Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

There are a lot of great fantasy movies coming up over the next couple of years. I have paid particular attention to movies that are adapted from fantasy books. There have always been successful fantasy movies but we really have to thank lord of the rings for the re-invigorated interest in taking successful fantasy books and turning them into movies.  Some of these are very well known books ( Like The Elfstones of Shannara) and many of them are children oriented in the Harry Potter vein.

Summer/Fall 2008

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – Release Date: May 16, 2008 This is the second movie in the series and the third is planned for release in 2010. In this movie the children are whisked off to Narnia again and tasked to combat an evil villain who is preventing the rightful Prince from ruling Narnia. The official website - The book at amazon: Prince Caspian (Narnia)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – aka: Indiana Jones 4; scheduled for release 22 May 2008 - Famed archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones is called back into action when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls. Book at amazon.com Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The DarK Knight – The lastest in the very successful Batman Series and the final tragic work of Heath Ledger. July 18, 2008 Official Website

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor; The latest installment of the Brendan Fraser Indiana Jones like series of movies. Scheduled for release 1 august 2008 In the Far East, trouble-seeking father-and-son duo Rick and Alex O’Connell unearth the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin — a shape-shifting entity who was cursed by a wizard centuries ago Official Site

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince : Scheduled for release November 21, 2008 — As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously “This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince” and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort’s dark past. Book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)

Scheduled for 2009

Where the Wild Things Are 16, Oct 2009 and Forest Whitaker is the voice of Wild Thing. The adventures of a young boy named Max who, after being sent to bed for misbehaving, imagines that he sails away to where the wild things are. Max is loved by the wild creatures who make him their King, though he soon longs to be back home with his family. An adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story. The film is expected to be live-action with heavy CGI-animated elements. Book: Where the Wild Things Are - Movie Site

The Runelords The Sum of all Men – Release date 2009 This is based on the first book of the popular series of David Farland books. The basic premise of the series is that people can gift their skills, abilities, and strengths to their lords which makes them super human. The Book: The Sum of All Men (The Runelords, Book One:)

The Power of the Dark Crystal - A sequel to the 1982 Movie The Dark Crystal. Jen and Kira , having lived for many years as the rulers of their world since the reunification of the crystal , welcome an unexpected visitor to their castle, Thurma the fire girl. From her they learn that the U-mun people, who live in the blazing center of the planet, are threatened by the death of their sun. There is only one thing powerful enough to heal the star - a shard of the crystal

In Development

The Elfstones of Shannara - Based on the Best selling Terry Brooks Shannara novels.

The Book of Lost Things - Based on The John Connolly fantasy novel High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the loss of his mother. He is angry and he is alone, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in the myths and fairy tales so beloved of his dead mother he finds that the real world and the fantasy world have begun to meld. The Crooked Man has come, with his mocking smile and his enigmatic words: ‘Welcome, your majesty. All hail the new king.’ And as war rages across Europe, David is violently propelled into a land that is both a construct of his imagination yet frighteningly real, a strange reflection of his own world composed of myths and stories, populated by wolves and worse-than-wolves, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a legendary book.” The Book of Lost Things: A Novel

The Elric saga - Based on the Michael Moorcock Elric series of books The series takes place in a post-apocalyptic, neo-Medieval future of crumbling skyscrapers in which science is all but forgotten, and humanity’s new advances have gone down the path of magic instead

Here, There Be Dragons - An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the First World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of The Imaginarium Geographica — an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship The Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams. Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.” It is later revealed that these three young men are future fantasy authors (and real-life Oxford classmates) J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams. Here, There Be Dragons (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica)

The Lightning Thief - Based on the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. The Hollywood Reporter reminds us that ” Thief centers on a young boy who discovers that he is the descendant of a Greek god and sets out — with the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena — on a dangerous adventure to settle an ongoing battle between the gods. Along the way, he faces a host of mythological enemies determined to stop him. He also must come to terms with a father he has never known and an oracle that has warned him of betrayal by a friend.”

Septimus Heap - Based on seven-book series created by Angie Sage. The series follows two children switched at birth: a boy destined to be a wizard and a girl destined to be a princess.

