Animorphs Film

[Dylan]

How would a movie go down? Considering how much backstory went into Animorphs, how much detail could they fit into 2 hours? Hell, even the TV show took out a lot of the good stuff from the books.
I'd love to see it happen, but by no means does that mean that the movie will be satisfying! It was those extra details in the books, like the Chee, the YPM, the Taxxons, the Hork-Bajir backstory, etc... that made the story ten times more interesting than it would have been!  Would they be included in a 2 hour movie?

Obviously, if they were to get into any of that stuff, it would have to be a film series. Multiple animovies could happen if that first does well (And I'm going off that if the first movie happens).

[matthew]

Any thoughts on what this movie should look like? (as in what books it would adapt)

I planned out an 8 movie series for Animorphs, although I know this will never happen in this reality.  First movie I had as being most of book 1(with a bit of 2), then the Ax underwater plot from 4 mixed with the Pool Ship and Visser One stuff from 5.  Final climax would be destruction of Kandrona.  That said, it looks like this movie would have pretty massive pacing issues.  Maybe have Ax on land like the TV show? What I had in mind was that each character should have their motivation for the war established by the end of the first movie.

It's probably just better to go with a two hour movie that includes most of book 1 with the Chapman mission from book 2.  Maybe add a few things even.

[YeerkSalad]

A lot of people saying they want Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant involved. You know who I want involved? People who know how to make good movies.

How about both?

Obviously, if they were to get into any of that stuff, it would have to be a film series. Multiple animovies could happen if that first does well (And I'm going off that if the first movie happens).

Thing is, if the first movie fails, it could easily end on a cliffhanger.

Any thoughts on what this movie should look like? (as in what books it would adapt)

I planned out an 8 movie series for Animorphs, although I know this will never happen in this reality.  First movie I had as being most of book 1(with a bit of 2), then the Ax underwater plot from 4 mixed with the Pool Ship and Visser One stuff from 5.  Final climax would be destruction of Kandrona.  That said, it looks like this movie would have pretty massive pacing issues.  Maybe have Ax on land like the TV show? What I had in mind was that each character should have their motivation for the war established by the end of the first movie.

It's probably just better to go with a two hour movie that includes most of book 1 with the Chapman mission from book 2.  Maybe add a few things even.

Chapman mission isn't very climactic. It wasn't very important to the main story apart from showing a more personal situation in the war. The first book doesn't show the overarching themes very well - it's mostly setup. As I said in the "arrested" topic, you couldn't shove all the character development into 2 hours. A movie just wouldn't work without gigantic changes.

Changes that improve upon the story = good
Changes that are useless but don't really affect the story = meh
Changes that are there because of the form in which the story is being adapted that changes the story so that it feels like an adaptation in name only = NYURRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH HHHHH!!!

[matthew]

Chapman mission isn't very climactic. It wasn't very important to the main story apart from showing a more personal situation in the war. The first book doesn't show the overarching themes very well - it's mostly setup. As I said in the "arrested" topic, you couldn't shove all the character development into 2 hours. A movie just wouldn't work without gigantic changes.

The Chapman mission doesn't necessarily need to be climatic.  It just needs to be there to show that personal situation, and make the audience care about the implications of the invasion.  A movie made from the first book could work in its own right, but I agree that a TV show would be better.

[YeerkSalad]

But at the very end of the movie it probably wouldn't fit. The end of movies is usually the biggest, most exciting part. It'd be odd to have a huge battle in the middle and then have the end sort of... trail off.

[matthew]

Right, this is why it would be thrown in the middle of the movie.

[Dylan]

Personally, I'd want the first movie to atleast cover the important stuff from the first five books. I think a good ending would be battle while escaping from the yeerkship like from book 5

[YeerkSalad]

Right, this is why it would be thrown in the middle of the movie.

Oh!

