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75 Comics That Are Being Made Into Films

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the ruining-your-childhood dept.

brumgrunt writes "The comic book is the new spec script in Hollywood, if this list is anything to go by. Den Of Geek has uncovered 75 comics that are in the process of being turned into films, along with their estimated year of arrival. It's scary, brilliant and bizarre in roughly equal measure."

37 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. "In the Process?" by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    that are in the process of being turned into films

    Keep in mind that the "process of being turned into films" is a long and difficult one where many projects get axed at every stage. And I'm sure <5% of these see theaters--hell look at how long it took The Watchmen (arguably the greatest comic book ever) to get off the ground!

    Although I'm sure with the recent success of movies like X-Men, Spiderman, Fantastic Four, etc that script writers are rushing back to their desks to find any unexploited comic book series that their pen can interpret.

    I cringe at the thought.

    I'm reminded of so many bad action flicks from my youth, so many cheesy war movies of my young adult life, so many bad Uwe Boll video game turned movies and now I've already suffered from Batwoman & Daredevil ... with more to come.

    Seriously, could Hollywood once--just for like a year--come out with only original semi-risky ventures? I mean, can we go one year without another recycled video game, without another tired sequel of an already diluted franchise, without another rehashed Mike Myers persona that's really just Austin Powers, etc. I mean, is that too much to ask?

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:"In the Process?" by Loibisch · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, just like every Comic adaption sucks...right? right?

      (*cough* Batman, Spiderman, Sin City, 300, ...)

    2. Re:"In the Process?" by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Funny

      Comics? Those are graphic novels, if you don't mind.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    3. Re:"In the Process?" by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hollywood is greedy, stupid, and unoriginal. As with the videogame industry, any success is going to be followed immediately with a slew of wannabes and knock-offs.

      The good news is that there are still great movies being made. But you're probably not going to find them among the "tentpole" pictures with $100 million budgets. Hollywood isn't going to take a risk with that kind of budget, they're going to play it safe. And right now, PG-13 comic book movies are as close a thing to a safe bet as the studios know of.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    4. Re:"In the Process?" by Goaway · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You know, some of us are not so insecure about our hobbies that we feel the need to make up new words to describe them because them.

    5. Re:"In the Process?" by neuromanc3r · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Someone (I think it was Neil Gaiman) once said that "graphic novel" is to comic what "lady of the night" is to prostitute.

    6. Re:"In the Process?" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm sorry, did you just give 300 as an example of a movie that doesn't suck?

    7. Re:"In the Process?" by camperdave · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You know, some of us are not so insecure about our hobbies that we feel the need to make up new words to describe them because them.

      Whereas some of us know that there is a significant difference between ten pieces of colored newsprint stapled together, and a ninety page perfect bound book on quality paper containing a complete lack of sea-monkey ads.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    8. Re:"In the Process?" by Goaway · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So it basically all boils down to print quality, then?

    9. Re:"In the Process?" by KDR_11k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Ninety pages is a bit tiny for a book, I've seen magazines with more pages than that.

      Also Asterix comes with a hardcover and that's definitely a comic.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    10. Re:"In the Process?" by Anpheus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And torture porn in October.

      Saw 33, coming soon to a theatre near you.

    11. Re:"In the Process?" by potHead42 · · Score: 5, Funny

      No. It's the sea monkeys, of course!

    12. Re:"In the Process?" by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Personally, the stunts and special effects have gotten so over-the-top that they take me "out" of the movies now. Granted, fight and chase scenes in actions movies have always been over-the-top. But stunts and effects have gone so far in one-upmanship that these scenes have become less thrilling than comical. The average human fistfight now looks more intense than the fight between the two terminators in Terminator 2 (and those guys were super-strong and built of titanium alloys). And chase scenes routinely involve jumps and falls that no human being could withstand in anything more than lunar gravity.

      The Die Hard movies are the perfect example. The Die Hard series started out as a incredibly unlikely, but nonetheless at least mildly plausible. But by the third film, the characters were taking 50-foot leaps off bridges and routinely taking beatings that would have required immediate hospitalization (if not embalming services) for anyone even vaguely mortal. The last entry was particularly egregious. There is a fight scene in that one that makes the Terminator 2 fight scene look modest by comparison. I expect that by the next one, John McClain will be catching bullets fired at him with his teeth and the fight scenes will involve people being punched through bank vault walls.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    13. Re:"In the Process?" by maxume · · Score: 3, Funny

      I look forward to Bruce Willis running over the bad guys with his wheel chair.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    14. Re:"In the Process?" by Kierthos · · Score: 3, Informative

      The movie 300 was an adaptation of the graphic novel 300, which in turn was based both upon the actual battle at Thermopylae AND inspired by the 1962 movie The 300 Spartans, which Frank Miller saw when he was young.