Tunnels - Based on the Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams upcoming series of of books . They revolve around a teenager whose quest for his missing father leads him to a secret world of wizards.

The Subtle Knife - This is the second installment of The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Trilogy)

Stoneheart - Based on the Charlie Fletcher novel - A 12-year-old on a class trip to London’s war museum knocks the head off a stone dragon and quickly finds himself menaced by stone serpents that adorned the museum and have come to life. The kid is saved by the bronze statue of a soldier.

The Stolen Child - Based on teh amazon best selling book by Keith Donahue. Amazon.com actually has a hand in this movie. They optioned the movie rights. A man is kidnapped by hobgoblins as a boy and is replaced by a look-alike imposter. Both the real person & the imposter struggle through their new lives and environments.

If you love fantasy and epic fantasy check out my website: The Fantasy Guide

Popularity: 34% [?]

It is pretty much official that a Shannara movie is being made. The filming is supposed to start this year and the movie is scheduled to be finished sometime next year. I may be released in 09 or possibly 2010. Interesting thing about it is that the movie will not be The Sword of Shannara. It is said that Terry Brooks wanted to start the series of movies with The Elfstones of Shannara. He believes it is a better place to start out.

I have been a big fan of the Shannara series since it came out. I read the first book when it came out! Tells you how old I am getting.

Digging up information about this movie is currently pretty scarce and the IMDB has a listing for it but no information currently available. Warner Bros are making it so it should be well done.

I guess we really have lord of the rings to thank for this resurgence in big budget fantasy movies. It propelled Harry Potter, Narnia and others into the mainstream. Well, maybe not Harry Potter. Those movies didn’t need any help from LOTR.

Anyhoo, I will keep you posted on the progress and specifics of the movie as I can dig things up.  If you can’t wait until 2010 for your big budget fantasy movie fix you might not know but David Farland’s Runelords is set to be released next year.

The Elfstones of Shannara

The Runelords Book 1

Popularity: 12% [?]

I received an advance copy of the latest release in the Highlander franchise. It’s called Highlander: The Source. I have a review and some information about it here but I also have a free DVD and Poster of the movie contest running. All you have to do is submit your email and you will be signed up. A winner will be picked on Feb 29th and will be mailed a copy of the dvd and the poster.

About The Movie

Highlander: The Source was originally released as a direct to tv (Scifi Channel) last September and it becomes available on DVD feb 26th. The official Movie site is here . It’s the fifth Highlander movie and the first in a new trilogy ( So there is plenty more Highlander stuff coming!)

The Basic Premise

The curse of immortality is a strong plot line in all the highlander works and this one takes a bit of a twist. The immortals in this movie are seeking out something called “The Source” which may or may not exist. But if it does it is the way for an immortal to achieve mortality. That’s the major theme and there is a nice little sub theme where we learn that a long time previously another group of immortals sought out the source and it didn’t go well for them and they were turned into guardians of the source. Of course this adds an additional challenge to our new group of mortal seekers.

Thoughts and ratings:

The movie is aimed more at fans of the television series and the return of Adrian Paul as Duncan Macleod attests to this. (Although he also starred in Endgame) And as far as made for TV movies goes it was pretty good. There were some good fight scenes,a  decent special effects budget, and it moved along well. I would give it three and a half stars out of five. Nothing spectacular and it doesn’t compare to the first highlander movie but how could it? The great news here is that we can look forward to even more Highlander stuff because this is the first film of a planned trilogy. Let’s see what kinds of interesting variations on the blessing/curse of immortality the film makers can bring us.

About the DVD Giveaway

On Feb 29th One winner will be picked to receive a free Highlander DVD and Movie Poster

Here is a link to a page on my website where you can sign up to win the dvd and movie poster. All you need to do is enter your first name and email address. One winner will be picked on Feb 29th and notified by email. This contest is run by me on my website and not a big corporate outfit so your odds should be pretty good! The dvd and movie poster are courtest of M80 and Lions Gate Films.

Want to learn more about the Movie? I have put together a page with lots more information about it including a gallery of stills from the movie, links and resources to other sites, forums and the movie trailer: More About Highlander: The Source

Popularity: 46% [?]