a porn star and her 600 exploits. But don’t be turned off by this. There’s still some sex, plenty of laughs, and some telling moments as each of the three main narrators finds something buried deep within himself.

One more time, Palahniuk approaches, pushes, and mockingly steps over the line with Snuff. If it isn’t enough to have a woman conquering 600 men in one day and to get a first class voyage deep inside the porn industry, throw more mommy issues and even some daddy issues into the picture. Just when you thought Palahniuk couldn’t get any more off the wall, in walks Cassie Wright.”

The Hunger Games Actors to Sign Autographs At Comic-Con 2012

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It was announced that a few of the actors from The Hunger Games have been added to the lineup at the San Diego Comic-Con 2012. However, I hate to tell you, it won’t be the three stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson or Liam Hemsworth. However, we do love the actors who will be there.

Lionsgate has added Alexander Ludwig (Cato), Amandla Stenberg (Rue), Dayo Okeniyi(Thresh), Isabelle Fuhrman (Clove), Jack Quaid (Marvel) and Willow Shields (Prim) for autograph signing at its official booth at the conference. Any fans attending the renowned event, should stop by #4035 on Saturday, July 14 at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., for signatures from the tributes in honor of the film release on DVD and Blu-ray August 18.

Some of YA’s hottest authors will talk about dystopian literature on Thursday, July 12, at 3 p.m. in Room 25ABC, while The Hunger Games costume illustrator Christian Cordella will discuss bringing Suzanne Collins’ vision to life in the “From Concept to Reality” panel on Saturday, July 14 at 5 p.m. in Room 24ABC.