      It's not exceptionally historically accurate (as the Spartans didn't die alone in the final battle, Xerxes was not a 7-foot tall bald gay man, etc.) but it's not a bad movie or a bad graphic novel.

      --
      Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
    15. Re:"In the Process?" by Kierthos · · Score: 3, Funny

      One of the reviews I read of 300 said Gladiator (the Russell Crowe movie) was more historically accurate... thus fulfilling my weekly quota of wishing I could strangle a movie reviewer.

      --
      Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
    16. Re:"In the Process?" by Goaway · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Get it?

      Yes, like I said, I get very well that you are so insecure about your interests that you have to make up new words and write long, long explanations about how the things you like are much better than those things others like which look exactly the same.

      Seriously, get over yourself. You're reading comics. Some comics are sillier than others, and some are deeper than others, but they're all comics. And you're allowed to like comics! You don't need to make up elaborate justifications! Just enjoy what you like and ignore what you don't like, and stop worrying about how to label things.

    17. Re:"In the Process?" by Goaway · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Uh huh. Right-o. So, you're into spandex, capes, and little pointed booties I guess.

      There you go again, trying to show everyone how you're so much better because of what you read.

      But sorry, dude, I don't read any of that. I probably read stuff that's far more obscure than you do, but I really feel no need at all to make any kind of point of that. What I read are comics. I like some of them, I don't like others, but I don't for a second think this makes me any better than anyone else, nor do I look down on others for reading the things I don't enjoy.

      Hobbies and interests are not a popularity contest. You don't get points for liking some things and not others. Your interests should serve only to make yourself happier, not as some kind of measure of your worth as a person compared to anyone else.

    18. Re:"In the Process?" by canajin56 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Without cool stunts that have never been done before, there will be no new fodder for "Movie Myths" episodes of Mythbusters! Don't you dare try to take away what could be Grant's one and only chance to build a bank vault punching robot. (You mention catching bullets in teeth but that's already been done with explosive results).

      --
      ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
    19. Re:"In the Process?" by Goaway · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What I am suggesting to you is NOT that I am better or special because I'm interested in material designed to be read by adults.

      Then why are you making so much noise about how you like it?

      By the way, if you "don't read any of that" how exactly do you justify saying a few seconds later that "what I read are comics"?

      Because perhaps "comics" is a generic term to most people, much like "music"? Most people don't think a "comic book" is some specific kind of publication. It's a book with comics in it. And that's what a graphic novel is, and that's what a superhero magazine is, and that's what a european comic album is, and that's what a manga tankubon is.

      By the way, and this is very funny, you DO think something you do "makes you better than anyone else" -- specifically, you think that believing you're NOT better than anyone else makes you BETTER than people who DO think they're better than others.

      If that is so, how is that inconsistent with anything I've said so far? I didn't say I didn't think anything made me a better person. I specifically said that I don't think that what I enjoy reading does.

    20. Re:"In the Process?" by idontgno · · Score: 3, Insightful

      My background and cultural heritage is Japanese, and I concur... manga is the entire continuum between 20-page kiddy pulps and glossy books full of a variety of subjects (romance, superhero, tentacle pr0n, etc.)

      I think you're right. There's a large element of "comic book store guy" elitism in the "graphic novel" crowd. And generally speaking, it's based on fallacious distinctions.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  2. Akira by hansamurai · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Akira (2011)
    Leonardo DiCaprio disappointed many fans of Katsuhiro Otomo's 80s manga strip by declaring that he won't be in this, though his Appian Way production company has set SFX wizard Ruairi Robinson to direct. The title character is a child of God-like powers who may have started the third world war that decimated the 'Neo-Tokyo' that biker gangs skirt round. Blade Runner-tastic. Appian Way are also developing...

    Wait, what? There were people that wanted to see him star in this?

    --
    Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
    1. Re:Akira by Psmylie · · Score: 3, Funny

      Which, with DiCaprio's huge forehead, makes him a shoe-in for Tetsuo. Especially at the end, where he goes out of control :P

      --

      psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo

  3. and the butcher...er director for these films is by aceofspades1217 · · Score: 4, Funny

    probably Uwe Boll's brother.

  4. Dark Prophecy... by Forrest+Kyle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Comic book movies appeared. They made boat loads of money. Drunken, sex addled movie moguls made seventy-five straight comic book movies. Seventeen in a row tank miserably. They never make another comic book movie again.

