How would YOU make an Animorphs film?

[Yorick Brown]

Unless it's a planned trilogy or film series (The Lord of the Rings, Scream, Star Wars, The Matrix), the audience shouldn't get movies with loose ends that may never be resolved if the studio ever decides to pull the plug.

An Animorphs film should and would be more Spider-Man and Jurassic Park like.

[zaprowsdower]

Yorick what I don't understand is WHY are you so convinced that Animorphs needs such large changes to appeal work in a movie? What is it that attracts readers to the books that wouldn't attract viewers to the movies? ???

[Yorick Brown]

Are these large changes though? Are they really or are you just blinded by your love of Animorphs?

I only left out the major storylines like Marco's mom and Elfangor's son NOT because they wouldn't be unappealing to audiences but such character-affecting plots would distract too much from the main story. These are films and not a book or TV series where you have all the time in the world to develop these new plots.

The only thing you've fans have been able to argue reasonably was Tobias getting stuck as a hawk and even then I don't think people would care about a moping talking hawk.

[zaprowsdower]

My 'love' of Animorphs doesn't "blind me", I love Animorphs -it's hits and it's misses; the same reason 99.99% of all Animorphs fans love it-maybe not you per se, but the rest of us.
The Marco and Elfangor storylines by general consensus don't distract from the story; they part of the story! You are part of a minority that doesn't seem to think so.

And you never answered the last question-What is it that attracts readers to the books that wouldn't attract viewers to the movies? If the books got such popularity and a following for being what they were why wouldn't movies do the same? I mean do you secretly not like Animorphs, or something??? ???

[ElementX]

This is how I would do it. The cast would be unknowns for the most part, but I like Yorick's idea of Hugo Weaving for the Visser. Also I would do Morgan Freeman for the physical manifestation of the Ellimist.

Story: It's basically#1 The Invasion and that's what we focus on. There will be a bit of #2 The Visitor, and some original scenes. Very similar to Yorick's plan without the exclusion of important plot points. The only change I would make in character is that Rachel is more close to Melissa than Cassie and that they are more casual friends but their relationship grows as the movie progresses.

Scene:
Jake's opening narration
Characters established at Mall (including Melissa, see below)
Construction Site, Elfangor gives them powers, Visser arrives and kills him
Tobias visits Jake, Tobias morphs cat, Jake morphs Homer
School Cafeteria (group argument)
Rachel talks to Melissa, Melissa acting strangely
Cassie's Barn, Cassie morphs horse, Policeman visits
Tobias morphs hawk (possibly off-screen)
Jake, Marco and Tobias at Jake's House, Tom tries to get them to join The Sharing
Rachel visits Melissa/ acquires her cat
Parallel Scenes: The guys check out the Sharing/ The girls spy on Melissa (Viewers realize that Melissa is not the Controller, her father is)
Tom talks to Jake/ Jake is determined to free him
Jake morphs lizard, spies on Chapman
Group discussion at Mall/ everyone formally agrees to fight the Yeerks except Marco who tells the group for the first time about his family situation
The Gardens
Cassie captured (offscreen)
The Yeerk Pool
Afterwards Marco tells Jake he will continue to fight until Tom is free
Tobias visits Jake, viewers realize he is trapped, Jake decides to fight until the Andalites arrive
END

Should be around two hours and I think the concept is interesting enough to attract new fans.

[wotw2112]

The Marco and Elfangor storylines by general consensus don't distract from the story; they part of the story! You are part of a minority that doesn't seem to think so.

He's not debating whether they're part of the story or not.  He's basically saying (unless I'm wrong) that:  "Yeah they're part of the story but they're a part that doesn't have to be mentioned specifically in a movie". 

I.e. they're simply unmentioned background rather than deleted background.
They're all well and good for the books cause you have tons of description time but for a movie it would just be far too distracting from a linear storyline.

And you never answered the last question-What is it that attracts readers to the books that wouldn't attract viewers to the movies? If the books got such popularity and a following for being what they were why wouldn't movies do the same

Movies by nature need to reach a massive audience to be successful and the vast majority of the target audience (non-animorph fans) wouldn't give a crap about how faithful it is to the book.  They just want a good movie.

Too much info can slow a movie down.  Also people will be like "who cares?" about certain things.

I mean do you secretly not like Animorphs, or something??? ???

Hmm...curious that he wants to make a movie out of a series he secretly hates...