Personally, I'd want the first movie to atleast cover the important stuff from the first five books. I think a good ending would be battle while escaping from the yeerkship like from book 5

Maybe! Having the "marco's mommy mission" story begin in the first movie might not be a good idea, though. Despite it being very well-done, in the first movie, there wouldn't be enough time for them to realize how cool Animorphs is before they decide this is just copying Star Wars, which it is not.

I still think that a TV series is the way to go. Shoot, I'd love a cult animated series on a non-cable channel. (Not that that would make sense business-wise.)

[NothingFromSomething]

A lot of people saying they want Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant involved. You know who I want involved? People who know how to make good movies.

Right, but that's a subjective thing too.  Different tastes for different people.

Also, if you're meaning in terms of big established "names", A-list directors, it's almost a foregone conclusion that nobody like that is going to want to do this.  A lot of these adaptations (not all, but most, especially with the teen-novel thing) tend to go to younger up-and-comers, sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.

And everyone, what's the point of keeping on repeating "it should be a TV series instead!"  Maybe it should, but they've announced a movie.  B*tching about the format seems a little moot.

I'm way more concerned about the rating than the format.  Even with a TV series they'd be cutting stuff out and rearranging/streamlining, it's not like we're going to get a book-by-book page-by-page faithfulness in any adaptation.

I'm just sort of thinking...how many of these young actors (if they have the balls to go that way for a movie) are actually any good, Harry Potter aside?  So many of these movies fall on their face because the leads are all unlikable, smug little brats, and that could be a huge pitfull.  That being said, you don't want to age everyone up to 17/18/19 either, it'd lose so much if you did that.

[YeerkSalad]

Yeah, ****ing about that was futile and annoying.

Getting young actors isn't going to be an easy task. Even if it were animated they'd still need the voices of kids. Adults sounding like kids wouldn't work.

[SuperBlue]

A lot of people saying they want Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant involved. You know who I want involved? People who know how to make good movies.

I think that one goes without saying, which is why nobody's said it yet lol

I know that having the authors involved doesnt automatically mean it'll be good but it's sure as hell make me a lot more confident that will. Something about not only having the creator's blessing but their assistance is just...reassuring. Not like the Last Airbender, where the creator's wanted nothing to do with that film from the very beginning.

Getting young actors isn't going to be an easy task. Even if it were animated they'd still need the voices of kids. Adults sounding like kids wouldn't work.

I can give you many examples where adults voicing teenagers worked.  It's  hell of a lot easier than going the power ranger route and trying to make adults look like teenagers XD

[tigz]

Personally, I'd want the first movie to at least cover the important stuff from the first five books. I think a good ending would be battle while escaping from the yeerkship like from book 5

personally i think that would be far too much to squeeze into one movie. I'm in agreement with the earlier post of a combo of books 1 and 2 with the events of book 2 happening somewhere in the middle and ending with the raid on the pool. maybe have Marco see his mother in the pool so as to have him personally invested.
Then in my own little perfect imaginary would there would be a mini series leading up to the David books which would themselves be covered in a second movie. then there would be a second mini series taking events up until near the end, and books 50-54 could be then be shown in a 3rd and final movie.
and yeah i'm pretty much stealing the agents of shield idea (but bettering it). =)

[SuperBlue]

They'd need a whole movie to cover the David.

[Terenia]

KA and MG are supposed to make a statement soon. That makes it sound semi-legit.

And yeah, Blue, I agree. The David stuff is deep enough to stand alone. I honestly have no idea how they'd successfully compile the series into one movie. Even three to four would be difficult. I think we're going to have to be okay with a LOT of artistic liberties and changes if it happens, with the hope that it remains true to the underlying message of the story.

I would love for them to be able to get in the fact that the Yeerks aren't all evil. They didn't all want to blindly follow the Empire. I think that's important because even if Aftran herself didn't amount to much, the very existence of resisting Yeerks adds a depth to them as invaders. They're no longer solely "evil parasites". They become people in their own right, which makes the entire thing so much more morally ambiguous.

[matthew]

KA and MG are supposed to make a statement soon. That makes it sound semi-legit.

Where did you see that?