    This is what I fear happening.

  5. Re:few really kick-ass, some very pathetic by Loibisch · · Score: 4, Funny

    and this post also gives me lead about what movies are missed ...

    Is "lead" the heavier form of "wood"?

  6. even mediocre properties are snapped up by jollyreaper · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just shows how there's not an original bone left in that town. The comics are like elaborate storyboards anyway so let's do one but be sure to cut out anything involving taste and quality so as not to alienate our prime market of drooling mouth-breathers. And in twenty years we'll remake 'em all! Can't you just taste that money? Fuck, yeah.

    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    1. Re:even mediocre properties are snapped up by SputnikPanic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Taste and quality? Such as Road To Perdition or A History of Violence, both of which were originally comics?

      Comics encompass as broad a world as other forms of fiction and literature, it's not just all superheroes and science fiction. As far as Hollywood adaptations are concerned, the problem isn't so much a lack of originality -- although there is some truth to that claim -- it's that producers are risk averse.

  7. Missing from the list by dkleinsc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Bluntman and Chronic

    Seriously, it's scary when Kevin Smith accurately describes something.

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  8. ETA's? by rangek · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is it just me or are those ETA's totally bogus? There is no way those times can possibly be... possible. We have things with film in can the estimated to arrive the same time as stuff that doesn't even have a script yet. What a bunch of crap.

  9. I guess it's better than... by solcott · · Score: 5, Funny

    (Useful) Stupid Tricks to Get Your Comic Book Made into a Movie

  10. 75 more... by nilbog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "75 Comics That Are Being Forever Ruined, Raped, and Pillaged"

    Fixed.

    --
    or else!
  11. Re:good grief by para_droid · · Score: 3, Informative

    just not by the BBC. They completely butchered Neverwhere, turning a fantastic novel into a complete piece of crap (as they often do).

    Erm they made the TV series first. The novel was written later, based on the series. So I don't see how the BBC can be blamed for butchering a novel that didn't yet exist. And aside from the lack of budget, the series was pretty good.

  12. to all the naysayers in this thread: by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Insightful

    1. it is proven that comic book movie adaptations are a good return on the investment. therefore, from a strictly risk/ return financial analysis, you want to make a comic book movie as opposed to say, a mafia musical. therefore, any comic book property out there is going to get a good looking at, down to the fringe. it's inevitable, and what exactly then is the problem with mining comic book properties like that? what is the rationale for which you take offense at that?

    2. you don't own your favorite comic book. if someone wants to turn it into a movie, why do you feel like something has been stolen from you? why do you think something will be ruined? just don't watch. why is that so difficult for you?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  13. Sorry for offtopic.. by azgard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ..but since we are talking about films, I would like to see Tim Burton's version of Hobbit. I can't imagine it, but I know it would be fantastic.

    (If you agree, please spread this meme. :-))

  14. No, he's right by Weaselmancer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It will suck. Let me tell you why.

    Listen to Kevin Smith talk about his work on the Superman Returns script.

    He talks about meeting the producer for Batman, and Superman Begins. John Peters. Right around 13:00 or so he talks about presenting his script summary and how it was received.

    And it was liked, but John said Kevin was missing some "action beats". He says that you need an action beat every ten pages. Something big needs to happen. This is how Hollywood thinks. Every ten pages of script, you need a fight scene. And listen to the absolutely stupid ideas that get thrown around.

    This is why the Watchmen will suck.

    Hollywood likes comic book movies because every ten minutes you are guaranteed to have an action scene. That's what superheroes do. It automatically meets the "action beats" criteria by default. That's why so many comics are being made into film. Every ten minutes someone gets in a big fight, or something explodes. Hollywood likes that.

    But that's not what happens in The Watchmen. The Watchmen is a story about people. There isn't a lot of action. Hardly any, actually. This is a story about people. It has more in common with Clerks than it does with X-Men. Most of the story is people standing around talking. Character development.

    Which is why Hollywood is going to fuck it up.

    They're going to insist on their action beats. And that's not at all what the story is about.

    Don't get me wrong. It will look pretty. It will have most of the story parallel the book. But mark my words - the heart and soul of the story will be ripped out. Most of the character development will be missing. And it will be replaced with a ten minute CGI battle of Dr. Manhattan pacifying Vietnam, or something similar.

    Sorry to sound so pessimistic, but that's what's going to happen.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  15. Except... by Cyno01 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Kevin Smith has seen a pre-screening of Watchmen and said they got it right.

    http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/08/15/kevin-smith-has-seen-watchmen-its-fking-astounding/

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."