[Duff]

thats pretty good element, seems like it might blend pretty well

the only problem with it is that it only has one battle, a big blockbuster needs at least a few action scenes, for this movie, it would need at least two big battles and maybe some kind of smaller conflict like something in bird morph

[ElementX]

Yea I thought about that but it seems like the plot can't really afford a huge battle like at the Yeerk Pool, mainly cuz thats supposed to be the first time they use their battle morphs. However, I think the Construction Site scene, the Sharing/Melissa's house scene, and lizard scene could be made more exciting in a few ways. Then the final scene has to be amazing to give the audience a good pay-off. A tiger, gorilla and elephant fighting a small army of Hork-Bajir and a giant three headed creature that spits fireballs from it's mouth has to be good.

[Yorick Brown]

The Marco and Elfangor storylines by general consensus don't distract from the story; they part of the story! You are part of a minority that doesn't seem to think so.

As I've said a million times before, if I could make my TV series I would GLADLY and RAPIDLY insert those storylines. Why wouldn't I? I certainly had the time and number of episodes.

But in a FILM series, those character-heavy storylines would have no room inside all the battles and and excitement. Where's the room to pause and think in a movie-esp. action movies?

And you never answered the last question-What is it that attracts readers to the books that wouldn't attract viewers to the movies? If the books got such popularity and a following for being what they were why wouldn't movies do the same? I mean do you secretly not like Animorphs, or something???[/quotes]

I never said that that non-fans wouldn't like these storylines. Just that they'd have no place in a film series. They're two different mediums and just isn't any room for that.


I agree with every single thing wotw2112 said.

[Yorick Brown]

The only change I would make in character is that Rachel is more close to Melissa than Cassie and that they are more casual friends but their relationship grows as the movie progresses.

I like that. I never did understand how Cassie and Rachel were such good friends in the first place.

Why didn't Melissa go with them at the construction site?

Maybe they should have had that important discussion somewhere that isn't a crowded mall.

[XenomorphLV426]

WHY does everyone keep saying that Animorphs would be too expensive to make? It isn't!

ID4 was only made for 75 mil!

An Animorphs flick would NOT need a 90-100 mil+ budget.

ID4 was made 13 years ago with a mix of CG and modelwork.  The modelwork wouldn't work so well for this series.  And how many moving, walking talking aliens did ID4 have?  Two?  Yeah, two?

Point made.  Superman Returns cost close to $300 mil, plus marketing. 

Think of the size and scope of that movie, and then think of the later books in the Animorphs series with all the pool ship and thousands of bug fighters and a valley full of hundreds of flesh & blood sentient aliens.

You can't do it.

And the story isn't suited for a film franchise, anyway.  You can't tell this story in a trilogy of movies.

A TV series is a better idea in terms of plot mechanics, but the visual element and budget simply isn't there.  I'm not being closed-minded, you're all just being impractical.  Fanboys and girls, meet reality.

[wotw2112]

Fanboys and girls, meet reality.

You can't make us! 

But seriously, good point unless you go the animated route (which, though I'm not particularly fond of, seems the logical choice anyway).

[Duff]

you dont need bug fighters, pool ships or a valley full of aliens to make the first movie so thats not really a problem. The budget wouldnt be that high and animorphs would make a perfect movie adaptation, not the whole series, but the first book. you dont have to adapt the whole series

[Yorick Brown]

Point made.  Superman Returns cost close to $300, plus marketing.

Bad example. The only reason why that movie cost so much was because it included the costs of canceled preproduction reboots stretching over a decade.

Think of the size and scope of that movie, and then think of the later books in the Animorphs series with all the pool ship and thousands of bug fighters and a valley full of hundreds of flesh & blood sentient aliens.

Unless you're talking about gigantic battling robots and gorillas and star fighters in dog fights, this movie does not need a 90-100 mil+ budget.

For The Invasion film, you'd only need some trained animals and puppets and men in make-up. The spaceships which won't be seen in CGI or models.

You can't do it.

Sure you can.

And the story isn't suited for a film franchise, anyway.  You can't tell this story in a trilogy of movies.

I'd prefer a TV series but I feel I did a good job keeping the gist of the story.

A TV series is a better idea in terms of plot mechanics, but the visual element and budget simply isn't there.  I'm not being closed-minded, you're all just being impractical.  Fanboys and girls, meet reality.

No. You're just being unimaginative.

[Duff]

90-100 million would make a **** movie, the tv show tried to use puppets and trained animals and look what happened

it would need a 200+ mil budget but thats completely justifiable with the money it could make