How would YOU make an Animorphs film?

[Yorick Brown]

You said this isn't how it should be done and then you said this is how it should be done.

[beachbeagle]

Obviously, this would be a movie that would attract many people who used to read the books, but it would also need to be marketed to a general audience or else it won't be worth the money to make it.

THANK YOU!

FINALLY someone else who considered the non-Animorphs reading public!

If Animorphs fan and Animorphs fan alone were the only who could understand and want to see a ridiculous long movie, it'd only make 30 bucks total.

Yeah, but keep in mind you need to make both sets of viewers happy. You have to keep in true enough to the real series to please the fans and still have it interest those that haven't read the books.

Keep in mind, if something is based of a book or series people will compare the two. Some who haven't read the books will go out and read them after seeing the movie. If it doesn't compare well and that matters to the person then you get bad word of mouth, and realistically that's more influencing than any TV ad. If your friend says a movie isn't worth your money, do you bother to see it? Typically no.

Yes, some people won't care if it compares well and some won't compare the two. But you've got to realize that the people who are first and foremost going to be interested in the movie are the current fans. Whether or not they make up a large population, the word of mouth they spread will be an majorly influencing factor.

[Yorick Brown]

I don't ssee why you can't consider fans AND non-fans in the equation.

Keep the basic characters and storyline of the books but no big details that works for a multiple-book series rather than a film frnachise.

Tom being a controller and the Yeerk menace being a result of Andalite folly can be included but making Tobias getting trapped and also being Elfangor's son and Marco's mom Visser One and the Hork-Bajir colony just doesn't hold.

[beachbeagle]

I don't ssee why you can't consider fans AND non-fans in the equation.

I'm not saying you CAN'T, I'm just saying if you piss the fans off and they spread bad publicity then it's going to be just as bad as considering ONLY the fans and not the general public.

Tom being a controller and the Yeerk menace being a result of Andalite folly can be included but making Tobias getting trapped and also being Elfangor's son and Marco's mom Visser One and the Hork-Bajir colony just doesn't hold.

Mmmmhmmmm..... And yet the fact that those had major influences on the characters means nothing?

[Yorick Brown]

Well I'll just have to be careful about not alienating the fans.

Yes. It means something-in the BOOKS but a movie?

A movie, adaptation or not, should be able to stand alone. Find another way of developing Tobias and Marco and others without adding these other things.

[zaprowsdower]

If you remove major plot elements in an adaptation then you've made it something else entirely-then how do you justify making calling it Animorphs?

[Duff]

Well I'll just have to be careful about not alienating the fans.

but you arent being careful lol making tobias human would alienate every single fan. and BB is right, the first people to review the movie will be fans and other nerd sites which will say wtf this is completely off from the books dont waste your time and even if it is an awesome stand alone movie, less people will want to see it

You said this isn't how it should be done and then you said this is how it should be done.

i was saying this is how I THINK it should be done, as in its just my opinion

[wotw2112]

but you arent being careful lol making tobias human would alienate every single fan.

Very true.

and even if it is an awesome stand alone movie, less people will want to see it

If it's that awesome it won't need the traditional fan base.  And people have a way of coming around eventually once a movie starts getting good reviews. 

It would be an extension of, not replacement to the series.  Hardcore fans will always have the books.

You just have to make sure the parts you take out don't erode the message and themes (like in LOTR for instance - changes pissed me off at first but I got over it cause they didn't alter the meaning)

And honestly, how big is the traditional hardcore animorph fanbase?  I doubt it's big enough to make that much of a difference.

[Yorick Brown]

If you remove major plot elements in an adaptation then you've made it something else entirely-then how do you justify making calling it Animorphs?

Because it'll still be about 6 kids (5 humans, 1 alien) engaging in guerilla warfare by using the power to shapeshift into animals to defeat body-controlling, slug-like aliens secretly invading Earth. There's a character named Jake who's the leader and who's brother is a slave. His cousin, Rachel, who's best friends with the daughter of high-ranking slave. Her other best friend, Cassie, who's parents are vets and has access to animals. Jake's best friend Marco who's the comic relief and Tobias, the bullied loner as well as Ax, a stranded alie youthn and the brother of the Andalite that gave them their power.

Have I really removed anythinng from the major storyline at all?
Is Marco's mom being Visser One and Tobias being Elfangor's son and the like REALLY that important?

but you arent being careful lol making tobias human would alienate every single fan. and BB is right, the first people to review the movie will be fans and other nerd sites which will say wtf this is completely off from the books dont waste your time and even if it is an awesome stand alone movie, less people will want to see it

Fans should really take the time to think and realize that work in one medium (esp. one that has dozens upon dozens of books to develop it's characters) to another will have to sacrifuce some things.

It would be an extension of, not replacement to the series.  Hardcore fans will always have the books.

Thank you. I hate those drama queen fans that think that the books will magically disappear or change IF a bad or simply different but good adaptation is made.

And honestly, how big is the traditional hardcore animorph fanbase?  I doubt it's big enough to make that much of a difference.

Agreed.

[Liz]

I think Animorphs would work well as the standard superhero/comic book summer film.  I would definitely not try to make it like LotR or Harry Potter.  It would be impossible to condense all the books, or even a selection of the "important" books, into a reasonable number of movies.

I agree with Duff's outline for the most part.  As he said, the first film could follow the plot of the Invasion with a possible subplot, and any sequels would take one or a few books for the plot.

No one would want to see an adaptation of every single book except the hardcore fans, and there's not that many of us.

[Duff]

Its not about the fanbase as a whole, its about the nerd websites who will be writing those very first reviews as they dig up all the little details about the movie. And one of the biggest things those nerd sites base their reviews on is how faithful it is being. (and im not talking about animorph nerd sites im talking about the big ones that people actually go to lol)

You might as well just change a few more things and make it an origional work yorick, because the things you are talking about taking out would tear out the gritty guts and realism of the series. The actual fact that marcos mom is visser one isnt really all that important. the fact that marco was an inch away from quitting the war and the only reason he now fights is to save her is very important. Tobias being trapped in a hawk, actually pretty important on its own lol but then add in the fact that he has the ability to trap himself and leave it all behind and doesnt, and that defines his character

Thanks mirienne!

[Yorick Brown]

It's reasonable, rational people like you Mirienne that gives me hope for the world.

You might as well just change a few more things and make it an origional work yorick, because the things you are talking about taking out would tear out the gritty guts and realism of the series. The actual fact that marcos mom is visser one isnt really all that important. the fact that marco was an inch away from quitting the war and the only reason he now fights is to save her is very important. Tobias being trapped in a hawk, actually pretty important on its own lol but then add in the fact that he has the ability to trap himself and leave it all behind and doesnt, and that defines his character

Marco can still be hesitant about the war at first but his natural conscience makes him decide to keep fighting. He fought for 5 whole books without knowing his mother's true fate.

Tobias' loneliness can be attributed to being an orphan and not being trapped as a bird.

A movie should stand up as it's own and keep the same themes and grittiness of it's source material despite necessary plot changes.

[Duff]

but they arent necessary changes, if you just get a little creative you can fit them in

[Yorick Brown]

It's too risky to force in these inclusions that sound like something out of Star Wars when you only have a handful of films.

For what it's worth, you can still pretend that Marco's mom is Visser One and Tobias is Elfangor's son because they're just not featured.

[Duff]

But its not like you only have a handful of films, you have plenty of films to tell the story, you dont HAVE to do a trilogy